Meet the Architects of Modern Crypto Derivatives: Top 10 People Driving Innovation in 2025
From perpetual swaps to on-chain futures, discover the key figures driving the evolution of crypto derivatives and the lessons you can learn from them.
TL;DR
Crypto derivatives now drive most of the market’s trading volume. They shape everything from liquidity to leverage and price discovery across exchanges.
From Arthur Hayes’ invention of perpetual swaps to Antonio Juliano’s push for on-chain futures, the space has been built by a few bold thinkers.
Regulatory progress from leaders like Brian Armstrong is opening the door for more transparent and compliant derivatives trading, while DeFi innovators such as Andre Cronje and Tristan Frizza are proving that decentralized platforms can compete with centralized ones in both speed and scale.
These ten people didn’t just build products, they built the foundation of how you experience volatility, risk, and opportunity in crypto.
The Hidden Architects Behind Crypto’s Fastest-Moving Market
Crypto derivatives have quietly become the heartbeat of the entire crypto ecosystem. They are where most of the big money flows, where leverage amplifies every move, and where true market sentiment shows up.
But behind the flashing charts and liquidation alerts are the people who built this market, the innovators, developers, and leaders who shaped how you trade today.
Understanding who they are helps you understand why the market behaves the way it does. They influenced how perpetual futures work, how risk is handled, and how regulations evolve. Their ideas live inside every trade you make.
Here are ten people whose work has had the biggest impact on how modern crypto derivatives work, and what every beginner trader can learn from them.
1. Arthur Hayes – The Perpetual Swap Pioneer
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, is the mind behind the perpetual swap, a futures contract with no expiry date that lets traders hold leveraged positions indefinitely.
Before BitMEX launched in 2014, derivatives were complex and limited to institutions. Hayes changed that by creating a funding-rate mechanism that keeps perpetual prices close to spot markets, making leveraged trading smoother and fairer for everyone.
Hayes turned derivatives from niche tools into the market’s core engine. His perpetual swap model is now the global standard, powering more than 75% of crypto derivatives trading volume and defining how exchanges manage leverage and liquidity.
2. Changpeng Zhao (CZ) - The Globalizer of Crypto Derivatives
CZ, founder of Binance, transformed the exchange into the world’s largest derivatives platform. With Binance Futures, launched in 2019, he brought fast execution, deep liquidity, and margin options once reserved for pros to everyday traders.
He expanded access globally and pushed competitors to innovate faster, while educating users about derivatives and responsible trading.
CZ made derivatives mainstream. By combining accessibility with professional-grade tools, he turned leverage trading into a staple of crypto markets, and set the benchmark for liquidity and execution across exchanges.
3. Brian Armstrong - The Institutional Bridge for Regulated Derivatives
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, took a different path. Instead of chasing offshore volume, he built the Coinbase Derivatives Exchange after acquiring FairX, making regulated futures available to both retail and institutional users.
He’s proven that crypto can grow under a compliant framework without losing innovation.
Armstrong built the bridge between traditional finance and crypto. His focus on transparency and regulation legitimized derivatives trading for mainstream investors and paved the way for safer, institutional-grade products.
4. Ben Zhou - The Retail Derivatives Powerhouse
Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit, saw that retail traders needed a faster, simpler, and more reliable way to trade derivatives. His background in forex helped him design a user-friendly platform that delivers professional tools without the complexity.
Under his leadership, Bybit became one of the top global derivatives exchanges, known for its reliability and strong liquidity even in volatile markets.
Zhou democratized access to derivatives. He made high-speed, high-liquidity trading available to retail users worldwide, helping millions learn, compete, and grow in the derivatives space.
5. Antonio Juliano - The On-Chain Futures Innovator
Antonio Juliano, founder of dYdX, brought derivatives fully on-chain. He built decentralized perpetual futures that match centralized exchange speed, but run entirely on smart contracts and user custody.
dYdX’s move to a Cosmos-based Layer 1 chain made trading faster and more decentralized, cutting gas fees and improving execution.
Juliano showed the world that decentralized futures are not just possible, they can compete. His work helped shape the DeFi derivatives ecosystem, influencing protocols like Hyperliquid, Drift, and Vertex to innovate further.
