Tokenized equities grew to a market value of $3.8 billion between January and mid-October, while weekly decentralized exchange trading expanded far faster than the asset base itself, according to a new report from DWF Labs.

The firm said weekly spot trading on decentralized exchanges rose to $2.54 billion in the week of Oct. 5, up from $45.8 million in the week of Jan. 5. Over the same period, the market value of tokenized equities increased 483%, indicating that activity accelerated more quickly than total capitalization.

Trading activity outpaced market growth

DWF Labs said weekly spot DEX trading increased 55-fold from early January to early October. It also reported that weekly transfer volume, which includes movements between blockchain addresses as well as transactions tied to lending protocols, rose 41.8 times during the same period.

The report separates transfer activity from spot DEX trading. On that basis, decentralized exchange trading represented 14.5% of transfer value in early October, compared with 10.9% in January, suggesting a larger share of tokenized equity movement was taking place through on-chain trading venues.

DeFi use expanded to $313 million

By Oct. 15, DWF Labs estimated that $313 million in tokenized equities had been deployed across DeFi, up from $15.5 million on Jan. 1. That amount was equal to roughly 8% of the sector’s total market value, based on the firm’s calculations.

The report said this deployed value was spread across lending markets including Kamino, Jupiter Lend, and Frankencoin, as well as Uniswap V4, Raydium, Aerodrome pools, Saturn, Figure Markets Exchange, and Pendle’s yield markets. The ten largest protocols accounted for 89% of all deployed value, pointing to a relatively concentrated set of venues.

Issuer rankings and chain distribution shifted

Ondo Finance remained the largest issuer at about $1 billion, though its market share fell to 26% from 56% over the period covered by the report. xStocks ranked next with $954 million, or 25% of the market, followed by Binance’s bStocks at $905 million, or 24%.

DWF Labs also tracked issuance growth from Robinhood, while Securitize reached $290 million, equivalent to about 8% of the market. On the blockchain side, BNB Chain held 32% of tokenized equity value, while Ethereum accounted for 22%. The report added that Solana’s share of DEX trading changed over time, though it did not provide a single comparable market-value figure for the chain.

IMF research points to trading pattern differences

Separate research published by the IMF in October found that tokenized stocks were more volatile than traditional equities. It also said more than half of tokenized equity trading took place outside regular U.S. market hours.

According to the IMF, around 80% of trades involved less than one share. That finding adds context to DWF Labs’ growth figures by suggesting that tokenized equity markets may be supporting a different mix of trading behavior than conventional stock venues.

The next confirmed milestone in the data is DWF Labs’ Oct. 15 estimate for DeFi deployment, which put on-chain use of tokenized equities at $313 million. For now, the report shows a market where trading, transfers, and DeFi activity have all grown sharply, even as issuer shares and chain usage continue to evolve.

Source: crypto.news