Perpetual futures, originally designed for cryptocurrencies, are now being utilized by crypto exchanges to provide continuous access to stocks, commodities, and indexes.
By Olivier Acuna|Edited by Nikhilesh De Aug 2, 2026, 1:00 p.m. 5 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this articleCopy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailMake preferred on Reverse Bridge. New York City. (Trevor Hayes/CoinDesk)SummaryShow- Crypto exchanges are rapidly integrating with traditional finance by introducing perpetual futures linked to stocks, indexes, and commodities, achieving a trading volume of $1.32 trillion in the first five months of 2026.
- These perpetual futures allow traders to access price movements of assets like the S&P 500 around the clock without owning the actual shares, catering to institutional investors looking for efficiency and retail investors seeking access.
- Leading platforms, including Coinbase and Binance, are developing comprehensive trading models that combine cryptocurrencies, equities, and derivatives, even using tokenized stocks as collateral, despite larger funds remaining wary of decentralized platforms.
Approximately two years ago, Wall Street began incorporating cryptocurrency into traditional finance through exchange-traded funds (ETFs), custody solutions, and regulated investment products. Now, crypto exchanges are reversing this trend by offering traditional assets such as stocks, indexes, and commodities via perpetual futures.
In the first five months of 2026, crypto exchanges recorded $1.32 trillion in perpetual futures related to conventional assets, a significant increase from $104.21 billion throughout 2025, as reported by CoinGecko. Monthly trading volumes surged from $230 million in January 2025 to $347.17 billion by May 2026.
Bitget noted that this trend has transformed its business landscape.
“A year ago, we didn't even have a perpetual stock product; 100% of our volume came from crypto,” stated Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, in a conversation with CoinDesk. “Now, roughly 28% of our total trading volume originates from the stock sector, primarily from stock perpetuals.”
Shunyet Jan, a trading market structure executive at Binance, indicated that conventional exchanges are beginning to embrace the products and trading schedules pioneered by cryptocurrency platforms.
"The innovation of perps started in the crypto world," Jan remarked. "But then it could also migrate over to TradFi."
This shift is being referred to by some industry leaders as the “reverse bridge.” Rather than traditional finance facilitating access to crypto, crypto exchanges are now providing pathways to Wall Street markets.
Typically, the actual shares do not transfer to crypto exchanges. Instead, stock perpetuals are contracts that track share prices without conferring ownership, voting rights, or the protections associated with purchasing shares through a regulated broker. Nevertheless, there is a growing interest in contracts that offer constant price exposure without the necessity of actual share ownership.
An instance of this trend occurred when S&P Dow Jones Indices licensed the S&P 500 benchmark to Trade XYZ, a platform based on the Hyperliquid blockchain. This collaboration resulted in the first officially sanctioned on-chain S&P 500 perpetual futures contract, enabling non-U.S. participants to trade the American equity benchmark 24/7.
From January 2025 to May 2026, crypto trading platforms have introduced approximately 360 traditional finance assets across both spot and perpetual futures, according to the CoinGecko report. The platforms surveyed averaged around 75 traditional asset perpetual listings each, in contrast to only 37 spot listings.
Unlike standard futures, perpetual contracts do not have an expiration date and utilize funding rates to balance payments between traders, keeping the contract price aligned with the asset it tracks.
Trading Beyond Market Hours
For international trading operations, the limitations of traditional stock exchange hours present challenges that extend beyond just opening times.
Institutions already have access to brokerages and over-the-counter trading desks, according to Augie Ilag, an investor at CMT Digital. For these firms, the attraction of perpetual contracts lies in the ability to adjust or hedge positions without waiting for U.S. market hours.
“For institutions, this isn't really an access story,” Ilag explained. “They already have brokerages and OTC desks; the issue is friction.”
Retail investors outside the United States may have different motivations for utilizing these products. Ilag noted that investors in markets dominated by a limited selection of local stocks often lack straightforward avenues to invest in companies like Tesla or gain exposure to the S&P 500.
“So it's friction for institutions and genuine access for retail,” he added, acknowledging the absence of data on how trading activities are distributed between these two groups.
Although stock perpetuals remain relatively small compared to traditional equities, the CoinGecko report indicates that tokenized stock-perpetual trading rose from $831 million in July 2025 to $34 billion in May 2026, yet still represented less than 1% of the volume in the underlying stock markets.
Unified Trading Experience
Continuous trading is just one aspect of the plans exchanges have for integrating traditional assets. Both Coinbase and Binance aim to provide a unified platform for trading cryptocurrencies, stocks, and other products through a single account, a model they have termed an “everything exchange” or financial super app.
Coinbase is gearing up to offer U.K. customers access to equities and derivatives alongside cryptocurrencies, having secured investment services authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority based on the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).
This authorization permits Coinbase to provide traditional shares to retail clients as well as crypto, equity, and commodity perpetuals to qualified institutional and advanced traders, according to the company.
“Perpetual futures are a core focus of what Coinbase is trying to bring to market,” said Keith Grose, U.K. CEO at Coinbase, in an interview with CoinDesk. “We're really focused on being the ‘everything exchange.’”
Grose added that the long-term vision involves consolidating spot crypto, perpetual futures, traditional equities, and eventually tokenized versions of other assets into one platform, enabling customers to use positions across various markets as collateral or to secure loans against their equities.
Collateralizing Stocks
Binance is exploring another dimension of this model by allowing select high-net-worth clients to leverage tokenized stock positions as collateral for other trades.
“We recognize you could have Nvidia or SpaceX stock, a tokenized version,” Jan explained. “You could actually have a tokenized stock put on our exchange, and we'll use that as collateral for you to trade something else. It could be a crypto derivative.”
Jan noted that Binance has expanded its system, which previously allowed customers to use crypto as collateral, to include traditional assets as well.
“We have also replicated what the U.S. market achieved in over 40 years in just two weeks,” Jan stated. “But now that’s expanded to TradFi assets.”
However, large funds are still hesitant to take on substantial long-term risks with decentralized exchanges. Ilag mentioned that funds would require clear regulations regarding custody and clearing, as well as protections akin to those provided by central clearing and custody services tailored for institutional investors.
“That will take years,” Ilag remarked. “In the near term, I'm skeptical about inflows to decentralized venues.”
He anticipates that licensed centralized exchanges settling through crypto systems will attract more institutional business soon. Concerns regarding hacks and smart contract security continue to impede decentralized platforms, he noted.
“What most people want isn't the ideology of decentralization but a strong product, like a perp on a traditional index, with a license and guarantees behind it,” Ilag emphasized.
Crypto exchanges still face challenges in acquiring benchmark data, licenses, banks, custodians, and market makers to effectively offer traditional products.
“The assets are why people show up, as everyone wants the exposure,” Ilag concluded. “The lasting advantage is what this does to market structure.”
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The Evolution of the Crypto CEX Landscape: A Case Study on Binance
The Evolution of the Crypto CEX Landscape: A Case Study on Binance
Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.
By CoinDesk ResearchJun 29, 2026Commissioned byBinanceBinance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.
Why it matters:
Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.
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