Tokenized stocks market grew 395% to $3.16B in a year, but only 2.6% is used as lending collateral—most activity is perpetual contract trading.
DeFi & Yields ·
Tokenized stocks surged from $640 million to $3.16 billion in on-chain value over the year ending September 2026, a 395% gain that made them the second-fastest-growing real-world asset category. Yet the structure of this growth masks a fundamental shift in how traders interact with these assets. Only 2.6% of tokenized stocks serve as lending collateral in DeFi protocols, with the remainder concentrated in perpetual contract trading; in August 2026 alone, perpetual volume on centralized exchanges reached $342.9 billion—roughly 32 to 43 times the monthly volume of actual tokenized stock trades.
The mismatch reflects trader preferences for derivatives over direct asset ownership. Around 55% of tokenized stock trading occurs outside standard market hours, capitalizing on continuous blockchain settlement compared to traditional equity markets. Regulatory frameworks are beginning to diverge globally, with Hong Kong enabling 24/7 secondary trading while the US relies on SEC exemptions and South Korea plans wider tokenized-stock access following a registry launch in February 2027.
Open questions remain about whether the lending gap reflects technical limitations, custody concerns, or structural preference. Concentration risk persists; three major issuers control roughly 70% of the sector's value, though tokenized stocks have largely avoided significant DeFi incidents beyond a $353,000 to $403,000 loss from Edel Finance manipulation.