When stock markets are closed, on-chain transactions become the only available channel for trading and pricing. Written by: Tanay Ved Translated by: Luffy, Foresight News TL;DR Amid escalating geopolitical tensions, Bitcoin has remained resilient, rising approximately 7% since the sudden shock on February 28th. Usage of tokenized gold products such as PAXG and XAUT has increased significantly, with investors allocating gold exposure through on-chain and exchange channels. Hyperliquid's HIP-3 perpetual futures have become a 24/7 barometer of macroeconomic risk, with precious metals, energy, and equity perpetual contracts accounting for a significant share of total trading volume and open interest. Crude oil futures on Hyperliquid have demonstrated rapid price reassessment in response to supply shocks, showcasing how on-chain channels can lead price discovery when traditional markets are closed. On February 28th, news of the joint US-Israel attack on Iran spread globally. The day coincided with a Saturday, when traditional stock and commodity markets were closed, preventing investors from reacting to this major geopolitical shock, which has now entered its second week. However, traditional macro assets and digital assets, from tokenized gold to perpetual oil futures, are trading in real time on the blockchain. At a time when macro assets are in focus, on-chain markets are the only trading venues open 24/7. In this article, we will analyze on-chain activity of tokenized gold products such as PAXG and XAUT, as well as HIP-3-based perpetual commodity and stock futures contracts on Hyperliquid, to understand how 24/7 markets absorb and reflect geopolitical pressure. Market Reactions to Geopolitical Pressure Following the news of the US-Iran conflict, gold prices quickly approached record highs, while Bitcoin fell. This is a typical initial shock reaction: gold as a safe-haven asset, and Bitcoin as a risk asset. As the conflict escalated from an unexpected event into a known risk, gold prices retreated slightly, while Bitcoin stabilized and rebounded, regaining the $70,000 mark in a highly volatile environment, demonstrating relative strength. (Data source: Coin Metrics) From March 2nd to 4th, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw continuous net inflows, providing support for Bitcoin prices. This indicates that the market sentiment is not simply one of risk aversion, but rather a more complex dynamic: Bitcoin's strength may reflect oversold correction, technical positioning, and investors' willingness to hold high-beta assets even amidst high geopolitical risks. Tokenized Gold While the spot and futures gold markets were closed, PAXG and XAUT continued trading throughout the weekend, providing investors with real-time on-chain gold exposure. Paxos Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT) are tokenized gold products, with each token corresponding to one ounce of gold, issued and settled on the Ethereum blockchain in ERC-20 token form. These two factors account for the majority of the tokenized gold market ($6.1 billion), allowing investors to enter and exit gold exposure without waiting for traditional markets to open. Tokenized gold trading volume since the US-Iran conflict, data source: Coin Metrics In 2026, escalating geopolitical and macroeconomic risks—including the arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro, tariff uncertainty, and the escalation of Middle East conflicts—drove gold demand surged. In early February, total tokenized gold spot trading volume on major centralized exchanges exceeded $1.8 billion; as tensions escalated between Iran, Israel, and the United States, trading volume again surpassed $1 billion. Ethereum on-chain transaction volume also exceeded $1.4 billion twice, with Tether's XAUT accounting for the majority of activity. The simultaneous growth in active addresses and transaction volume indicates a rising demand for on-chain gold, used for hedging, wealth preservation, DeFi collateral, and DEX liquidity trading pairs. HIP-3 Perpetual Futures on Hyperliquid Similarly, on-chain perpetual futures on Hyperliquid have become a key trading channel. This is thanks to Hyperliquid's HIP-3 market: the protocol allows anyone to create perpetual futures for any asset without permission (simply staking 500,000 HYPE) and provides reliable price feeds, including crude oil, gold, silver, stock indices, etc., 24/7 with no expiration date. The largest deployers include Trade [XYZ] (offering perpetual futures for US stocks and commodities) and