a16z: In August 2026, the perpetual transaction volume of RWA reached 117.3 billion USD

The venture capital firm a16z crypto stated that the trading of perpetual contracts linked to stocks, gold, and other traditional assets has rapidly increased, with more transactions occurring on-chain. In August 2026, the transaction volume reached $117.3 billion, up 44 times from a year earlier, with open interest at $4.8 billion. After a decline in transaction volume in April 2026, it hit a new high again in May, rising to $145.1 billion in July, before falling back to $117.3 billion in August.

Open interest increased from $161 million in July 2025 to $4.8 billion in August 2026, nearly a 30-fold increase, remaining close to record highs even as transaction volumes declined. As of November 2025, centralized exchanges accounted for about two-thirds or more of monthly transaction volumes, with December nearly evenly split with on-chain venues; in August 2026, on-chain venues accounted for 86%, approximately $101 billion, while centralized exchanges accounted for about $16 billion, with their transaction volume declining from a peak in March to July.

The decentralized perpetual contract platform Hyperliquid launched HIP-3 in October 2025, allowing developers to deploy their own perpetual contract markets using the shared trading infrastructure HyperCore. That month, the on-chain RWA perpetual transaction volume increased to about $4 billion, with on-chain venues accounting for nearly half of the tracked transaction volume in December. A year ago, commodities accounted for 84%, while in August this year, stocks accounted for 48%, commodities for 28%, and indices for 18%. In June, the open interest for stocks was $1.6 billion, surpassing commodities at $1.2 billion, and in August, they were $2.2 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively.