A hike in Hong Kong became part of crypto market history after helping spark one of the most influential products in digital assets trading: the perpetual future.
In a report from CoinDesk, Arthur Hayes and co-founder Ben Delo recalled the early days of BitMEX in 2016, when the exchange was a small startup looking for a product that could gain traction in a still-early market. Delo described the company as “scrappy” at the time and said the team’s approach was simple: launch the product, then let traders decide whether it had value.
That product was the perpetual future, a derivative that became widely used across crypto markets. The CoinDesk piece frames the launch as a turning point for crypto trading, though the report’s details suggest its significance was not fully obvious at the time. BitMEX was operating in a far less mature market than today’s crypto exchanges, and the decision to move quickly reflected a startup mindset more than a fully developed industry playbook.
The story also underscores how much crypto market structure has evolved over the past decade. In 2016, derivatives trading in digital assets was still experimental compared with more established financial markets. BitMEX’s willingness to introduce a new instrument helped set the stage for the broader expansion of perpetual futures, which later became a core part of crypto trading activity.
While the CoinDesk report focuses on the origin story, it does not provide a full market analysis or quantify the product’s present-day impact. Even so, the recollection offers a useful reminder of how a single product decision, made by a small team in Hong Kong, contributed to the way crypto traders now access leverage and hedge risk.
The account is also a snapshot of a period when crypto exchanges could still shape market conventions quickly. That is less true in today’s more competitive and regulated environment, but the influence of early products remains visible across the sector.
For market participants, the takeaway is historical rather than directional. The launch of perpetual futures did not just create a new trading tool. It helped define an entire segment of crypto derivatives that later exchanges would build on. As CoinDesk’s reporting shows, some of the most durable innovations in crypto began with modest teams, limited resources and a willingness to test ideas in public.
