Variational funding backs real-world perps

Variational has raised about $50 million in a Series A round led by Dragonfly, giving the peer-to-peer derivatives startup fresh capital to expand perpetual futures tied to real-world assets including oil, gold, silver and copper.

The funding marks a sharper push by decentralised finance firms into traditional market instruments at a time when traders are seeking broader access to commodities, indices, foreign exchange and equities through blockchain-based platforms. Variational is positioning its protocol as an alternative to order-book exchanges, using a request-for-quote model designed to draw liquidity from existing on-chain and traditional market venues rather than building isolated markets asset by asset.

The round drew backing from Bain Capital Crypto, Coinbase Ventures and other strategic investors. Variational’s management plans to use the funds to deepen liquidity, expand its real-world asset product set and open access to additional markets through Omni, its retail-focused perpetual futures platform. The company also operates Pro, a venue aimed at more advanced and institutional derivatives users.

Variational’s first real-world asset rollout covers gold, silver, copper and West Texas Intermediate crude oil perpetuals. These contracts allow traders to take leveraged long or short exposure without an expiry date, while settlement and margining are handled through blockchain infrastructure. The initial phase is intended to test the protocol’s cross-margin engine and on-chain settlement before a wider expansion that could bring more than 100 traditional finance markets on-chain this summer.

Chief executive and co-founder Lucas V. Schuermann said the company’s approach is built around the idea that crypto order books are not suited to every asset class. “You can’t rebuild forty years of traditional market depth from scratch on a crypto order book,” he said. “Traditional finance solved this problem with the brokerage model — we’re bringing that model on-chain, aggregating RWA liquidity from where it already exists rather than waiting for it to migrate.”

The company says its platform has processed more than $200 billion in trading volume since its invite-only private beta began in January 2025, with more than 50,000 accounts, over $750 million in open interest and more than $7 million in trader rewards. Its website lists more than $650 million in current open interest and hundreds of available listings, underscoring its effort to compete with larger decentralised derivatives venues by emphasising market breadth and pricing depth.

Dragonfly’s backing reflects growing investor interest in decentralised derivatives infrastructure after a period in which perpetual futures became one of the most active categories in crypto trading. Platforms such as Hyperliquid, Lighter and Aster have shown that traders are willing to move meaningful volume through decentralised venues when execution, leverage and liquidity are competitive. Variational is seeking to differentiate itself by targeting assets that sit outside the core crypto pairs, where thin liquidity and pricing gaps can make order-book models less reliable.

Managing partner Haseeb Qureshi said Dragonfly sees the real-world asset segment as a major derivatives opportunity. “Order books are fine when you have the liquidity to anchor them. But for the massive universe of RWAs, more often it’s a mistake,” he said. “Variational’s model sidesteps that entirely, mainlining liquidity from traditional markets directly on-chain.”

The raise comes as tokenised real-world assets gain traction across the digital asset sector. Tokenised treasuries, private credit, commodities and money-market products have drawn interest from asset managers, fintech firms and crypto-native platforms looking to connect traditional financial exposure with programmable settlement. Commodities have emerged as a natural test case because gold, oil and metals already trade through deep global futures markets, while crypto users increasingly expect around-the-clock access.