Bankless · Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Lucas Schuermann, CEO of Variational, stated that while they compete in the on-chain trading space with platforms like Hyperliquid, their long-term vision is to compete with traditional retail brokers such as Robinhood and Interactive Brokers. He emphasized that Variational's strength lies in aggregating liquidity, including from TradFi, offering better execution and a more retail-friendly experience.
“We see ourselves competing longer term actually against Robinhood, interactive brokers, and these other broker-like platforms.”
“Exchanges are still a key piece of financial infrastructure, right? For example, I like to say we don't compete directly with hyperliquid.”
“We want to own the end client and provide the best user experience.”