The Meme Market Matures: Binance's 50x Bet on USELESS and DeFi's Quiet Takeover

Binance has introduced a new offering in its derivatives market, launching perpetual futures contracts for the memecoin USELESS with up to 50x leverage. The listing, effective on August 15, 2025, has already triggered a 6% price increase for the token and over $311,000 in short liquidations within the first hour, signaling heightened market interest and speculative activity.

The perpetual futures contract allows traders to speculate on the price movements of USELESS without holding the underlying asset, expanding the opportunities for both retail and institutional investors to engage in leveraged trading. This development is part of Binance’s broader strategy to capitalize on the memecoin market’s rapid volatility, a trend observed in tokens like The AI Prophecy (ACT) and Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT), which have seen surges of up to 1,000% in 2024 following similar listings.

USELESS, positioned as a “pointless” memecoin with no utility, is part of the LetsBonk ecosystem and has been marketed primarily through community engagement and social media. Its listing on Binance marks a validation of the token’s community-driven model and could amplify its visibility, attracting new investors and potentially fueling further speculative interest. However, the token’s reliance on social sentiment also makes it particularly vulnerable to pump-and-dump schemes, a concern raised by critics who argue that Binance’s listing practices favor insiders.

The listing underscores Binance’s continued focus on low-cap memecoins, with 60% of its 2024 listings coming from the Solana blockchain. These tokens, often with minimal initial prices and high throughput capabilities, have become a gateway for retail investors to enter the crypto market. The low transaction costs on Solana and the humorous branding of tokens like USELESS have made them accessible to a broader audience, particularly those who may find more traditional DeFi or utility-driven tokens intimidating.

Despite the speculative nature of these tokens, their listings on major exchanges like Binance offer a certain level of regulatory leeway, as memecoins are typically not classified as unregistered securities. However, ongoing scrutiny of Binance’s listing criteria and the transparency of its processes has led to calls for more stringent investor protections to prevent potential market manipulation and fraud.

Meanwhile, the DeFi sector has demonstrated resilience and growing competitiveness, with platforms like Hyperliquid surpassing traditional centralized players in revenue. On August 15, 2025, Hyperliquid achieved a record-breaking $29 billion in 24-hour trading volume, surpassing Circle in daily fees. The exchange’s native token, HYPE, rose 2% in value the same day, supported by institutional interest and custody support from Anchorage Digital Bank. This marks a significant shift toward decentralized derivatives trading, offering transparency, lower counterparty risk, and permissionless access.

The success of Hyperliquid and other DeFi platforms reflects broader advancements in layer-2 solutions and cross-chain interoperability, which have reduced transaction costs and increased scalability. These innovations have enabled DeFi to attract both retail and institutional investors, with total value locked across DeFi protocols estimated to exceed $100 billion in 2025. As regulatory frameworks in jurisdictions like Singapore and the EU evolve to accommodate decentralized finance, the sector is likely to see continued growth and integration with traditional financial markets.

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[1] Binance Lists USELESS for Perpetual Futures as Hyperliquid Achieves Record-Breaking Goal and Surpassing Circle in 24-hour Revenue (https://www.tekedia.com/binance-lists-useless-for-perpetual-futures-as-hyperliquid-achieves-record-breaking-goal-and-surpassing-circle-in-24-hour-revenue/?srsltid=AfmBOopeN_Kj0Qs6mkb1ljBeFsy4_q8BL7CWopRAuBuy8sVFrq8InR5-)