#Perpetuals
24 articles tagged #Perpetuals — curated RWA tokenization coverage.
Ondo Finance Airdrop guide: Steps to potential Reward
Ondo Finance has officially launched Ondo Perps, a decentralized perpetual trading platform designed to expand the protocol's ecosystem beyond its core tokenized treasury offerings. To incentivize early adoption and liquidity, the platform has introduced a points-based rewards program for active traders. Participants can earn a share of a weekly pool consisting of 5 million points by increasing their trading volume on the new exchange. Users are required to connect their digital wallets to the platform to begin executing trades and tracking their progress toward potential future airdrops. The initiative includes a referral program that grants a 5% discount on trading fees for new users who utilize specific invitation links. This move represents a strategic effort by Ondo Finance to capture market share in the decentralized derivatives sector while leveraging its existing brand presence. By gamifying user engagement through a points system, the protocol aims to drive consistent platform activity and increase total value locked within its broader financial infrastructure.
Arcus launches tokenized perp positions on Robinhood Chain
Arcus, a decentralized exchange developed by the team behind dYdX, has launched on the Robinhood Chain to enable the tokenization of perpetual futures positions into transferable ERC-20 tokens. This protocol allows users to utilize tokenized stocks, such as SPY, QQQ, and MAG7, as collateral for leveraged trading with a 50% loan-to-value ratio. By introducing products like pBTC3x and pHOOD3x, Arcus provides 3x leveraged exposure to Bitcoin and Robinhood stock tokens without requiring users to liquidate their underlying holdings. Since its inception, the platform has facilitated over $250 million in trading volume, with daily averages surpassing $33 million. The integration highlights a significant shift toward making sophisticated financial strategies native to blockchain infrastructure. Robinhood Chain has concurrently reached $596 million in total value locked, positioning itself among the top 15 chains by DeFi TVL. This development marks a notable advancement in bridging traditional equity markets with decentralized perpetual trading mechanisms.
XAUT: Lighter Adds Tokenized Gold as Perp Collateral
The decentralized exchange Lighter has integrated Tether Gold (XAUT) as collateral for perpetual futures trading, marking a significant expansion in the utility of tokenized precious metals within decentralized finance. By allowing users to leverage gold-backed tokens for derivatives, the platform creates a new demand channel for XAUT beyond simple store-of-value use cases. This development highlights the growing trend of utilizing real-world asset tokens as margin collateral in high-frequency trading environments. Currently, XAUT is trading at $4619.3, with technical indicators such as an RSI of 70.29 suggesting the asset is in overbought territory. Market analysts are monitoring the potential for price retracement toward the EMA50 support level of $4514.67 following a MACD death cross. The integration underscores the increasing interoperability between traditional commodity-backed tokens and complex DeFi trading protocols. This move effectively bridges the gap between physical gold exposure and the liquidity requirements of perpetual futures markets.
Onchain perps capture 15% of futures volume as centralized trading declines
Decentralized perpetual futures platforms have captured approximately 14.9% of the total perpetual trading volume, marking a significant shift in market dynamics over the past 18 months. While centralized exchange (CEX) volumes dropped to $4.41 trillion in May 2026—the lowest level since September 2024—onchain platforms demonstrated greater relative resilience. Hyperliquid currently leads the sector, maintaining 30-day trading volumes between $180 billion and $245 billion and previously commanding over 70% of the onchain market share. Emerging competitors such as Aster and Lighter are now challenging this dominance, with Aster capturing 14.9% of weekly onchain volume in September 2025. This transition is supported by data from DefiLlama and analysis from Pantera Capital, highlighting a growing institutional interest in decentralized infrastructure. The shift is largely driven by a preference for non-custodial trading, which allows users to retain control of their assets following historical CEX failures. This trend underscores a broader migration toward transparent, onchain financial primitives as the derivatives market undergoes a structural reshaping.
Ondo Perps unlocks tokenized gold and silver for perpetual trading
Ondo Finance has expanded its Ondo Perps platform to include tokenized gold and silver, enabling users to trade these precious metals via perpetual contracts. This integration leverages the OUSG token, which represents ownership in BlackRock's Short-Term Treasury ETF, as collateral for trading these commodities. By bridging traditional financial assets with decentralized finance, Ondo aims to provide 24/7 liquidity and increased capital efficiency for investors. The platform utilizes the Mantle blockchain to facilitate these transactions, ensuring high-speed execution and lower costs compared to traditional brokerage environments. This development marks a significant step in the evolution of RWA tokenization, as it allows users to maintain exposure to yield-bearing assets while simultaneously accessing commodity markets. The move reflects a broader industry trend of creating sophisticated financial instruments that combine stable, real-world collateral with the flexibility of perpetual trading. As more institutional-grade assets are brought on-chain, the utility of tokenized treasuries as a foundational layer for decentralized derivatives continues to grow.
