New Fire Group Chief Economist Fu Peng: Bitcoin perpetual contracts essentially involve large investors holding long-term positions to collect rent, while retail investors use leverage to go long and pay fees.

ChainCatcher News, Xinhuo Group’s new Chief Economist Fu Peng tweeted that the underlying business model of Bitcoin perpetual contracts is essentially the same as the “rollover fee/overnight fee” in traditional financial gold and industrial commodity spot trading.

Fu Peng pointed out that, in the past, gold exchanges settled daily forced liquidations, with longs and shorts paying each other rollover fees. When retail investors held large leveraged long positions, the rollover fee became the platform’s most stable and covert source of income. Today, Bitcoin spot platforms mainly rely on perpetual contracts, with funding rates settled every 8 hours between longs and shorts. When longs dominate, retail investors holding long positions continuously pay funding rates to shorts.

Although the platform does not directly charge this fee, it significantly increases trading activity, open interest, and liquidity, indirectly generating substantial fee income and creating a stable and massive cash flow. Essentially, it is a business model where large accounts/institutions hold long-term positions to “collect rent,” retail investors pay for leverage longs, and the platform indirectly siphons off fees.