Crypto Exchanges Embrace Traditional Finance Amid Slumping Crypto Volumes

Crypto exchanges are rapidly evolving into traditional financial markets, with trading volumes for traditional finance-linked perpetual futures surging to new highs. According to a recent report from CryptoQuant, these contracts, tied to assets such as gold, silver, oil, and equities, have seen significant growth in activity, even as native crypto trading has slowed.

Pre-IPO perpetual futures, in particular, have experienced explosive growth, with trading volumes increasing from $2 million in March to $715 million in May. In June, this figure rose to a staggering $1.2 billion, accounting for 55% of total equities trading volume. Binance led the category, processing an impressive $10.3 billion in trading volume alone.

Meanwhile, metals remain the dominant TradFi asset category by overall volume, with monthly futures volume reaching nearly $500 billion in March. Gold and silver perpetual futures drove this surge, fueled by record highs for both metals. Binance maintained steady trading volumes, while MEXC rapidly gained market share to become the largest metals trading venue in May.