In September, tokenized stocks accounted for 11% of total trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEX), significantly narrowing the gap with meme coins. This is seen as a sign that the weight of on-chain activity is gradually shifting toward traditional assets.
Key summary
In September’s DEX activity, tokenized stocks averaged 11%, while meme coins recorded 17%
The market capitalization of tokenized stocks surpassed $3 billion, and the on-chain transfer volume in the third quarter exceeded $100 billion
Binance Research: “A turning point where trading of traditional assets expands meaningfully on top of crypto infrastructure”
Tokenized stocks rising rapidly
For much of the first half of 2025 and 2026, tokenized stocks remained a negligible presence in DEX trading—effectively “close to 0%.” However, the share of tokenized stocks has since surged, driving structural change.
According to Binance Research, tokenized stocks briefly overtook meme coins in their share of DEX trading at the end of July. After a correction, they settled at around 11% on average in September. During the same period, meme coins continued to lead, but considering the volatility in meme coins—ranging between 6% and 53% throughout 2025—tokenized stocks’ pursuit appears especially notable.
The market size is also expanding rapidly. The tokenized stock market capitalization surpassed $3 billion in the fourth week of September, and on-chain transfer volumes—including trading—jumped from $6 billion in Q1 to more than $100 billion in Q3. Of this, as of mid-September, tokenized stocks totaling about $1 billion had been deployed on BNB Chain, accounting for roughly 34% of the total market estimated by Binance Research.
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Binance Research’s perspective
In its report, Binance Research assessed that “the on-chain economy has moved beyond the early stage centered on ‘crypto-native’ assets and is evolving into a broader financial network where cryptocurrencies and traditional assets are traded side by side on the same 24-hour infrastructure.”
This means that the infrastructure originally designed to trade crypto tokens is now being redefined as a platform that lists and trades existing traditional assets such as stocks in tokenized form. The report defines tokenized stocks as the “fastest-growing Real World Asset (RWA) category” in 2026.
DeFi usage is also expanding. As various protocols incorporate tokenized stocks as collateral or as a means to generate yield, the amount of assets deposited is increasing, and use cases within DEXs are also diversifying. As of September, the gap with meme coins is only 6 percentage points. Whether tokenized stocks can maintain double-digit DEX trading share and then catch up to meme coins will be put to the test in October.
Even just a year ago, meme coins were leading the most speculative trades on DEXs throughout 2025, fluctuating within a 6%–53% range of share. By contrast, tokenized stocks effectively stayed in the “0% range.” Given this starting point, tokenized stocks’ breakthrough in 2026 can be interpreted as a structural change that reshapes the composition of the decentralized trading ecosystem itself.
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