A detailed new analysis from CoinGecko examines how major cryptocurrency platforms have moved well beyond digital assets over the past 17 months. The report covers developments from January 2025 through May 2026 and tracks the introduction of real-world assets (RWAs) and traditional finance (TradFi) products—such as tokenized equities, ETFs, commodities, forex, and pre-IPO contracts—on centralized and decentralized exchanges.
During this period, exchanges listed as many as 358 RWAs across spot and perpetual futures markets combined.
MEXC led with the widest selection, offering 199 spot RWAs and 159 perpetual contracts on traditional assets.
Gate.io followed with 224 total offerings (78 spot and 146 perps), while WEEX listed 192 (84 spot and 108 perps).
Most other platforms emphasized perpetuals, with only one or two spot RWA listings each on average. Spot RWAs averaged 37 listings per exchange, compared with 75 for perpetuals.
The standout trend was explosive growth in perpetual futures trading of these RWAs.
Volumes multiplied more than 1,400 times, rising from just $0.23 billion early in 2025 to $347.17 billion in May 2026.
Total TradFi perpetuals volume exceeded $1.32 trillion in the first five months of 2026, compared with $104.21 billion for all of 2025.
Perpetual contracts generated over eight times the volume of spot RWAs during 2026, with perps first surpassing spot in November 2025.
Tokenized equity perpetuals showed particularly strong momentum.
Their monthly trading volume climbed from roughly $831 million in July 2025 to $34 billion in May 2026—nearly a 40-fold increase.
The cumulative volume for these products in 2026 already exceeded the full-year total from 2025.
Leading tickers included Nvidia, Tesla, and Micron, with the latter experiencing a dramatic 17-fold volume spike in a single month.
Circle also ranked among the most active. Despite the growth, tokenized equity activity remained under 1% of conventional stock market trading volumes.
Pre-IPO markets also gained significant traction after a quieter period in late 2025.
CoinGecko further noted in the research report that volumes surged sharply in 2026, with SpaceX emerging as the clear leader—accounting for 43.55% of activity and generating $305 million in monthly volume during May.
OpenAI and Anthropic together represented nearly 96% of that month’s pre-IPO volume.
The CoinGecko report added that price discovery in these markets proved remarkably accurate: SpaceX pre-IPO perpetual prices ranged from $155 to $170 across major platforms before converging to the $160–$165 range.
They rose above $180 in the days immediately before the June 2026 Nasdaq listing and ultimately closed at an average of $157—only about 4.7% above the $150 opening price—despite some volatility on listing day.
Binance captured the largest share of TradFi perpetuals volume (rising to 35.9% in 2026), followed by MEXC and Hyperliquid. Several exchanges, including Bybit and Kraken, began offering pre-IPOs in June 2026, while one platform exited the segment.
CoinGecko’s research highlights that regulatory progress, new tokenized asset issuers, and improved distribution infrastructure have accelerated this expansion.
Perpetual futures have become the dominant format for trading these hybrid products, and successful price convergence in pre-IPO markets demonstrates growing market maturity. The CoinGecko report has now concluded that while tokenized equities remain a small fraction of traditional volumes, the rapid scaling of activity on crypto platforms signals deeper integration between traditional finance and digital trading venues, offering investors broader 24/7 access to familiar asset classes.