According to Martin Lee, markets insights lead at DWF Labs, the next major export from crypto to traditional finance (TradFi) will be perpetual contracts.
By Martin Lee|Edited by Cheyenne Ligon Jul 31, 2026, 1:00 p.m. 3 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this articleCopy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailMake preferred on Lee argues that real-world assets, like oil, are becoming increasingly incorporated into perpetual contracts. (Getty Images/Jordan Lye)Tokenization has gained significant recognition, particularly among major financial figures like Larry Fink. It is a focal point for many large financial institutions, with firms like Blackrock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton having tokenized various assets. To date, over $34 billion in assets have undergone tokenization, excluding around $300 billion in tokenized dollars. However, there exists a faster-growing mechanism that promises greater influence: the perpification of real-world assets (RWAs).
The volume of RWA perpetual contracts surged to $347 billion in May, marking a staggering 1,472-fold increase from the $230 million recorded at the beginning of 2025. Daily open interest on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) reached an all-time high of $4.5 billion in July. By the close of May, exchanges had facilitated $1.32 trillion in volume, which is 13 times the total for all of 2025.
Markets Should Operate 24/7
The swift rise in RWA perps is attributed to crypto traders seeking exposure to commodities and AI stocks, alongside the fact that perpetual contracts often outperform their traditional finance counterparts, such as futures and options.
Unlike traditional finance, where traders cannot respond to events outside of market hours, perpetual contracts operate around the clock. For instance, the Iran conflict was already reflected in oil perps on Hyperliquid before the CME reopened. Perpetual contracts provide a continuously operating market with a straightforward interface, while futures and options involve expiry dates and complex pricing models. Perps simplify this while retaining speculative upside potential.
Martin Lee serves as the Market Insights Lead for DWF Labs, a prominent market maker and investor in digital assets.
Derivatives Typically Outpace Spot Markets
Historically, volumes in derivatives markets tend to surpass those of their underlying spot markets, a trend evident across equities, commodities, and crypto. RWAs are no exception. For example, equity perpetual volumes on Hyperliquid were 13-20 times greater than tokenized equity spot volumes between March and May 2026.
While the number of traders is often more significant, with spot markets typically winning in most areas (except commodities), the figures reveal that tokenized equities have a larger user base: 180,845 wallets for tokenized equities versus 24,378 for equity perps. Nevertheless, perp holders are growing at approximately 33% monthly, compared to 17% for spot markets. Even in sectors where spot markets dominate, perps are quickly catching up.
Perpetual Contracts Foster Innovation
The rapid evolution of RWA perps can be attributed to the fast-paced experimentation they allow. The process of launching tokenized assets is often lengthy and legally intricate, whereas creating a new perp market is much quicker and simpler. This agility paves the way for innovative synthetic markets that offer new opportunities.
Pre-IPO markets exemplify this trend, granting retail investors access to promising private companies for the first time and providing institutions with enhanced price discovery. For instance, when Cerebras debuted on Nasdaq in May, Hyperliquid's pre-IPO perp priced it at $354, within about 1% of its opening price of $350, which was significantly more accurate than the $185 IPO price set the previous evening.
Perpetuals Will Dominate RWAs
At the beginning of the year, RWA perps constituted merely 1.3% of on-chain perp volume. Currently, they account for 31%. It is evident that RWAs are increasingly being integrated into perps, and we are particularly enthusiastic about how perps are transforming RWAs.
Crypto-native platforms have an inherent agility that large, regulated institutions lack. On-chain products that achieve significant traction are likely to gain acceptance in traditional finance. Robinhood has already begun offering RWA perps to its European clientele. Once this model gains popularity, other retail brokerages are expected to follow suit. It is not unreasonable to anticipate that perps could become the primary method for mass trading across all asset classes, extending beyond just crypto.
While tokenization was the initial major contribution of crypto to TradFi, perpetual contracts are poised to follow.
Note: The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.
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Tokenized RWA Hits $32.1B Record as MiCA Era Begins and Stablecoin Market Dips
Tokenized RWA Hits $32.1B Record as MiCA Era Begins and Stablecoin Market Dips
The transitional phase of MiCA concluded on July 1, leading to USDT delistings across EU exchanges, while tokenized equity volumes surged 288% to a record $11.3B.
By CoinDesk Research1 hour agoThe transitional phase of MiCA concluded on July 1, leading to USDT delistings across EU exchanges, while tokenized equity volumes surged 288% to a record $11.3B.
Why it matters:
The transitional phase of MiCA concluded on July 1, leading to USDT delistings across EU exchanges, while tokenized equity volumes surged 288% to a record $11.3B.
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