For the first time, perpetual decentralized exchange (DEX) Hyperliquid saw its weekly trading volume in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) exceed the combined volume of every other asset category on the platform.

RWAs generated $25.1 billion in trading volume between July 13 and July 19, representing 52% of Hyperliquid's total weekly volume of $48.2 billion, according to Blockworks data. The category includes perpetual contracts tracking major US equities such as Nvidia, Apple, and Tesla, allowing crypto-native traders to gain price exposure to traditional stocks without holding the underlying shares.

"Hyperliquid's RWA market alone was larger than the combined crypto perpetual volume of every other DEX," wrote Lorenzo Valente, ARK Invest's research director for digital assets, in a Thursday X post.

The milestone underscores intensifying demand for tokenized assets on Hyperliquid. Over the past month, RWA holders increased by 32% to reach 1.25 million users, while the total value of tokenized RWAs climbed 3.5% to $36.7 billion, according to data aggregator RWA.xyz. That growth tracks a broader institutional tokenization push: BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized money market fund surpassed $2 billion in market capitalization earlier in 2025, while Franklin Templeton's OnChain US Government Money Fund expanded its multi-chain footprint, signaling that both crypto-native platforms and legacy asset managers are converging on the same infrastructure layer.

Hyperliquid generated $7.6 million in revenue over the past week, per DefiLlama, ranking third among all crypto applications by weekly revenue. The perp DEX trailed only stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle, which produced $112 million and $45 million, respectively.

Major "Structural Shift" for Crypto Markets

Crypto-native firms and traditional financial institutions have been broadening their tokenized asset offerings as they migrate more financial instruments onto blockchain networks. In March, the NYSE partnered with tokenization platform Securitize to develop blockchain-based stock trading infrastructure featuring 24/7 trading and settlement.

Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire described the growth in RWA trading on Hyperliquid as a "major structural shift" in crypto markets, marking a move "away from speculating on endogenous digital commodities," in a Friday X post.

Earlier in July, Pantera Capital argued that perpetual futures could emerge as a dominant trading instrument beyond crypto, citing structural advantages over traditional derivatives, including 24/7 trading, no contract expiries, simplified position management, and continuous price discovery.

Hyperliquid's expansion has also attracted the interest of Wall Street institutions. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent company of the NYSE, saw its CEO Jeffrey Sprecher urge regulators to establish a "level playing field" for launching 24/7 onchain perpetual futures contracts. The pace of any such regulatory framework will likely determine whether tokenized stock perps remain a crypto-native niche or scale into mainstream derivatives infrastructure.