US equity markets hold $62.2 trillion in value, 49.1% of the global total, according to SIFMA’s Capital Markets Fact Book. Use cases: what financial market structures in America actually doThe headline use case is raising money. Hedging lets an airline lock in fuel costs and an exporter lock in exchange rates, which converts market risk into a known expense line. Private markets are the sleeper opportunity. More American companies now stay private longer, and the infrastructure for trading private shares, pricing private credit, and reporting private fund performance is a decade behind its public counterpart.