Perpetual futures linked to tokenized stocks and commodities generated nearly as much trading volume as Bitcoin perpetuals across two of the largest platforms offering these products over the past week, according to digital asset trading technology firm Talos.

Combined seven-day volume across tracked real-world asset (RWA) perpetual contracts reached $61.7 billion, equivalent to 99.2% of Bitcoin perpetual volume on Hyperliquid and Binance — the venues where most of this trading activity is concentrated. Talos shared the figures with Cointelegraph in an email summary, citing a data snapshot captured on Thursday. Tokenized equity contracts accounted for 57.8% of the total, followed by commodities at 28.2%.

The total value of onchain RWAs has grown to approximately $36.8 billion, excluding stablecoins, according to data from RWA.xyz. Crypto exchanges have increasingly expanded their offerings beyond digital currencies, listing tokenized stocks and commodities alongside traditional crypto assets. Major financial institutions have contributed to the category's growth, including BlackRock, which launched its BUIDL tokenized treasury fund on Ethereum in March 2024, and Franklin Templeton, which expanded its onchain money market fund (BENJI) across multiple blockchains.

During the week of July 13 to July 19, Hyperliquid alone recorded $25.1 billion in RWA perpetual trading volume, surpassing the combined volume of all other perpetual categories on its platform. Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire noted in a July 24 X post that growing RWA trading activity on Hyperliquid signals crypto markets are moving "away from speculating on endogenous digital commodities."

Trend Accelerates Into the Current Week

Early data for the current week indicates the upward trend is continuing. RWA perpetual trading volume has already reached $37.2 billion, exceeding Bitcoin perpetual volume by approximately 9%, according to Talos' market dashboard.

Within that total, equity-linked contracts accounted for $22.8 billion, followed by commodities at $9.1 billion and indexes at $4.2 billion. ETFs contributed roughly $338 million, while foreign exchange, pre-IPO, and other RWA contracts made up the remainder.

Earlier in July, Pantera Capital said perpetual futures could become a dominant trading instrument beyond crypto, citing advantages including 24/7 trading availability, the absence of contract expirations, simpler position management, and continuous price discovery. Perpetual futures were introduced to crypto by BitMEX in 2016 and use a funding rate mechanism to keep contract prices aligned with the underlying asset — a structure that does not exist on traditional derivatives exchanges.

Hyperliquid's expansion has also attracted attention from traditional finance. Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher, whose company owns the New York Stock Exchange, recently urged regulators to establish a "level playing field" for 24/7 onchain perpetual futures, arguing that existing market structures should not impede the development of blockchain-based trading.

Despite this growth, RWA perpetuals remain a relatively small portion of the broader crypto derivatives market. Talos' data shows aggregate futures trading volume of approximately $821.4 billion over the past seven days, with tracked RWA perpetuals accounting for roughly 7.5% of the total.