Cryptocurrency exchanges are no longer just platforms for trading cryptocurrencies. The cryptocurrency data aggregator CoinGecko published the “Report on Traditional Financial Instruments on Crypto Exchanges” (TradFi on Crypto Exchanges Report 2026), highlighting a major shift: exchanges are actively integrating traditional financial instruments, transforming into hybrid platforms. And native cryptocurrencies have given way to an era of tokenized stocks, exchange-traded fund (ETF) shares, bonds, and even pre-IPO instruments, writes RBC.
Trading volumes of traditional assets (real-world assets, RWA) in the form of tokens or perpetual futures (“perps”) on crypto exchanges are growing rapidly. According to CoinGecko, in May 2026, trading volume for perpetual futures on traditional assets rose to $347 billion, with the bulk of that volume coming from Binance, MEXC, and Hyperliquid. This is more than the total for the entire previous year.
MEXC emerged as the clear leader in terms of the number of new traditional instruments, listing 358 RWA assets (199 spot and 159 futures instruments) between January 2025 and May 2026.
It is followed by Gate.io with 224 assets, including 146 futures instruments versus 78 spot instruments. Next is WEEX with 84 spot and 108 perpetual assets. Interestingly, major exchanges such as Binance and OKX, on the other hand, have focused on the perpetual futures market, virtually ignoring the spot RWA segment.
“On average, each exchange had 37 spot RWA listings compared to 75 perpetuals,” CoinGecko analysts calculated.
The growing interest in traditional financial (TradFi) instruments is also confirmed by trading volume data. From September 2025 to May 2026, trading volume for perpetual futures on tokenized real-world assets increased 1,472-fold.
While demand for RWA and TradFi products was comparable in 2025, 2026 saw a sharp shift toward futures. Since the beginning of the year, exchanges have processed more than $1.32 trillion in trading volume for futures on tokenized assets, which is more than 12 times the total for all of 2025 ($104.21 billion).
Blue-chip stocks were the key driver. Trading volume in tokenized stocks reached $34 billion in May, increasing nearly 40-fold since July 2025. Instruments based on Micron Technology shares stood out in particular, with trading volume soaring from $736 million in April to $13.16 billion in May, coinciding with the frenzy surrounding the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
The “Star” of the Futures Market
Binance is the clear leader with a volume of $498.66 billion, increasing its market share from 24.6% to 35.9%. MEXC processed $323.86 billion, maintaining a steady 22% market share. The most unexpected player was Hyperliquid—a decentralized exchange running on its own blockchain of the same name—which processed $272.39 billion, with its market share jumping from 6.0% to 19.8%.
“Hyperliquid emerged as the star of the futures segment. The exchange not only ranked among the top three in trading volume for tokenized stocks and ETFs but also temporarily monopolized the pre-IPO contracts market,” the report notes; however, with the arrival of major centralized crypto exchanges, Hyperliquid’s leadership in this niche (pre-IPO) was undermined.
Pre-IPO on the Crypto Market
The study devotes special attention to the pre-IPO market, which experienced a boom ahead of the listing of SpaceX (SPCX) shares on NASDAQ (June 12). In May 2026, trading volume in contracts for shares of Elon Musk’s company totaled $305 million, accounting for a 43.5% share of the pre-IPO market among such futures.
“SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic together accounted for 95.62% of the total monthly pre-IPO trading volume in May,” the authors note.
Interestingly, CoinGecko analysts also tracked price discrepancies for the same asset ahead of the listing. A week before SpaceX’s IPO, prices ranged from $155 to $170. However, as the IPO date approached, quotes on different platforms converged to roughly the same value.
Interestingly, the final closing price for pre-IPO contracts settled at $157, which is about 5% higher than the official opening price of SpaceX shares ($150) on NASDAQ.
Against the backdrop of a bear market
TradFi’s expansion into crypto exchanges is taking place against the backdrop of a challenging environment and a general collapse of the crypto market in 2026. The first half of 2026 proved to be a severe test for digital assets. Bitcoin is trading around $60,000, down 30% since the start of the year; Ethereum (ETH) has plummeted 45% to $1,620; and the total market capitalization has fallen below $2.05 trillion.
At the same time, institutional investors are withdrawing capital. Outflows from U.S. Bitcoin-based spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) exceeded $5.2 billion over the first half of the year, while outflows from ETH-based ETFs totaled $1.4 billion. The negative trend peaked in May–June, when Bitcoin hit a new annual low below $60,000.
Miners are operating at a loss: the cost of mining a single coin is $78,000–84,000, which is 25% higher than the market price. According to experts, about 20% of miners are operating at a loss, and their daily revenues have fallen by 30% since the beginning of the year, to $30 million.
The stablecoin sector showed the smallest growth. Its market capitalization rose by 1.5%, to $312 billion. However, the DeFi sector lost nearly 40% of its deposits—the total amount of user funds fell below $70 billion.
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