A new Bitget and Block Scholes report examines how tokenized stock and commodity markets performed during geopolitical volatility, revealing significant progress in liquidity development. According to the report shared with crypto.news, Bitget's tokenized Nvidia perpetual market has reached roughly 75% of the liquidity depth of the exchange's Bitcoin spot market, with NVDA-USDT reaching approximately $4.1 million in resting liquidity within 2% of its mid-price. For comparison, a CoinGecko snapshot cited in the report placed Bitget's BTC/USDT spot market depth at around $5.5 million, leaving the Nvidia-linked contract with about three-quarters of the liquidity available in Bitcoin's spot market. Since launching equity-linked perpetual futures in September 2025, Bitget has expanded its offering to more than 30 stock-related contracts alongside commodity products such as gold-linked perpetuals. Researchers found liquidity conditions improved as U.S. trading hours progressed, with SPY-USDT's bid-ask spread narrowing from 1.76 basis points shortly after the U.S. market opened to 0.14 basis points less than an hour later.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finalized its proposal to rescind Rules 611 and 610(e) of Regulation NMS, marking a significant milestone for tokenized U.S. stock trading. According to the latest SEC announcement, Chairman Paul Atkins stated the proposal is intended to simplify market structure and reduce costs for market participants while allowing competition, innovation, and market forces to shape the continuing evolution of equity markets. The rules, established in 2005, prohibited trade-throughs of NMS stocks and prevented trading centers from displaying quotations that create locked or crossed quotations. Galaxy head of research Alex Thorn describes this as "one of the biggest unlocks yet for tokenized stocks" because it removes a structural barrier that prevented DeFi automated market makers from trading tokenized U.S. equities at scale. The SEC has opened a 60-day public comment period on the proposal, with analysts expecting the rules to be finalized in the first quarter of 2027.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Policy Statement PS26/7 on April 30, 2026, finalizing new rules and guidance that bring tokenized authorized funds firmly within the UK regulatory perimeter. According to Norton Rose Fulbright, the new rules and guidance entered into force with immediate effect, with no transitional period applying. The FCA's guidance covers tokenized authorized funds, UCITS management companies, UK AIFMs managing authorized funds and depositaries of authorized funds, though it will also be of interest to AIFMs and depositaries of unauthorized funds. Firms do not need to adopt either the tokenization framework or the D2F model, both are optional, though they should now consider whether and when to adopt D2F for new or existing schemes. The Call for Input published jointly by the FCA and Bank of England on May 18, 2026, sets out a shared vision for how tokenization can develop safely across UK wholesale financial markets.
The tokenized stock market has evolved beyond traditional spot trading into perpetual futures (perps) markets that operate 24/7 with significantly higher leverage. According to Tiger Research analysis, stock perp open interest has reached $2.25 billion in Q1 2026, representing a fraction of the $1.1 trillion daily turnover in traditional US equity markets but showing rapid growth trajectory. Perpetual futures offer up to 20x leverage compared to fully collateralized spot products' 3x margin, creating new opportunities for institutional and retail participants. The market operates through fully collateralized spot deposits that issue tokens representing real shares, and perpetual futures that track prices without holding underlying assets. When traditional stock sessions close, tokenized perps drive independent price discovery and serve as leading indicators for next-day equity openings, with data showing 82-96% correlation between overnight perp movements and next-day spot openings for major Korean stocks like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The Bitget and Block Scholes study examined four of Bitget's largest tokenized perpetual contracts, NVDA-USDT, SPY-USDT, QQQ-USDT, and XAU-USDT, which provide synthetic exposure to Nvidia stock, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF, the Invesco QQQ ETF, and gold through crypto-based trading infrastructure.
The report evaluated how Bitget's tokenized markets responded when the U.S.-Iran conflict began in February 2026, demonstrating remarkable resilience during periods of heightened volatility. Data cited by Block Scholes showed bid-ask spreads widened immediately after news of the conflict emerged, with NVDA-USDT spreads increasing from about 0.6 basis points to a peak of 3.4 basis points, while QQQ-USDT spreads rose from 3.7 basis points to 11.8 basis points. Despite the initial reaction, spreads returned close to pre-event levels within minutes or hours depending on the contract. Gold recorded the strongest response among the assets studied, with XAU-USDT rising about 2% following the conflict announcement and generating approximately $11 million in trading volume, compared with about $400,000 for NVDA-USDT over the same period. The analysis found the decline extended beyond the usual weekend reduction in trading activity, with QQQ-USDT depth returning to typical Saturday levels within a week and remaining stable afterward. Block Scholes concluded that liquidity in Bitget's tokenized perpetual markets remains linked to traditional market activity but continues functioning outside regular trading hours, with spreads staying relatively tight and order books recovering quickly after periods of heightened volatility.
The tokenized stock market has experienced explosive growth, with market value reaching $1.47 billion as of June 8, up 115% since the start of the year, according to data from RWA.xyz. Binance Research reported that the tokenized real-world asset market had grown 589% since early 2025, while tokenized stocks recorded a 422% increase in value, making them the fastest-growing segment in the sector. Trading volume across the xStocks ecosystem exceeded $25 billion, with platforms such as Ondo Global Markets surpassing $1 billion in total value locked through tokenized stock and ETF products. The period from November 2025 through May 2026 represents a fundamental reorientation of the US regulatory landscape for asset managers, SEC-registered investment advisers, and CFTC-registered commodity pool operators. While crypto market cap fell 20.4% in Q1 2026 and centralized exchange spot volume dropped 39.1%, equities set record highs with the S&P 500 clearing annual targets.
Attention is now turning to the Financial Services Commission, which is expected to release revisions to its token securities guidelines and related regulations in July. During the second meeting of a public-private token securities task force in May, the commission said it would develop a detailed roadmap for the tokenization of conventional securities, including listed stocks. A formal interpretation classifying tokenized shares as securities could clear the way for tax collection during the second half of 2026. South Korean regulators have already established a foundation for this approach, with the commission stating in its 2023 token securities guidelines that token securities issued in digital asset form fall under the scope of the Capital Markets Act. The FCA and Bank of England will hold workshops over the coming months, publish a response statement over the summer and then a full cross-authority roadmap for the digitalization of wholesale markets later in 2026. Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, noted that "Access alone is no longer enough and the conversation around tokenization has moved beyond access. What matters now is whether users can move capital efficiently between markets without sacrificing liquidity".
