CT often compares the L2 airdrop era to perp DEX airdrops, claiming that perp DEX airdrops are dead and that the entire perp DEX meta is dead too, especially after the recent wave of shutdowns. But the perp DEX market is completely different from what we saw with L2s That's exactly why I believe holding perp DEX tokens in 2026 is comparable to holding CEX tokens in 2020 With perp DEXs, protocol revenue matters because it affects future fundraising potential and the size of a potential airdrop. With L2s, revenue wasn't really necessary. Everything revolved around how much funding a project had already raised and how much of that value airdrop farmers could capture Another key difference is product uniqueness. For L2s, it barely mattered. Every project was pitching the same idea: faster transactions, lower fees, and better throughput. Eventually, people stopped caring, and 99% of those L2s had nothing else to offer. That's what killed the meta The same thing is happening with perp DEXs now. When a founder pitches lower fees and faster order execution as the main selling points, it doesn't really matter anymore. No new perp DEX can handle the kind of trading volume Hyperliquid does without sufficient liquidity That market is already dominated by major players like Hyperliquid, Lighter, Aster, and Variational, which can handle massive trading volumes without having to rely on huge spreads If all a perp DEX has to offer is a unique points program and a future airdrop, it will simply follow the same path as Hotstuff or Dango Every perp DEX should be looking at emerging niches and building something specifically for those markets instead of recycling the same old pitches about low fees or points programs That could be RWAs, prop trading, or AI. Anything outside these new niches will struggle to attract interest Here's my current watchlist of perp DEXs without a token across different narratives. Feel free to add your own picks in the replies RWAs - @variational_io, @TxFlow_L1, @QFEX, @ImperialPerps, @nadoHQ, @popdex_ Prop firms - @VerticalPropX, @ProprXYZ, @VestExchange AI - @get_truenorth The perp DEX meta has long moved beyond the traditional crypto futures market, where the whole idea was to trade futures on a DEX without KYC instead of using a centralized exchange Tokenization is becoming an increasingly popular narrative, and more perp DEXs are offering solid ways to trade RWAs. TxFlow, Imperial, and QFEX are good examples Decentralized prop firms let you trade with account balances you'd probably never have access to in real life. Vertical, Propr, and other prop firms are building in this space The AI narrative is bringing more automation to perp DEXs, allowing AI agents to execute tasks on your behalf. TrueNorth is one project working on this Look for emerging market niches and get in early, before the noise starts. Maybe, over time, your thesis will pay off Personally, these are the early-stage perp DEXs I'm actively using right now: TxFlow - app.txflow.com/r/TXMUAR (5% fee discount) QFEX - qfex.com/@muar (10% fee discount) Imperial - imperial.trade/?armada=MUAR-…, imperial.trade/?armada=MUAR-… (2x points boost) TrueNorth - truenorth.xyz/ref/MUAR (10% discount)