Tokenized equities hit $3.8B as weekly DEX trading climbs 55-fold

Tokenized equities have reached $3.8 billion in market value as weekly decentralized exchange trading has climbed 55-fold since January, according to DWF Labs.

As per a report shared with crypto.news by DWF Labs, titled The Bright Side: Tokenized Equities, weekly spot trading on decentralized exchanges reached $2.54 billion in the week of Oct. 5, up from $45.8 million in the week of Jan. 5.

Tokenized equities trading outpaces growth in asset value

Across the same January-to-October period, DWF Labs recorded weekly token transfers rising from $420 million to $17.5 billion, or 41.8 times their starting level. Its market-value estimate rose from $654 million to $3.8 billion, a gain the firm reported as 483%.

The report defines transfer volume as movements between blockchain addresses, including trading and transfers involving lending protocols. Its separate spot DEX figure counts decentralized exchange trading, which represented 14.5% of transfers by value in early October, against 10.9% in January.

Using those measures, the research puts weekly transfer turnover at 4.6 times market value, up from 0.64 times. Weekly DEX trading divided by market value rose from 0.07 to 0.67.

DWF Labs describes the distinction in its discussion of adoption.

“Tokenization for tokenization’s sake won’t work in the long run.”

The report argues that demand depends on uses beyond holding blockchain versions of conventional assets, and examines transfers, trading and DeFi deposits separately.

October’s trading figure was well above January’s, but below the busiest week identified in the research. DWF Labs recorded $7.26 billion in spot DEX volume during the week of Aug. 31, with Robinhood Chain accounting for $5.36 billion, or 74%.

Calculated from the report’s rounded totals, weekly trading was approximately 65% below that August peak by the week of Oct. 5. DWF Labs’ 55-fold growth measure compares October with January, not with the August high.

Separate research provides another measure of equities’ trading activity. Dune found that equities generated 93% of August spot trading among the tokenized asset classes it examined, despite being the smallest class by supply. Its public Q3 research page puts the four principal asset classes at $33.9 billion.

Ondo leads issuers as BNB Chain takes the largest share

Within DWF Labs’ issuer rankings, Ondo Finance held $1 billion, keeping first place even as its share fell from 56% to 26%. The report placed xStocks second at $954 million, or 25%, after growing from $187 million.

Binance’s bStocks followed at $905 million and 24%. According to the research, the product launched in June and reached $100 million within two weeks, while Robinhood’s tracked issuance grew from $20 million to $170 million following its July launch.

Using DWF Labs’ rounded shares, the three leading issuers held 75% of the market. Securitize followed with $290 million, or 8%, in the firm’s rankings.

The blockchain rankings changed alongside the issuer mix. DWF Labs put BNB Chain at 32% of tokenized equity value, up from 9% at the start of the year, while Ethereum’s share fell from 50% to 22% and Avalanche reached 9%.

Trading followed a different distribution from asset value. Solana handled 99.8% of January spot DEX volume in the report’s dataset; by October, its share was 31%, followed by Robinhood Chain at 26%, BNB Chain at 25% and Base at 18%.

Product terms place limits on access even when the underlying companies trade in the United States. As crypto.news previously reported, Binance offers stock-to-bStock conversions at 1:1 for eligible customers, with conversions handled through Nest Trading Limited.

Binance’s FAQ says bStocks are certificates linked to financial instruments and do not give holders direct ownership of the underlying company’s shares. The same document excludes U.S. persons and says third-party platforms integrating bStocks must enforce geographic restrictions.

DeFi deposits reach $313 million as IMF examines trading risks

By Oct. 15, DWF Labs measured $313 million in tokenized equities deployed across DeFi, up from $15.5 million on Jan. 1. Its estimate added $33.2 million, or 12%, during the preceding 30 days.

The report puts deployed capital at roughly 8% of tokenized equity market value, against approximately 2% at the start of the year. Its DeFi figures run through Oct. 15, while the market-value and weekly trading comparisons end in the week of Oct. 5.

Among the destinations identified by DWF Labs, lending markets Kamino, Jupiter Lend and Frankencoin held a combined $51.3 million. Spot exchange pools on Uniswap V4, Raydium and Aerodrome held $77.9 million.

The firm assigned $50.9 million to credit protocol Saturn, $48.9 million to Figure Markets Exchange and $42.6 million to Pendle’s yield markets. Its ten largest protocols accounted for 89% of deployed value.

In separate October research, the International Monetary Fund found higher tokenized stock volatility than in equivalent conventional equities. Chapter 3 of its Global Financial Stability Report put realized volatility at approximately 1.5 times the traditional-market level, with decentralized exchanges showing the highest volatility.

The IMF found that more than half of tokenized equity trading occurred outside regular U.S. market hours and approximately 80% of trades involved less than one share. Researchers cautioned that the market’s early stage limits how far its observed trading patterns can be generalized.