In its latest announcement, PancakeSwap — one of the leading DeFi protocols on BNB Chain — officially launched perpetual contracts for three iconic U.S. stocks: Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), and Tesla (TSLA).
These contracts are implemented on PancakeSwap V3 and support leverage of up to 25x.
“PancakeSwap Perpetuals are derivative contracts with no expiration that allow you to speculate on the price of an asset, including cryptocurrencies and now stocks, without actually owning the underlying asset. You can go long or short, trade with leverage, and access the markets 24/7,” the announcement stated.
This move marks the first time a DEX has expanded into the stock derivatives sector. It represents a significant advance for DeFi in the integration of traditional assets, a trend commonly known as RWA (Real World Assets).
According to data from RWA.xyz, the market for tokenized stocks has reached a market capitalization of $374 million, a 220% increase since June.
The monthly transfer volume stands at around $330 million. Algorand commanded 66% of the market share of tokenized stocks, primarily driven by the EXOD action of Exodus.
“If only 1% of global shares were tokenized, the market could surpass $1.3 trillion, driving significant growth in on-chain assets and DeFi infrastructure towards mainstream adoption,” emphasized a report by Binance Research.
The same report from Binance Research states that active on-chain addresses increased from 1,600 to 90,000. However, centralized exchanges outpace on-chain platforms by more than 70x in trading volume of tokenized stocks.
From a positive perspective, this gap also highlights the growth potential for DEX platforms in this emerging sector.
A protocol specialized in the tokenization of U.S. stocks, xStocks, has surpassed $2 billion in total trading volume just three months after its launch.
This growth signals explosive and promising demand for trading tokenized stocks. However, competition with early participants presents a significant challenge for PancakeSwap.
Data shared on X shows that PancakeSwap recorded a positive increase in users and trading volume in July. The platform generated over $188 billion in spot trading volume, representing 43% of the DEX trading volume market.
The launch of perpetual stock contracts could remain a key growth driver for PancakeSwap in the coming months.
