Public equities lead growth as RWA tokenization takes off on crypto exchanges

Public equities have emerged as the dominant force in the Real World Asset (RWA) market, currently accounting for 46% of the sector with over $2 billion in open interest as of July 2026. Daily trading volumes for these tokenized assets have surpassed $2.4 billion, driven largely by retail and whale-sized traders seeking leveraged, permissionless access to popular stocks. Platforms like Hyperliquid, Solana, and the Robinhood Chain have seen significant adoption, while centralized exchanges like Kraken and Bybit are expanding their offerings to include hundreds of US-based stocks and ETFs. The total number of RWA holders has surged by 30% in the last month, reaching 1.2 million wallets. Despite this growth, the market remains largely unregulated, raising ongoing questions regarding jurisdiction, custody, and ownership rights. Currently, equity perpetual futures have overtaken traditional commodities like gold and oil as the most active contracts on platforms like HIP-3. This shift highlights a broader trend where tokenization is primarily serving as a vehicle for high-frequency trading rather than for less liquid asset classes.