6. Andre Cronje - The DeFi Derivatives Visionary
Andre Cronje, the creator of Yearn Finance and a key contributor to Fantom, helped define how derivatives function within DeFi.
He pioneered yield optimization, synthetic assets, and decentralized perpetuals, tools that power the on-chain derivatives systems you see today.
Impact: Cronje’s frameworks inspired major DeFi protocols like Synthetix and GMX. His work turned DeFi into a real alternative to centralized finance, showing that risk, leverage, and yield can be managed transparently on-chain.
7. Tristan Frizza - The DeFi Risk Engineer
Tristan Frizza, founder of Zeta Markets, is building the infrastructure for institutional-grade DeFi derivatives on Solana.
Zeta delivers near-instant options and futures trading using advanced portfolio margining and custom risk engines, innovations that make on-chain trading both fast and efficient.
Frizza is narrowing the gap between DeFi and CeFi performance. His work makes decentralized derivatives markets more competitive, efficient, and appealing to both professional and retail traders.
8. Paolo Ardoino - The Infrastructure Force Behind Derivatives Liquidity
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether and CTO of Bitfinex, built the liquidity foundation that powers nearly all crypto derivatives.
Under his leadership, USDT became the universal collateral and settlement currency across major futures and perpetual platforms, giving traders stable pricing and easy access to leverage.
Ardoino’s work stabilized the derivatives ecosystem. By making USDT the standard for collateral, he unified liquidity across platforms, fueling growth and reducing volatility risk.
9. Tone Vays - The Analyst Who Brought Discipline to Crypto Derivatives Trading
Tone Vays, a former Wall Street trader, became one of crypto’s leading educators on derivatives, risk, and technical analysis.
Through his YouTube channel, conferences, and courses, he’s taught traders how to manage leverage, control emotions, and analyze market cycles.
Vays professionalized crypto trading culture. He brought discipline and structure into a space once ruled by hype, teaching thousands to manage risk and approach derivatives with strategy, not speculation.
10. Do Kwon - The Catalyst for Risk Awareness in DeFi Derivatives
Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, built TerraUSD (UST) and Mirror Protocol, which experimented with decentralized synthetic assets.
When Terra collapsed in 2022, it exposed the hidden risks of under-collateralization, sparking a complete rethinking of DeFi risk management.
Kwon’s failure reshaped DeFi’s future. His collapse forced the sector to prioritize safety, transparency, and sustainable design, leading to stronger, more resilient derivatives protocols today.
How We Selected These Industry Leaders
Choosing the top figures in crypto derivatives wasn’t about fame, it was about impact. Each person on this list has shaped how modern derivatives work, from creating new contract types to setting regulatory standards that reach far beyond their own platforms.
We based our selection on three key factors:
1. Innovation and Contribution:
Did they introduce something new, a product, model, or technology, that changed how derivatives work? This includes breakthroughs like perpetual swaps, on-chain futures, or risk management frameworks that became industry standards.
2. Market Influence:
How deeply have their ideas or platforms shaped market structure? We looked at leaders whose work directly impacted liquidity, trading volume, or global adoption, whether through centralized exchanges, DeFi platforms, or stablecoin infrastructure.
3. Long-Term Significance:
Are their contributions still relevant today? Beyond short-term hype, we focused on people whose innovations continue to guide how traders, institutions, and regulators approach crypto derivatives.
These are the builders and thinkers whose decisions continue to shape how risk, liquidity, and opportunity connect in crypto’s fastest-moving market.
Conclusion: The Builders Behind the Volatility
Crypto derivatives aren’t just lines of code, they’re built on ideas and experiments from people who reimagined finance. From Arthur Hayes’ perpetual swap to Antonio Juliano’s on-chain innovation, every leap forward came from someone pushing the limits of trading.
Behind every funding rate or futures curve lies a design philosophy that balances innovation with risk. The best traders don’t just follow price, they understand the mechanics and psychology driving it.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any asset, or an endorsement of any specific strategy. The crypto market is highly volatile and risky. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.