a16z: Market for Perpetual Contracts on Tokenized Assets Grew 44-Fold

Published: September 24, 2026 – 07:16 UTC

Perpetual contracts on tokenized assets have become one of the key trends in onchain trading.
Their volume in August totaled $117.3 billion, showing 44x growth compared with a year earlier.
Open interest also rose year over year to $4.8 billion, a 30x increase.

In August 2026, the market for perpetual contracts on RWA reached a scale that would have seemed unlikely just a year earlier: according to data from the crypto arm of investment firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), trading volume in these derivatives came in at $117.3 billion, which is 44 times higher than a year ago.

*Growth of the RWA perpetuals market. Source:* *a16z*.

At the same time, the share of onchain venues climbed to 86% of the market, and US regulators began laying the groundwork for limited trading in tokenized stocks. This comes amid a statement by CFTC Chair Michael Selig on the potential of tokenization to modernize the financial system.

According to him, tokenized collateral “has the potential to make liquidity more dynamic and markets more resilient.”

RWA Perpetual Futures Move Onchain

Perpetual contracts on RWA make it possible to trade the price of stocks, gold, commodities, and other traditional assets without directly owning them. Unlike standard futures, they have no fixed expiration date, and some venues allow 24/7 trading, including weekends.

According to a16z data for August:

In August, trading volume in RWA perpetual contracts totaled $117.3 billion, down from $145.1 billion in July
Despite the month-over-month decline, the figure was 44 times higher than a year earlier
Open interest reached $4.8 billion, rising nearly 30-fold from $161 million in July 2025
Onchain venues accounted for 86% of volume, or about $101 billion
Centralized exchanges accounted for about $16 billion

The shift toward onchain trading accelerated after Hyperliquid launched the HIP-3 upgrade in October 2025, which allowed developers to create their own perpetual contract markets on HyperCore’s shared infrastructure.

The asset mix also changed. A year ago, commodities accounted for 84% of volume, but by August 2026, equities made up 48%, commodities — 28%, and indices — 18%.

At the same time, the scale of RWA perpetual contracts still significantly lags the traditional derivatives market, where monthly futures and options trading volumes are measured in tens of trillions of dollars.

As a reminder, the SEC recently approved a temporary conditional Innovation Exemption that allows certain onchain venues to trade tokenized shares of companies from the U.S. National Market System. The authorization covers the use of automated market makers and liquidity pools under specified restrictions, and the regulator plans to use data collected during the pilot to inform future regulation.

Сообщение a16z: Market for Perpetual Contracts on Tokenized Assets Grew 44-Fold появились сначала на INCRYPTED.

Source: Incrypted