1000x Why Perps Are Taking Over | Kaledora Kiernan-Linn
Apr 2, 2026
Kaledora Kiernan-Linn, founder of Ostium and former professional ballet dancer turned crypto entrepreneur. She talks about building a fast‑growing trading platform, the rise of cross-asset perpetuals, why perps are gaining market share, Ostium’s broker-layer architecture and liquidity design, and how online, nimble traders are reshaping markets.
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Ballet Gave Founder Skills And Bad Habits
- Kaledora Fontana Kiernan-Linn transitioned from five years at the Royal Danish Ballet to finance and entrepreneurship after 20 years of dance training.
- She credits ballet for discipline, long-term focus, and toughness but warns it fostered perfectionism that conflicted with startup speed.
Conviction Hell Beats Pivot Hell
- Ostium began with a single long-term market thesis rather than multiple pivots and endured "conviction hell" building until the market matured.
- The team purposefully built in stealth for years, betting on a paradigm shift they expected to unfold over a decade.
COVID Shift Created A New Volatility Regime
- Post‑COVID markets changed: higher, less predictable inflation and interest rates plus more geopolitical instability driving volatility.
- That macro regime makes event-driven and cross‑asset trading more central for traders.
