Roles Are Shifting on Wall Street: This Trading Volume on Crypto Exchanges Has Exceeded $1.3 Trillion

Crypto exchanges are establishing an “inverse bridge” between traditional finance and digital assets by bringing Wall Street assets to their platforms through perpetual futures contracts (perps).

Until recently, the conversation centered on the traditional financial world adopting cryptocurrencies, but now roles have begun to shift. Crypto exchanges are opening new doors for investors by integrating stocks, indices, and commodities into their own ecosystems. According to CoinGecko data, the perpetual futures volume based on traditional assets reached $1.32 trillion in the first five months of 2026, surpassing the 2025 volume of $104.21 billion. Monthly volume rose from $230 million in January 2025 to $347.17 billion by May 2026.

This growth is also fundamentally changing the business models of exchanges. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen notes that while they had no stock products a year ago, 28% of their total volume now comes from this segment. Binance executive Shunyet Jan emphasizes that this innovation born in the crypto world is now migrating to traditional finance. The fact that the S&P 500 index has begun trading on the Hyperliquid blockchain stands out as one of the most concrete examples of this transformation.

24/7 Seamless Access to Wall Street Assets

Unlike traditional exchanges, crypto platforms offer investors the opportunity to trade 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. According to CMT Digital investor Augie Ilag, this reduces friction in trading processes for institutional investors, while for retail investors, it means easy access to shares of giant companies like Tesla that they normally could not reach. Coinbase‘s FCA authorization in the UK also shows that this process is being supported by regulations.

Tokenized stock volume was $831 million in July 2025, rising to $34 billion in May 2026. Although this figure is less than 1% of the main market, the growth rate displays remarkable momentum. While crypto platforms listed approximately 360 traditional assets between January 2025 and May 2026, the vast majority of these assets consist of perpetual futures contracts with no expiration. This structural expansion supports the vision of crypto exchanges evolving into financial super-apps where “everything is traded.”