Crypto Exchanges Shift Focus to Traditional Financial Assets

Crypto exchanges are shifting their focus from tokenized spot products to traditional financial assets, according to a report by CoinGecko. The report found that in the first five months of this year, traditional financial perpetual volume exceeded spot RWA trading by more than eight times.

This trend is evident in the growth of traditional financial perpetual listings on crypto exchanges. In May 2026, there were an average of 75 TradFi perpetual listings per exchange, compared to 37 spot RWAs. Some exchanges like Hyperliquid and Aster only offer traditional assets through perpetuals, while others like Binance, Coinbase, Crypto.com, HTX, and OKX have limited spot RWA listings.

The report also highlights the growth of equity-linked perpetuals across 13 exchanges. Monthly volume in these perpetuals rose from $831.17 million in July 2025 to $34 billion in May 2026. However, this activity remains below 1% of trading volume in corresponding traditional stock markets.

This shift towards traditional financial assets is part of the broader strategy of crypto exchanges to expand their product offerings and compete with traditional financial institutions. Binance, Coinbase, and Robinhood are among the major platforms that have outlined ambitions to become financial super apps by offering a range of products including equities, payments, and investing.