A decentralized finance (DeFi) exchange has become the first on-chain trading platform to offer perpetual futures tied to individual U.S. equities using live Nasdaq price data, marking another step in the growing convergence between traditional finance and crypto markets.

The platform, Ostium, said it had launched equity perpetual contracts tracking major U.S. stocks, allowing global crypto traders to gain leveraged exposure to equities around the clock without directly holding the underlying shares. The products are powered by Nasdaq’s market data feeds, according to reports.

As per the Ostium website, has already processed over $50 billion in cumulative volume across over 26,000 traders since its 2024 debut.

The move highlights how decentralized exchanges are increasingly trying to replicate and offer 24/7 exposure to traditional financial market infrastructure on-chain expanding beyond cryptocurrencies into tokenized real-world assets such as stocks, bonds, and commodities.

Perpetual futures, widely used in crypto markets, allow traders to speculate on asset prices without expiration dates. Bringing those instruments to equities has long faced a major hurdle: reliable on-chain price discovery and settlement mechanisms tied to regulated financial markets.

That challenge has become central to the broader tokenization industry, where banks, exchanges and blockchain firms are racing to bring traditional assets on-chain while ensuring that tokenized products accurately reflect off-chain market prices.

According to analysis published by BitKE, one of the biggest obstacles facing tokenized finance is the lack of unified standards for pricing, accounting and reconciliation between on-chain assets and traditional financial systems.

EDITORIAL | Why Accounting and Price Discovery Remain the Biggest Hurdles to Capital Markets Tokenization

Equity perps now reportedly account for nearly 20% of the RWA perps market activity of over $75 billion, as per recent stats, with these products helping in price discovery as per recent Stork data.

“Pre-IPO perps in CBRS (Cerebras Systems) priced the stock almost perfectly in hours ahead of its opening trades on the Nasdaq,” Stork Labs said.

Equity perps are now nearly 20% of the #RWA perps markets, continuing growth that just two weeks ago crossed 10% for the first time since January 2026.@StorkOracle @RWAwatchlist_ #EquityPerps #OnChainPerps pic.twitter.com/eGpog8UCmL

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 19, 2026

The report noted that as tokenized equities and funds begin interacting more directly with public blockchains, firms are grappling with questions around valuation accuracy, liquidity fragmentation and how to maintain synchronized pricing across both traditional exchanges and decentralized markets.

Industry participants have warned that without trusted data infrastructure, tokenized assets risk trading at persistent premiums or discounts to their real-world counterparts, undermining institutional confidence in the sector.

The launch also comes amid rising institutional interest in tokenized financial products. Major firms including JPMorgan Chase, Nasdaq and crypto exchange, Kraken, have recently expanded efforts around tokenized stocks, on-chain funds, and blockchain-based market infrastructure.

INTRODUCING | The Largest Bank in the United States Launches On-Chain Yield Fund on #Ethereum

The latest development won’t spell the end of #stablecoins or a #DeFi triumph. Instead, settlement rails will stay public and transparent, but the instruments running on them will… pic.twitter.com/JgZ7VZCZ3X

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) December 18, 2025

Analysts say the emergence of equity perpetuals on decentralized venues could further blur the lines between crypto-native trading and traditional capital markets particularly as traders seek 24-hour access to global assets outside conventional brokerage systems.

The market for tokenized real-world assets has grown rapidly over the past two years with estimates cited by major financial institutions placing the sector at roughly $30 billion in on-chain value, spanning tokenized treasuries, funds, commodities and private credit instruments.

EXPERT OPINION | Tokenization Alone Will Not Fix Illiquid Assets, Say Industry Experts

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