Tokenized Stocks Surge 395% in a Year, But DeFi Adoption Remains Surprisingly Low

Tokenized stocks had a big year, but the market still has some clear gaps to fill. According to a new report from RedStone, the total on-chain value of tokenized stocks jumped from $640 million to $3.16 billion between September 28, 2025, and September 28, 2026.

That marks a 395% year-on-year increase.

Traders Turn to Perpetuals Instead

According to the report shared with CryptoPotato, stocks were the second-fastest-growing real-world asset category during the period. Tokenized private equity led the way with a much larger 935% jump. The growth also pushed tokenized stocks’ share of the wider RWA market to 8.1%, which is roughly three times higher than a year earlier.

But the numbers also show that most tokenized stocks are not being used much in DeFi. RedStone estimated that only about 2.6% of the total supply is being used as lending collateral. More than half of that amount comes from xStocks on Kamino and Jupiter Lend, worth around $43.8 million. Superstate’s tokenized Forward Industries shares on Kamino’s Opening Bell market accounted for another $25.4 million.

bStocks on Lista DAO add around $7.7 million. Ondo, despite being the biggest issuer, has very little lending activity. Its tokens back only about $1,400 on Morpho, while SPYon has around $4.2 million in Frankencoin. Around 42% of tokenized stock supply can technically be used as DeFi collateral. Despite this, traders appear more interested in derivatives than in lending or borrowing against the actual assets. Tokenized stocks mostly trade as perpetual contracts onchain.

Binance alone recorded $342.9 billion in equity-linked perpetual volume in August 2026. That was between 32 and 43 times the trading volume of tokenized stocks during the same month. On September 28, equity perpetuals on decentralized exchanges had $3.3 billion in open interest, which was already more than the entire tokenized stock supply. Trading also does not stop when traditional markets close. Around 55% of tokenized stock trading takes place outside regular market hours.

RedStone found that Sunday evening perp prices correctly pointed to Monday’s opening direction 65% of the time across 449 market weekends on Trade.xyz. The market now has around 4.04 million tokenized stockholders, with an average balance of about $780. But ownership remains a major concern. The three biggest issuers control roughly 70% of the sector’s on-chain value, yet their tokens do not give holders direct ownership of the underlying shares. There have also been cases involving disputed tokenized products and refunds.

Despite those risks, tokenized stocks have largely avoided major DeFi incidents over the past year. The Edel Finance manipulation was the main exception. Losses were estimated between $353,000 and $403,000.

Global Tokenization Race Heats Up

Regulation is also developing differently across regions. The US is largely moving through SEC exemptions and staff guidance, while Hong Kong, South Korea, and Abu Dhabi Global Market are taking more regulator-led approaches.

Hong Kong has already allowed 24/7 secondary trading for tokenized funds on licensed platforms. South Korea, on the other hand, is taking a slower route, as wider tokenized-stock access is expected after a second phase following its February 2027 registry launch.