Onchain venues captured 86% of RWA perpetual futures trading volume by August 2026, processing $101 billion compared to centralized exchanges.
DeFi & Yields ·
Onchain trading venues have captured the majority of real-world asset perpetual futures activity, processing 86% of monthly volume in August 2026. That month, decentralized platforms handled approximately $101 billion in RWA perps—contracts giving traders price exposure to stocks, commodities, and other traditional assets without ownership—while centralized exchanges processed roughly $16 billion. Monthly volume across all tracked venues reached $117.3 billion in August, representing a 44-fold increase from the prior year.
The shift to onchain venues marks a reversal from early 2025, when centralized exchanges dominated the market. Infrastructure development appears linked to this transition, particularly Hyperliquid's October 2025 deployment of HIP-3, which enabled builders to launch their own perpetual futures markets. RWA markets emerged as early adopters of this capability, with onchain volume quadrupling to approximately $4 billion in October. By December 2025, decentralized venues had achieved parity with their centralized counterparts.
The composition of trading has also evolved. Equities now represent 48% of RWA perp volume as of August 2026, surpassing commodities at 28%, a notable shift from a year prior when commodities accounted for 84%. Open interest in these contracts climbed nearly 30-fold from July 2025 to August 2026, reaching $4.8 billion, though whether this growth will persist remains unclear.