Peer-to-peer trading startup Variational raises $50 million for real-world perps in funding round led by Dragonfly
Key takeaways
- The company is initially offering perpetual futures on real-world assets including oil, silver, copper and gold.By Olivier Acuna|Edited by Sheldon Reback May 21, 2026, 1:57 p.m.
- The money will be used to expand the Cayman Islands-based company's derivatives trading services, it said in a statement released Thursday.
- "We believe RWA perpetuals will soon be the biggest contract class in decentralized finance (DeFi), bigger than bitcoin and ether combined,” Lucas V.
The company is initially offering perpetual futures on real-world assets including oil, silver, copper and gold.By Olivier Acuna|Edited by Sheldon Reback May 21, 2026, 1:57 p.m. 2 min read Make preferred on Variational co-founders Lucas V. Schuerman and Edward Yu. (Lucas Schuerman/Variational)What to know: Variational, an onchain derivatives trading protocol, said it raised $50 million in a round led by Dragonfly with participation from Bain Capital Crypto and Coinbase Ventures.The company plans to use the funding to expand its derivatives trading services, including its range of perpetual futures tied to real-world assets such as gold, silver, copper and WTI crude oil.Variational, which says it has processed more than $200 billion in trading volume since 2025, aims to aggregate liquidity from traditional and onchain markets to offer over 100 onchain perpetual contracts with so-called TradFi-grade depth.Variational, a peer-to-peer onchain derivatives trading protocol, said it raised $50 million in a round led by global investment fund Dragonfy with participation from companies including Bain Capital Crypto and Coinbase Ventures.
The money will be used to expand the Cayman Islands-based company's derivatives trading services, it said in a statement released Thursday. The raise comes just as Variational introduces perpetual futures tied to real-world assets (RWAs) such as gold, silver, copper and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil.
"We believe RWA perpetuals will soon be the biggest contract class in decentralized finance (DeFi), bigger than bitcoin and ether combined,” Lucas V. Schuermann, CEO and co-founder at Variational, told CoinDesk.