RWA futures overtake crypto only in a two-venue sample

A new report from OKX and Token Terminal claims real-world-asset futures have surpassed crypto derivatives. The conclusion holds only for two specific platforms. In a July comparison, the report found $107.6 billion in RWA volume on trade.xyz against $105.7 billion in crypto-perpetual volume on Hyperliquid. This signals rapid growth within that selected sample. It does not reflect the entire market.

The report tracks a specific series that climbed from $760 million in October 2025 to the July total. Open interest rose from $16.1 million to $1.72 billion over nine months. According to CryptoSlate, a category-leading venue acts as a proxy for its platform’s activity. It cannot establish the size of competing venues or contracts outside that scope.

Gino Matos of CryptoSlate noted that the result changes significantly when venue coverage and the crypto denominator change. He explained that adding an RWA-heavy venue without the related crypto venue can reverse the calculated share. "Overtook" describes a chosen sample rather than a settled fact about the entire derivatives market.

RWA perpetual futures volumes hit an all-time high of $211B, rising 10.4% against broader declines, with Binance holding 55.7% market share and Hyperliquid at 28.9%, according to coindesk.com. CryptoSlate reports that CoinDesk Research recorded $460 billion of July RWA perpetual volume on centralized exchanges, a figure sitting within $3.03 trillion of total CEX derivatives. CryptoSlate notes the data lacks an equivalent all-crypto denominator to determine RWA's true share. DEXs held roughly 45% of RWA perp volume in December, dropping to 13% by August, per RWA Perpetuals. CryptoSlate added its selected RWA series had climbed from $760 million in October 2025. Nothing is scheduled; the test is whether the $460 billion volume, cited by CryptoSlate, proves RWA dominance or merely reflects a narrow subset.

CoinMarketCap Research measured $792.2 billion of July RWA-perpetual volume across 19 centralized and decentralized venues. This confirms the category's scale. However, CoinDesk Research data puts RWA perpetuals at approximately 15.2% of centralized exchange derivatives. Until researchers use like-for-like venue coverage and contract definitions, the crossover claim remains specific to the sample that produced it.