New tokens — previous markets
One of many key benefits touted by RWA platforms has been bringing conventional belongings onto the blockchain, the place their accessibility doesn’t rely upon brokerage infrastructure working on a set schedule.
Later, this slogan was picked up by centralized and decentralized venues providing derivatives on devices equivalent to shares, treasured metals, and commodities. Binance, Hyperliquid, Kraken, and many others promoted an identical message.
RWAs usually refer to digital belongings which can be backed, in a single kind or one other, by real-world belongings. For instance, in accordance to the documentation, every xStocks token is backed by a daily share that the issuer, Backed Belongings (JE) Restricted, purchases and holds through regulated brokers and custodians, together with Alpaca Securities LLC. Robinhood Inventory Tokens work in an identical method: they’re backed by shares on a 1:1 foundation, with issuance and redemption dealt with by Robinhood Belongings (Jersey) Restricted.
Derivatives, in the meantime, are largely provided within the type of perpetual futures or choices and are traded on centralized and decentralized exchanges. They don’t require necessary possession of the underlying conventional belongings, however as a substitute present worth publicity to them by monitoring modifications within the underlying asset’s quotes.
The important thing distinction lies within the nature of the collateral and the redemption mechanism. Fairness-backed RWAs might permit tokens to be exchanged for the underlying securities or their money equal, though direct redemption is usually unavailable to common customers or requires assembly extra situations. This creates arbitrage alternatives and helps stabilize costs when the token’s worth deviates from the underlying asset.
In contrast, a perpetual futures contract is an artificial instrument that usually entails money settlement when closing a place, moderately than conversion into shares.
From a technical standpoint, that’s true. You’ll be able to commerce xStocks tokens on a DEX or perpetual oil contracts day by day, at any time of day. On the identical time, xStocks tokens themselves will be freely moved between wallets with no dealer’s or financial institution’s approval.
The power to commerce conventional belongings exterior brokerage infrastructure is clearly in demand, as evidenced by the rising share of such devices in total buying and selling quantity.
In accordance to Coinperps data, in October 2026, Hyperliquid HIP-3 markets — which embody equities, commodities, indices, and different devices — accounted for 26.7% of the platform’s whole month-to-month buying and selling quantity. And in accordance to a TokenInsight research, the share of TradFi contracts in Binance’s derivatives turnover reached 26.25% in Q3 2026.
Nevertheless, what typically will get ignored is that each perpetual contracts on CEXs and tokenized shares from any supplier nonetheless rely upon the underlying conventional belongings. They usually nonetheless run on TradFi infrastructure, with all its limitations.
