Recently reviewed Perp DEX data, the trading volume has indeed decreased, as shown in Figure 1, from the peak of $34.2 billion per week at the end of 25 years to now $13.32 billion, a decrease of 61%.

But I don't think this is the decline of Perp DEX! 🧐

The report from #Messari the day before yesterday just confirmed my view. It is more like a "squeezing out the excess" process after the maturity of the track, let's take a look at the essence from the data!

How hot was the Perp track last year? To put it simply, a large part of it was a bubble created by airdrop Farming. As the cycle enters contraction, these blindly inflated funds withdrew, the excess was wrung out, and the real underlying signals began to emerge.

This phase of compressed trading volume is actually a time of reshuffling within the sector.

Looking at institutional behavior makes it clear: funds are no longer running around aimlessly; they are quickly concentrating on platforms with solid liquidity and high execution quality. This is the true standardization of the sector.

In Messari's independent research, the data on #Grvt provided me with a really interesting reference point:

• The total open interest (OI) in the Perp market surged from $3.3 billion to $14 billion, an increase of about 4 times.

• Grvt's OI share has increased 26 times year-on-year, and entering 2026, Grvt's OI has grown 53% year-to-date, stabilizing at $451 million (👇图3).

• Grvt's share of trading volume has grown 22 times year-on-year, far exceeding the 2.5 times increase in Perp DEX daily trading volume from $9.1 billion to $23.1 billion during the same period (👇图2).

🎯 Why do I think this kind of outperformance carries more weight right now?

Because this is happening not during a market-wide frenzy of farming but in a period where trading volume is stabilizing, or even slightly cooling off.

While everyone's 'pulling back', Grvt is managing to attract that institutional-grade liquidity that's been sitting around. This indicates that its adoption has moved beyond mere point incentives and is starting to create genuine platform inertia.

What's even more thought-provoking is that the growth numbers recorded by Messari might just be Grvt's 'floor' rather than its ceiling.

As we all know, this data was gathered before Grvt officially launched on the spot market and before a complete DeFi yield pipeline was established. When a product evolves from a single contract tool to a comprehensive financial system covering the entire capital lifecycle, early market share expansion might just be the tip of the iceberg.

Right now, during this low-volume phase, it's the perfect time to see who can come out on top in a winner-takes-all market. I suggest keeping an eye on Grvt for the long haul, especially since they’re still issuing tokens and there are quite a few airdrop opportunities. Official word is that the TGE is set for June, so take note. 📊

#Crypto #PerpDEX #Grvt #Messari #DeFi