Hyperliquid RWA contracts grow to 32% of trading activity in Q2
Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange, experienced a significant surge in real-world asset (RWA) trading activity during the second quarter of 2026. RWA perpetual contracts grew to represent 32.2% of the platform's total trading volume, up from 20.7% in the previous quarter and a mere 1.8% in Q4 2025. This surge culminated in $213 billion of RWA trading volume during Q2, with RWAs becoming the exchange's largest trading category by mid-July. The protocol generated $169 million in quarterly revenue, with RWA trading contributing 6.6% of this total. Furthermore, the platform returned $141 million to HYPE token holders through buybacks, highlighting the economic impact of this growth. The number of RWA holders on the platform increased by 56% to reach 1.6 million investors. This trend underscores the rapidly expanding demand for decentralized perpetual exposure to tokenized assets, signaling a shift in market preference toward onchain RWA derivatives.
Bitget Tops DeFiLlama Tokenized Equities Liquidity Rankings As Market Nears $2B
A recent report by DeFiLlama identifies Bitget as the leading platform for liquidity and execution quality within the tokenized equities market. The sector has experienced significant growth in 2026, with total market capitalization rising over 140% from $814 million to nearly $2 billion. DeFiLlama’s evaluation criteria included brokerage integration, reserve verification, dividend treatment, and settlement models. Bitget outperformed competitors by achieving the smallest median bid-ask spread of 0.83 basis points and providing the highest top-of-book liquidity. The exchange also demonstrated superior depth across 36 stock perpetuals and eight commodity perpetuals. Furthermore, Bitget’s Reality rTokens saw substantial adoption, recording over $1.16 billion in cumulative trading volume between June and July 2026. This trend highlights a growing investor demand for efficient blockchain-based exposure to publicly listed companies, particularly in the technology and semiconductor sectors.
MILESTONE | Real-World Assets (RWAs) Match Bitcoin Volumes on the Largest Perpetuals Exchanges
Trading volumes for perpetual futures tied to tokenized real-world assets have surged to reach 99.2% of Bitcoin perpetual futures volume on Hyperliquid and Binance. This rapid growth indicates a significant shift in crypto derivatives markets, where Bitcoin has historically maintained dominance. The surge is driven by increased investor demand for around-the-clock, leveraged exposure to traditional financial assets like U.S. equities, commodities, and stock indices. Hyperliquid has notably seen RWA-linked perpetuals become its largest trading category, surpassing traditional cryptocurrency contracts for the first time. This trend is supported by broader institutional developments, including the SEC's approval for Nasdaq to trade tokenized securities and the DTCC's upcoming integration with the Stellar blockchain. These milestones highlight the evolution of tokenization from simple spot assets into complex, high-volume derivatives segments. The data, provided by digital asset infrastructure firm Talos, underscores the successful bridging of traditional financial markets with blockchain-native trading infrastructure.
RWA perps will outpace tokenization
The financial landscape is shifting as perpetual futures (perps) for real-world assets (RWAs) begin to outpace traditional tokenization in volume and growth. While tokenized assets have reached $34 billion in value, RWA perp volume surged to $347 billion in May 2026, representing a 1,472x increase from early 2025. Platforms like Hyperliquid are facilitating this growth by offering 24/7 trading access, which allows market participants to react to global events outside of traditional market hours. Unlike tokenized spot assets, which face significant legal and regulatory hurdles, perp markets are easier to launch and provide synthetic exposure to commodities and AI equities. Data shows that while spot tokenization maintains a larger user base of 180,845 wallets, perp holders are growing at a faster monthly rate of 33%. The accuracy of these synthetic markets is evidenced by pre-IPO perp pricing, which successfully predicted the Cerebras Nasdaq listing price within 1%. As retail brokerages like Robinhood begin integrating these products, perps are positioned to become the primary vehicle for trading diverse asset classes globally.
