Binance VIP Head Catherine Chen: Hedge Funds Explore Arbitrage Due to 24/7 Trading
Catherine Chen, Head of Binance VIP and Institutional Business, stated in an interview with The Block at Token2049 that more traditional hedge funds are actively showing interest in trading products related to traditional financial instruments on crypto platforms, due to arbitrage opportunities arising from 24/7 trading and weekend price discovery.
Funds that were previously on the sidelines are now becoming more proactive due to the arbitrage space created by cash stocks and perpetual contracts in the crypto space. Chen pointed out that market depth has improved, and the combination of around-the-clock trading and weekend price discovery makes these strategies more practical. She also noted that when similar tools are offered on second- and third-tier exchanges or in DeFi spaces, liquidity often fails to meet hedge fund demands.
Trading volume for traditional financial-related tools on Binance is rapidly increasing but remains relatively small compared to traditional markets. The assets under management for cash stocks have grown from about $800 million to $900 million to $1.4 billion; TradFi perpetual contract trading volume has risen from about $20 billion to $30 billion per month at the beginning of this year to approximately $400 billion every 30 days.
Similar changes are also occurring on the market's other end. Chen mentioned that their crypto-native clients are incorporating more tools linked to traditional financial products to build hybrid investment portfolios. She believes that although these clients may not be very active in TradFi, they still see the potential to cross over and begin participating more actively.
Chen emphasized that the current process is still in its early stages and does not expect a surge in capital inflows in the short term, with the next 12 to 18 months being worth watching. She believes that tokenization and cross-asset trading are still in their infancy, and regulatory clarity is more likely to determine the ultimate integration of traditional and crypto trading than a single platform's product mix.
Hedge funds, as buyers, are arbitraging through the 24/7 liquidity and price discovery of crypto venues, with funds flowing from traditional market time constraints to around-the-clock venues. Beneficiaries are platforms like Binance that provide depth and continuous trading, while traditional exchanges with limited trading hours and second-tier venues with insufficient liquidity are under pressure. The event-driven nature stems from product maturation and depth improvement rather than a single market shock.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Catherine Chen previously worked at Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan for about 15 years, focusing on structured derivatives and derivative solutions, and joined Binance in 2021 as the head of VIP and institutional business. She has driven institutional-grade products, including solutions connecting traditional financial institutions with crypto, and has launched several innovative products at Binance. Binance began offering perpetual contracts related to stocks, ETFs, and commodities in early 2026, with TradFi perpetual contract trading volume increasing from $20 billion to $30 billion per month to about $400 billion every 30 days within months.
On the capital front, traditional hedge funds are interested in arbitraging cash stocks and perpetual contracts due to the 24/7 trading and weekend price discovery of crypto venues, directing funds to platforms with depth and continuous liquidity. At the same time, crypto-native clients are incorporating TradFi-linked tools into hybrid portfolios, creating a two-way flow. Binance's cash stock AUM has grown from about $800 million to $900 million to $1.4 billion, indicating a transition from observation to actual allocation, but still far smaller than traditional market sizes.
Similar attempts by CME and other traditional exchanges to extend trading hours, as well as early layouts of crypto platforms for commodity and stock perpetual contracts. We are currently in the early expansion phase of the intersection between traditional funds and crypto venues, with regulatory clarity seen by Chen as a more critical determinant than the products themselves.
Essentially, this is a restructuring of the industry chain. 24/7 trading and weekend price discovery shift the pricing and liquidity of traditional assets, which were originally constrained by trading hours, to crypto venues, enabling arbitrage and hedging activities to occur across markets. The mechanism lies in improved depth reducing execution costs, continuous trading changing price discovery timing, and funds flowing from time-constrained traditional channels to platforms that can provide around-the-clock depth, while crypto-native funds reverse allocate traditional-linked tools.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
- Trading hours determine arbitrage windows; around-the-clock trading rewrites discovery timing.
- Depth determines whether funds enter; early growth does not equal scale.
- Regulatory clarity determines integration speed; products are just the entry point.