Ventuals (offering unlisted equities and alternative assets such as Anthropic and SpaceX). Hyperliquid HIP-3 perpetual contract trading volume year-to-date, data source: Coin Metrics Total trading volume in the HIP-3 market has exceeded $95 billion, with open interest recently reaching a record high of $1.2 billion, representing approximately 20% of Hyperliquid's total open interest. Non-crypto assets such as crude oil, gold, silver, and stocks account for a significant share of the market, with precious metals and energy perpetual contracts contributing billions of dollars in daily trading volume and their open interest continuing to rise. This growth signifies the platform's evolution from a niche DeFi venue to a 24/7 exchange in the traditional market, generating increasing protocol fee revenue from the non-crypto market. Commodity Boom Rises In HIP-3, based on cumulative trading volume in 2026, the largest market is gradually concentrating on commodities. Silver and gold perpetual contracts lead all Real Asset (RWA) contracts by a wide margin, followed by crude oil (CL-USDC). This is driven by concerns about supply disruptions arising from Middle East conflicts.Crude Oil Contract Rankings Continue to Climb Top 10 Markets by Trading Volume on Hyperliquid HIP-3 in 2026 (Source: Coin Metrics) While the average trading volume of these markets is still relatively small compared to institutional futures, it is quite considerable for an on-chain platform primarily driven by retail investors: Gold Perpetual: Approx. $2700 Silver Perpetual: Approx. $3400 Crude Oil (CL): Approx. $2800 XYZ100 (Nasdaq 100): Approx. $1100 How is crude oil priced when traditional markets are closed? Hyperliquid has launched several perpetual futures contracts linked to crude oil, including WTI crude oil (CL), Brent crude oil (BRENTOIL), and the US Oil Composite Index (USOIL), each tracking different benchmark oil prices. These contracts trade 24/7 on-chain in the order book, using stablecoins (USDC/USDH) as margin and settlement assets. Each crude oil commodity operates as an independent market with its own liquidity, funding rates, and index sources. Therefore, even when all are benchmarked against crude oil, slight price discrepancies can occur. Crude oil futures prices, data source: Coin Metrics When the US and Israel attacked Iranian facilities, disrupted supply routes, and raised concerns about the Strait of Hormuz, traditional futures markets closed, while on-chain crude oil perpetual contracts underwent price revaluation within minutes. As seen on the 1-minute candlestick chart, Hyperliquid's CL-USDC contract reflected oil prices in real time over the weekend, surging to $109 at one point until traditional markets reopened. During the same period, the market's open interest and trading volume climbed to approximately $175 million and $1.9 billion respectively, becoming the second-largest market on the platform by trading volume, surpassing Ethereum perpetual contracts. Traders use it to express their assessment of supply shocks. WTI crude oil futures trading volume and open interest on Hyperliquid, data source: Coin Metrics Equity Exposure While funds primarily flowed into commodities during this period, HIP-3 also offered perpetual contracts linked to stock indices and individual stocks, allowing traders to operate long and short positions in stocks around the clock. Trading volumes in these markets remain lower than in crude oil and precious metals, but they complement HIP-3's positioning: Gold and crude oil are used for direct macro hedging Equity contracts are used for risk appetite allocation independent of crypto price fluctuations Several exchanges, including Kraken, are also launching similar initiatives, offering tokenized stocks and perpetual futures based on these tokens to achieve 24-hour equity exposure. Conclusion Recent geopolitical conflicts have provided a glimpse into the practical application of 24/7 on-chain finance, offering a limited but insightful perspective. During periods when traditional markets were closed, crypto infrastructure supported trading in tokenized gold and perpetual futures, demonstrating that even though blockchain is still in its early stages, relatively small in scale, and limited by liquidity and regulatory uncertainty, it can function as an all-weather market infrastructure. Platforms like Hyperliquid and various tokenized asset products show that this infrastructure is expanding from pure crypto exposure to areas such as precious metals, energy, and equities.