MEXC’s Asian stock-futures business exploded in Q2, with average daily volume soaring 3,308% quarter‑over‑quarter as crypto traders increasingly use centralized exchanges to access equities, gold and other traditional assets, according to a new Blockworks Research report commissioned by MEXC Ventures. What the data shows - The average daily number of stock-futures traders on MEXC in Asia rose 386% from Q1 2026 to Q2 2026. - Growth was especially dramatic in Southeast Asia, where daily stock-futures volume jumped 6,648% and active users climbed 399%. East Asia saw volume increase 1,957% and traders rise 465%. - Momentum carried into Q3: through August, average daily stock-futures volume across Asia was another 102% higher than Q2, with user counts up 51%. East Asian volume surged 186% in that stretch, versus a 50% increase in Southeast Asia. Methodology and scope Blockworks combined exchange trading data, a MEXC user survey and MEXC’s Asian platform figures to produce The Cross Asset Shift. MEXC Ventures funded the study, and Blockworks says its researchers retained editorial control over the final report. Futures vs. spot: traders prefer leverage The study highlights a clear pattern: crypto natives are favoring futures over spot when accessing traditional markets. Real-world assets (RWAs), foreign exchange and tokenized stocks account for less than 2% of monthly spot volume on centralized exchanges but more than 12% of futures volume. In July, futures linked to those three categories generated nearly $400 billion — the high point in the period reviewed. Tokenized stock contracts have driven much of that growth. Binance leads the segment, while MEXC and BingX each control roughly 20% of tokenized-stock futures volume. On the spot side, MEXC handled $427 million of tokenized-stock trading in July, behind Bybit, Gate and Binance. Combined spot trading in tokenized stocks, FX and RWAs was about $9.5 billion in July — down from over $30 billion in October 2025 — underscoring traders’ preference for leveraged perpetual contracts rather than buying spot representations. Context from other research A prior CoinGecko report (covered by crypto.news) ranked MEXC second in TradFi perpetual trading volume ($323.86 billion) between January 2025 and May 2026, and first for product coverage, listing 199 RWA spot products and 159 TradFi perpetual contracts — 358 products total. Regional drivers and infrastructure Adoption in Asia is supported by growing on-chain activity and stablecoin use. Blockworks found value received on-chain across Asia-Pacific rose 69% year‑over‑year in the 12 months ending June 2025, the fastest among major regions. Monthly on-chain value climbed from roughly $80 billion in July 2022 to nearly $245 billion in late 2024, and stayed between $185–$230 billion in H1 2025. OECD research cited in the report estimates Asia accounted for about 30% of global stablecoin activity in 2025 — giving traders the rails to switch quickly between crypto and TradFi instruments without bank transfers. User behavior and preferences - According to MEXC’s survey, 83.9% of Asian respondents primarily trade on centralized exchanges. - Among crypto-native Asian users, 62.6% said they mainly trade precious metals via CEXs, and 87.2% planned to increase TradFi activity on those platforms. - Traditional market hours are a key motivator: 61.5% called brokerage hours limited, and 75.1% had encountered major market events when conventional markets were closed. Faced with such an event, 79% said they would consider a crypto platform to open a gold or oil position. The report cites the February 2026 weekend U.S. strikes on Iran as an example, when West Texas Intermediate spiked as much as 15% on Hyperliquid before traditional markets reopened. Performance and flows Performance differences between crypto and TradFi also help explain demand. From the start of 2025 through the report’s measurement period, Bitcoin fell about 32%, while gold rose 64%, the Nasdaq-100 ETF QQQ gained 42% and S&P 500 ETF SPY added 32%. Asian demand for gold is tangible: World Gold Council figures in the report show Asian gold ETFs added 215 metric tons in Q1 2026 and took in $25 billion in net inflows. On MEXC specifically, average daily gold futures volume in Southeast Asia rose 18% quarter‑over‑quarter in Q2, and daily spot-gold users climbed 42%. Precious-metals futures open interest peaked at $1.98 billion in May then eased to $1.69 billion at end‑June, with gold and other precious metals representing 36.2% of TradFi perpetual futures open positions at that point. U.S. stock futures overtook precious metals by open interest in June as traders targeted AI and memory‑chip names. Tokenized markets and product parity Spot and futures activity in some products are converging: MEXC’s PAXG markets processed $2.02 billion in spot volume and $2.03 billion in futures volume from January through July 2026, with a monthly futures-to-spot ratio between 0.8 and 1.6. In the broader tokenized market, Binance’s bStocks hit $610.6 million in August, xStocks $601.2 million, and Ondo Finance ranked first among issuers on Token Terminal. Regulatory and structural considerations U.S. investors face limits: the SEC has been preparing an exemption to allow tests of round‑the‑clock tokenized securities trading under set conditions, but no final framework, eligibility rules or launch date has been announced. Blockworks emphasizes that tokenizing a share doesn’t remove securities oversight — platforms remain subject to rules on registration, custody, trading, settlement and surveillance. Tokenized products also differ structurally: some represent claims backed by underlying shares (with potential voting or dividend rights), while synthetic contracts only track price. Futures bring separate risks — funding-rate exposure and potential liquidation for leveraged positions. Barriers to adoption Surveyed Asian users cited knowledge gaps (51.2%) as the biggest obstacle to further adoption, followed by market volatility (43.8%), regulatory uncertainty (37.2%) and liquidity (36.3%). Weekend markets create another practical problem: market makers can’t always hedge in the underlying asset while traditional venues are closed, which can widen spreads and reduce order size. Bottom line Blockworks’ study paints a clear picture: Asian crypto users are rapidly migrating into TradFi markets through centralized exchanges, favoring perpetual futures for their 24/7 access and leverage. Tokenized stocks and precious-metals products are prominent growth engines, but structural differences, regulatory limits and education remain key hurdles as this cross-asset shift accelerates. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news