By TanayVed, coinmetrics
Compiled by Chopper, Foresight News
Crypto exchanges are moving away from a single crypto asset trading platform to an “all-powerful exchange” that integrates spot, derivatives, tokenized assets and on-chain infrastructure in one system. Head trading platforms are now building a complete technology stack, opening up native crypto markets and traditional financial markets.
The transformation of Kraken and its parent company Payward is highly representative. Relying on xStocks products, the self-developed Ethereum L2 network Ink, and the recently announced compliance on-chain derivatives layout, Payward is building a complete tokenized stock technology system. In September, the Nasdaq Venture Capital Department announced a deepening cooperation with Payward to jointly advance the tokenized stock infrastructure; at the same time, Payward plans to launch regulated, licensed on-chain perpetual futures for US users with Hyperliquid's HIP-3.
These actions coincide with the issuance of the sec's Innovation Exemption Rule. It also shows that exchanges, issuers and market infrastructure providers are working together to advance the tokenized stock circuit from different directions. This article will comb through the development scale of tokenized stock trading and RWA perpetual contracts on the top exchanges this year, interpret the impact of the sec's innovative exemption rules, and the competitive progress of this industry to create a "universal exchange".
The battle for the tokenized stock track
Exchanges have different paths to the tokenized stock track, but the common goal is to integrate tokenized stock spot, derivatives and blockchain infrastructure to build a broader multi-asset trading system.
Kraken/Payward: Relying on xStocks to provide spot exposure and plans to launch US native derivatives through the Hyperliquid HIP-3 program. xStocks is issued by Backed Finance, which gives users the economic benefits of the corresponding stocks, and the dividends are paid out by way of restatement. Kraken's partnership with Nasdaq will enable it to develop a tokenized product that retains shareholder interest as a parallel product line for xStocks.
Binance launched bStocks in June with $500 million in AUM within seven weeks of launch. Similar to xStocks, bStocks belongs to the voucher category, which represents the financial income of the corresponding underlying stocks, without voting rights, and redemption operations can only be carried out during traditional stock market trading hours.
Coinbase issues tokenized shares based on the B20 standard, which is built for real-world assets on the Base chain. Coinbase states that each token corresponds to a direct claim on the underlying shares, which are held in custody by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) regulated by Alpaca in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM); only “authorized holders” of the completed KYC can redeem assets and exercise voting rights, and all holders can obtain dividend equity.
Hyperliquid locates the infrastructure and mobility layer for third-party developers to build applications. Since August, the platform has launched some xStocks spot markets, and developers can use HIP-3 to deploy stocks, indices, and commodity perpetual contracts. Kraken's plan to launch a compliant perpetual contract in Hyperliquid for US users through its Bitnomial subsidiary, which is regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), is the most typical example of this model.
Robinhood launched stock tokens on Robinhood Chain in July. The product structure is debt securities issued by Jersey SPV; dividends are issued through the on-chain multiplier mechanism, and there are currently no voting rights and shareholders' rights, but Robinhood said that the future roadmap will support physical share redemption and voting rights.
Other platforms have also entered this field: OKX launched tokenized stocks on the OKX X Layer public chain; Backpack launched related products on the Solana chain, using the US brokerage structure, which is closer to traditional shareholders' equity than most similar products.
Tokenized Shares and Perpetual Contracts: Current Progress
Although the overall trading volume of cryptocurrencies has declined this year, the scale of tokenized stock spot and RWA perpetual futures on major platforms has achieved significant growth.
Trading volume of spot tokenized equities on platforms such as xStocks, Ondo and bStocks has grown significantly this year, driven in particular by the admission of Binance. After Binance launched bStocks in June, the volume of related transactions increased from almost zero to more than $3.7 billion in just a few months. The increase in the scale of asset issuance has also driven the secondary market activity of decentralized exchanges and automated market makers (AMMs), especially Uniswap v4 on Robinhood Chain, and the business related to stock tokens has continued to grow.
Tokenized stock spot trading volume by exchange, data source: Talos CM Market Data
Changes in the perpetual futures market are more pronounced. Perpetual contracts of stocks and commodities continue to account for a higher proportion of futures trading volume; this year, the proportion of Binance and Hyperliquid in this category has risen to more than 20% and 40%, respectively. Exchanges continue to enrich revenue streams and reduce reliance on pure cryptocurrency trading, which is expected to mitigate cyclical fluctuations in business; this will form a more robust growth engine as the market gradually shifts to 24/7 trading.
Proportion of RWA perpetual contract trading volume to total perpetual contract trading volume for each exchange, data source: Talos CM Market Data
Kraken's xStocks alone has amassed significant scale on Ethereum and the Solana network. In September, the number of active addresses participating in xStocks interactions increased significantly, and asset distribution and usage scenarios continued to expand, covering centralized/on-chain trading platforms, capital pools, and lending agreements.
number of active addresses for xStocks, data source: Talos CM Network Data Pro
Sec Innovation Exemptions: Who Benefits?
On September 17, 2026, the sec introduced a five-year innovation waiver: a qualified tokenized securities trading platform (TSV) that allows tokenized shares to be traded on-chain through a licensed automated market maker (AMM) without the need to register as a traditional exchange. To qualify for the exemption, the tokens must have traditional shareholder rights, including dividends and voting rights, and must be issued by or on behalf of the company, or by an unaffiliated third party with no objection from the issuer.
Infrastructure options that align well with the sec framework include Securitize's issuer native + transfer agent model with Superstate, the Dinari escrow architecture, and DTCC's own DTC escrow securities tokenization pilot. Uniswap v4 in whitelisted pool mode is also expected to benefit. At the same time, Nasdaq's equity token design scheme, Kraken and Coinbase's B20, are pointing to the exchange's own product model that can fully retain shareholders' equity.
The xStocks, bStocks and Robinhood share tokens that currently contribute the vast majority of trading volume are not covered by this set of exemption rules according to the existing structure.
The market as a whole reacted positively, with tokens and equity assets related to tokenized stock infrastructure generally rising, regardless of whether its underlying structure directly meets the requirements of the exemption clause.
Conclusion
Crypto trading platforms are transforming into multi-asset platforms, and traditional assets are beginning to adopt the 24/7, programmable architecture pioneered by the crypto industry. xStocks, bStocks, Coinbase B20, Robinhood stock tokens, and the growth of RWA perpetual contracts are evidence of the emerging demand for spot and derivatives for stock exposure.
The tokenization model covers a wide range, from the issuer's native equity, custodian income vouchers, to pure derivatives. Various schemes have traded ownership for greater accessibility to some extent. The industry is still in its early stages, and it is unclear which model will prevail in the end. For exchanges, this means a more diversified revenue structure; for the market as a whole, the boundary between crypto-assets and traditional assets is blurring.