RWAs become Hyperliquid’s largest trading category
Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetual exchange, reached a significant milestone as tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) became its largest trading category for the first time. Between July 13 and July 19, RWA trading volume on the platform hit $25.1 billion, representing 52% of the exchange's total weekly volume of $48.2 billion. This surge highlights a structural shift in market demand, with industry experts noting that Hyperliquid's RWA market volume surpassed the combined crypto perpetual volume of all other decentralized exchanges. The growth aligns with broader market trends, as RWA.xyz reports a 32% increase in RWA holders to 1.25 million users and a total tokenized RWA value of $36.7 billion. This shift toward tokenized assets is supported by both crypto-native firms and traditional financial institutions seeking to leverage blockchain for 24/7 trading and settlement. The platform's success has generated $7.6 million in weekly revenue, positioning it as a top-tier crypto application. This trend underscores the increasing integration of traditional financial instruments into decentralized trading environments, moving beyond purely endogenous digital commodities.
RWA Perpetuals Now Capture One-Third of On
RWA perpetuals have surged to capture nearly 35% of total on-chain perpetual trading volume in early Q3 2026, a dramatic increase from just 0.16% in Q4 2025. June volume for these assets reached approximately $118 billion across 652 available markets, with public equities dominating the sector. Currently, public equities account for 46% of open interest, totaling roughly $2 billion in outstanding positions. Traders are increasingly utilizing these instruments to gain leveraged, 24/7 exposure to traditional companies, bypassing the limitations of standard brokerage hours. Infrastructure like Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework has facilitated this growth by enabling the deployment of custom markets backed by staked HYPE tokens. While platforms like Kraken and Solana are also expanding their tokenized equity offerings, the rapid adoption introduces unique risks, including oracle manipulation and liquidity gaps during traditional market closures. The recent $18 million exploit of the Ostium protocol highlights the critical vulnerability of relying on external price feeds for synthetic RWA exposure. This shift signifies a major evolution in how capital interacts with traditional assets on-chain, prioritizing synthetic accessibility over direct ownership.
Public equities take 46% of RWA perps as traders avoid newer tokens — Here’s why!
Public equities have emerged as the dominant force in the RWA perpetuals market, capturing 46% of total open interest. With approximately $2 billion in open interest and $2.2 billion in 24-hour trading volume, stock-based perpetual contracts significantly outperform other asset classes like precious metals and oil. This trend is driven by traders seeking leveraged, 24/7 exposure to established listed companies rather than newer, more volatile RWA tokens. Data indicates that newer token launches have struggled, with only 7.1% of projects launched since 2024 trading above their Token Generation Event price. Furthermore, among 113 projects with a market cap exceeding $100 million, only eight remain profitable for early investors. This performance gap highlights a broader market shift toward established assets as investors avoid the high sell pressure associated with recent token offerings. While major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have returned to profit, the overall market sentiment remains cautious regarding the sustainability of newer RWA-linked assets.
Ondo: enables tokenized stocks as perp collateral - 21 Jul 2026
Ondo Finance has integrated its tokenized stock products, specifically SPYon and QQQon, as productive collateral for its decentralized perpetual exchange, Ondo Perps. This development allows traders to utilize tokenized representations of S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 tracking assets to open and maintain leveraged positions. By enabling these assets as collateral, Ondo aims to increase the utility of its perps ecosystem and attract greater capital inflows and trading volume. The rollout is currently limited to these two specific assets, representing a strategic, targeted expansion of the platform's collateral capabilities. This update does not alter the underlying ONDO token mechanics or supply, focusing instead on enhancing the functional interoperability between Ondo's RWA offerings and its derivatives trading venue. The move signifies a broader trend in the RWA sector where tokenized equities are increasingly being leveraged within DeFi protocols to improve capital efficiency. Ultimately, this integration bridges the gap between traditional equity exposure and decentralized perpetual trading, potentially setting a precedent for how RWA-backed collateral is utilized in on-chain finance.
Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 markets surge to nearly 50% of perp volume as onchain stock trading grows
Hyperliquid's HIP-3 markets have experienced a significant surge in adoption, with their share of total perpetual futures volume rising from approximately 2% at the beginning of the year to roughly 50% currently. This growth highlights a broader trend of increasing on-chain demand for tokenized stock trading and synthetic assets within decentralized finance ecosystems. By facilitating the trading of traditional financial instruments directly on the Hyperliquid blockchain, the protocol is capturing a substantial portion of user activity previously reserved for centralized exchanges. This shift demonstrates that market participants are increasingly comfortable utilizing high-performance decentralized platforms for sophisticated financial products. The rapid expansion of HIP-3 volume underscores the growing maturity of on-chain infrastructure capable of supporting high-frequency trading of real-world asset derivatives. As liquidity continues to migrate toward these decentralized venues, the competitive landscape for traditional brokerage services faces mounting pressure from blockchain-native alternatives. This development serves as a critical indicator of the accelerating integration between traditional equity markets and decentralized ledger technology.
