Ondo Perps CEO sees 'huge opportunity' for perps in US market, under different model

Ondo Perps sees a large opening for perpetual futures in the United States, though any onshore version would not look like the platform it currently runs for non-U.S. users, according to CEO David Wells.

In an interview with The Block at Ondo's event in Seoul, South Korea, Wells said that offering perpetual futures, or perps, in the U.S. is a "huge opportunity" and that "it makes sense" for Ondo to look into such expansion. 

"Everybody’s looking at the U.S. because there are more opportunities now that are opening up that were just never possible," Wells said. "I will say it’s going to be a different product than what we’ve seen. Perps in the U.S. are structured somewhat differently than the non-U.S. perps markets, and so we’ll see how that evolves."

Wells' comment comes at a time when U.S. regulators and several firms are testing how perpetual futures could enter domestic markets. In August, President Donald Trump said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission was “working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion.” 

Heading West

Kraken parent Payward has since announced plans to list Hyperliquid's HIP-3 perpetual markets for eligible U.S. clients through CFTC-regulated Bitnomial Exchange and NinjaTrader Clearing, subject to approval. This is a structure that includes a CFTC-regulated wrapper that does not simply open Hyperliquid's offshore app to American traders. Coinbase has also filed to launch single-stock perps in the U.S.

Ondo Finance itself filed letters earlier this month with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the CFTC arguing that U.S. equity perpetual contracts fit the existing category of security futures under the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.

Wells told The Block on Tuesday that the perpetual contract and its market structure would likely look similar in a U.S. version, but settlement and clearing would have to change to fit U.S. rules. However, the Ondo Perps CEO did not confirm any plans to expand to the U.S. and said that the team has not gone "too far down the road" in exploring the U.S. market.

“I think it will end up being sort of two different models of the U.S. versus the rest of the world,” Wells said. 

Tokenized stocks as collateral

Ondo Perps, which launched in July this year, is a Panama-based offshore perps trading venue for tokenized U.S. stocks, equity exchange-traded funds, and commodities. Traders can use USDC or eligible Ondo Stocks tokens as margin to trade on the round-the-clock exchange, with up to 20x leverage for certain contracts.

Wells said the platform's unique value proposition comes from allowing users to use tokenized stocks as collateral, saying it is more capital-efficient than trading on other perps venues.

"Most perps trading in the market today are stablecoin-denominated, so you have to post that collateral, and it basically is locked there because it's supporting your positions in perps," Wells said. On Ondo Perps, he said, users can post tokenized stocks as margin and stay invested in the underlying asset.

On Monday, Ondo Perps said users can now buy and sell 12 Ondo Stocks on the perps platform itself, so traders who post those tokens as collateral no longer have to manage positions on two separate venues. Wells said the platform will eventually expand the availability to all Ondo Stocks.

Since launching its private beta, Ondo Perps has accumulated around $14 billion in trading volume and has recently recorded open interest of over $100 million, according to Wells. He added that the numbers reflect growing demand and a general increase in interest in RWA products and tokenization.

Wells said the volume includes retail click traders, institutional market-makers and hedgers, B2B2C channels, and aggregators.