Coinmetrics Report: The Competition of Tokenized Stocks and Their Future Development Path

Author: Tanay Ved, Coinmetrics

Compiled by: Chopper, Foresight News

Cryptocurrency exchanges are moving beyond their positioning as single-asset trading platforms, transforming into "universal exchanges" that integrate spot trading, derivatives, tokenized assets, and on-chain infrastructure within the same system. Leading trading platforms are now building complete technology stacks to bridge the native crypto market with traditional financial markets.

Kraken and its parent company Payward exemplify this transformation. Leveraging the xStocks product and their self-developed Ethereum Layer 2 network Ink, along with the recently announced compliant on-chain derivatives layout, Payward is constructing a complete technical system for tokenized stocks. In September, Nasdaq's venture capital division announced a deepened partnership with Payward to jointly advance the infrastructure for tokenized stocks; at the same time, Payward plans to launch regulated, licensed on-chain perpetual futures for U.S. users using Hyperliquid's HIP-3.

These moves come at a time when the SEC has released the "Innovation Exemption Rule." This indicates that exchanges, issuers, and market infrastructure service providers are collectively advancing the tokenized stock sector from different directions. This article will outline the trading volume of tokenized stocks at leading exchanges this year, the development scale of RWA perpetual contracts, interpret the impact of the SEC's innovation exemption rule, and discuss the competitive progress in creating a "universal exchange."

The Battle for Tokenized Stocks

Exchanges are entering the tokenized stock sector through various paths, but their common goal is to integrate spot trading, derivatives, and blockchain infrastructure for tokenized stocks, building a broader multi-asset trading system.

• Kraken/Payward: Relying on xStocks to provide spot exposure and planning to launch domestic derivatives in the U.S. through the Hyperliquid HIP-3 solution. xStocks is issued by Backed Finance, granting users economic benefits corresponding to the underlying stocks, with dividends distributed through a re-interest mechanism. Kraken's collaboration with Nasdaq will aid in developing tokenized products that retain shareholder rights as a parallel product line to xStocks.
• Binance launched bStocks in June, reaching an asset management scale of $500 million within seven weeks. Similar to xStocks, bStocks are certificate-like products representing financial benefits of the underlying stocks, without voting rights, and redemption can only occur during traditional market trading hours.
• Coinbase issues tokenized stocks based on the B20 standard, specifically designed for real-world assets on the Base chain. Coinbase claims each token corresponds to a direct claim on the underlying stocks, with the underlying assets held by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) regulated by Alpaca in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM); only "authorized holders" who complete KYC can redeem assets and exercise voting rights, while all holders can receive dividend rights.
• Hyperliquid positions itself as an infrastructure and liquidity layer for third-party developers to build applications. Since August, the platform has launched part of the xStocks spot market, allowing developers to deploy perpetual contracts for stocks, indices, and commodities using HIP-3. Kraken plans to launch compliant perpetual contracts for U.S. users on Hyperliquid through its Bitnomial subsidiary, regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), making it a typical case of this model.
• Robinhood launched stock tokens on the Robinhood Chain in July. The product structure is debt securities issued by a Jersey SPV; dividends are distributed through an on-chain multiplier mechanism, currently without voting rights or shareholder rights, but Robinhood states that future roadmaps will support physical stock redemption and voting rights.

Other platforms are also entering this field: OKX launched tokenized stocks on the OKX X Layer public chain; Backpack launched related products on the Solana chain, adopting a U.S. brokerage structure, which is closer to traditional shareholder rights compared to most similar products.

Tokenized Stocks and Perpetual Contracts: Current Progress

Despite a general decline in cryptocurrency trading volume this year, the trading volume of tokenized stocks and RWA perpetual futures on major platforms has seen significant growth.

Since the beginning of this year, the trading volume of spot tokenized stocks on platforms like xStocks, Ondo, and bStocks has surged, particularly driven by Binance's entry. After Binance launched bStocks in June, the related trading volume skyrocketed from nearly zero to over $3.7 billion within just a few months. The increase in asset issuance scale has also boosted the activity of decentralized exchanges and automated market makers (AMMs) in the secondary market, especially on Uniswap v4 on the Robinhood Chain, where stock token-related business continues to grow.

Trading volume of tokenized stocks at various exchanges, data source: Talos CM Market Data

The changes in the perpetual futures market are even more pronounced. The share of stocks and commodities in the futures trading volume continues to rise; this year, the trading volume of this category at Binance and Hyperliquid has increased to over 20% and 40%, respectively. Exchanges are continuously enriching their revenue sources, reducing reliance on pure cryptocurrency trading, which is expected to mitigate cyclical fluctuations in business; as the market gradually shifts to 24/7 trading, this will create a more robust growth engine.

Proportion of RWA perpetual contract trading volume to total perpetual contract trading volume at various exchanges, data source: Talos CM Market Data

Kraken's xStocks alone has already accumulated a considerable scale on the Ethereum and Solana networks. In September, the number of active addresses interacting with xStocks surged, with asset distribution and use cases continuously expanding, covering centralized/on-chain trading platforms, liquidity pools, and lending protocols.

Number of active addresses for xStocks, data source: Talos CM Network Data Pro

SEC Innovation Exemption: Who Will Benefit?

On September 17, 2026, the SEC launched a five-year innovation exemption rule: qualified tokenized securities trading platforms (TSVs) can conduct on-chain trading of tokenized stocks through licensed automated market makers (AMMs) without registering as traditional exchanges. To meet the exemption criteria, tokens must possess traditional shareholder rights, including dividends and voting rights, and must be issued by the company or on behalf of the company, or by a non-affiliated third party without objection from the issuer.

Infrastructure solutions that align well with the SEC's framework include: Securitize and Superstate's issuer-native + transfer agent model, Dinari's custody framework, and DTCC's own pilot for DTC custody of tokenized securities. The whitelist pool model of Uniswap v4 is also expected to benefit. Meanwhile, Nasdaq's equity token design scheme, along with Kraken and Coinbase's B20, points to exchanges developing products that can fully retain shareholder rights.

However, the xStocks, bStocks, and Robinhood stock tokens that currently contribute the majority of trading volume do not fall within the coverage of this exemption rule under the existing framework.

The overall market response has been positive, with tokens and equity assets related to tokenized stock infrastructure generally rising, regardless of whether their underlying structures directly meet the exemption criteria.

Conclusion

Cryptocurrency 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. The growth of xStocks, bStocks, Coinbase B20, Robinhood stock tokens, and RWA perpetual contracts demonstrates that the market demand for both spot and derivative exposure to stocks is forming.

The tokenized model covers a wide range, from issuer-native equity and custody income certificates to pure derivatives. Various solutions are, to some extent, exchanging ownership for greater accessibility. The industry is still in its early stages, and it remains uncertain which model will ultimately prevail. For exchanges, this means a more diversified revenue structure; for the entire market, the boundaries between crypto assets and traditional assets are becoming increasingly blurred.