Ondo Joins Perps Race Against Hyperliquid, Coinbase — Allows Tokenized Stocks As Collateral
Ondo has officially launched its on-chain perpetual trading platform, Ondo Perps, enabling users to trade tokenized equities and commodities with up to 20x leverage. The platform distinguishes itself by allowing traders to use tokenized stocks directly as collateral, eliminating the need to convert assets into stablecoins before opening positions. During its private beta phase, the platform facilitated nearly $2 billion in trading volume, and it recorded over $100 million in volume on its first day of public availability. The product lineup includes major equities like Nvidia, Coinbase, and SpaceX, alongside commodities such as gold, silver, and oil. This launch marks a strategic expansion for Ondo under CEO Ian De Bode, following the passing of founder Nathan Allman. The platform is currently accessible to global traders, excluding those in the U.S., Panama, and other restricted jurisdictions. By integrating real-world equity exposure with decentralized finance mechanics, Ondo aims to compete directly with established decentralized exchanges like Hyperliquid and centralized platforms like Coinbase. This development highlights the growing trend of bridging traditional financial assets with high-leverage crypto trading infrastructure.
RWA Perpetuals Trading Surpasses $100B as Tokenized Equities Lead Growth
Monthly trading volume for real-world asset (RWA) perpetual futures surpassed $100 billion for the first time in June 2026, signaling a major milestone for on-chain financial markets. Data from DeFiLlama indicates that volume grew from approximately $22 billion in January to over $120 billion by June. This expansion is primarily driven by tokenized equities and indices, including products tracking Nvidia, SpaceX, SK Hynix, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq-100. While this growth highlights strong demand for blockchain-based access to traditional markets, analysts note that much of this activity involves synthetic or derivative exposure rather than direct ownership of underlying assets. CoinGecko reports that Q1 2026 volume alone reached $524 billion, already exceeding the total volume recorded throughout 2025. Major institutions like BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Franklin Templeton continue to advance tokenization initiatives to improve settlement efficiency and collateral mobility. This trend underscores a critical transition where traders increasingly utilize blockchain infrastructure to bypass traditional brokerage systems for 24/7 market access.
Crypto Traders Shift to TradFi as Tokenized Stock Trading Hits $54B
Trading volume for tokenized traditional stock perpetual futures on crypto exchanges reached $54 billion in June 2026, signaling a major shift in investor behavior. Binance emerged as the dominant platform, processing $53.8 billion of this volume, which accounts for nearly 80% of the global market share. The surge was primarily driven by demand for SpaceX stock, which contributed $36 billion in volume, representing two-thirds of the total market activity. Other equities, including Strategy, Circle, and Intel, also saw increased participation as traders diversify beyond native crypto assets. This growth represents a significant expansion, with monthly volumes rising from $831 million in July 2025 to $34 billion by May 2026. The trend highlights a preference for the 24/7 accessibility, high leverage, and global reach offered by crypto exchanges compared to traditional stock markets. This shift underscores the growing convergence between TradFi and digital asset infrastructure, positioning tokenized derivatives as a substantial component of the broader RWA ecosystem.
Tokenized TradFi Perpetuals Top $1.32 Trillion as Exchanges Expand RWA Offerings
A CoinGecko report reveals that crypto exchanges are aggressively integrating tokenized TradFi and RWA products, with perpetual futures volume reaching $1.32 trillion in 2026. This shift represents a structural change where traditional assets like commodities, equities, and ETFs are repackaged for 24/7 leveraged trading on crypto-native platforms. Between January 2025 and May 2026, spot RWA trading volume surged, while perpetual futures experienced a massive 1,472x increase in monthly volume. Exchanges like MEXC, Gate.io, and Kraken have led the listing race, while Binance, MEXC, and Hyperliquid dominate total trading volume. The growth is largely driven by speculative demand for high-velocity instruments, particularly in tokenized commodities and AI-linked stocks like Nvidia and Tesla. While this migration offers users 24/7 access to familiar assets, it introduces new risks through crypto-native liquidation mechanisms and high leverage. Ultimately, this trend signals that RWA tokenization is evolving from a niche experiment into a core component of global market infrastructure.