Variational Raises $50M for Real-World Asset Perpetual Futures

Variational, a peer-to-peer onchain derivatives trading protocol, has raised $50 million in a funding round led by Dragonfly, with participation from Bain Capital Crypto and Coinbase Ventures.

The company plans to use the funds to expand its derivatives trading services, introducing perpetual futures tied to real-world assets including gold, silver, copper, and West Texas Intermediate crude oil.

CEO Lucas V. Schuermann stated, "We believe RWA perpetuals will soon be the biggest contract class in DeFi, bigger than bitcoin and ether combined."

Variational has already processed over $200 billion in trading volume since its launch in 2025 and aims to build infrastructure to route liquidity directly from traditional markets, avoiding the need for isolated order books.