Crypto Exchanges Cash In on Traditional Finance as Bitcoin Demand Cools

Crypto exchanges are increasingly resembling traditional financial markets rather than crypto-native venues. A recent report by CryptoQuant shows that trading volume in traditional finance-linked perpetual futures has surged, even as native crypto trading activity has slowed to its weakest level in over a year.

The report highlights the growth of pre-IPO perpetual futures, which allow traders to speculate on the valuation of private companies before they are publicly listed. Trading volume for these contracts increased from $2 million in March to $715 million in May and has already exceeded May's level in June, reaching $1.2 billion.

Pre-IPO perpetuals accounted for 55% of total equities trading volume in June, up from just 5% in May. Binance led the category with $10.3 billion in trading volume during June alone, approximately 20 times higher than its May volume.