Tokenized equity products have been expanding rapidly across crypto exchanges since early 2025, with competitors including Kraken and Bybit already offering similar instruments. Now KuCoin has entered that space with a distinct structure.
The exchange has launched perpetual futures contracts tied to the stock prices of Tesla and Strategy, settled in USDt and available for trading around the clock. According to the announcement, the first listings are designated TSLAUSDT and MSTRUSDT. Neither contract grants ownership of the underlying shares — they are synthetic derivatives that track equity price movements without participation in traditional stock markets.
Positions can be opened with as little as 1 USDt. The contracts carry no expiration date.
The pricing framework, according to KuCoin, is designed to track underlying equity benchmarks while accounting for the gap between standard stock market hours and the continuous environment of crypto derivatives trading. Access may be restricted in certain jurisdictions under local regulations, the company noted.
Why These Two Companies
Strategy, which rebranded from MicroStrategy in February 2025, currently holds 738,731 BTC, making it the largest corporate Bitcoin holder. Tesla ranks 12th among public holders with 11,509 BTC on its balance sheet. Both companies carry direct exposure to crypto market dynamics, which makes them natural reference assets for a crypto-native derivatives product.
KuCoin says the platform serves more than 40 million users across more than 200 countries and lists over 1,000 digital tokens. The exchange currently ranks eighth by spot trading volume according to CoinMarketCap data.
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A Market Growing Fast
The broader tokenized equity market has moved quickly. Total market value now stands at approximately $1.03 billion, up from around $291 million on January 1, 2025, according to RWA.xyz data.
Several major platforms have contributed to that growth. Last month, Kraken launched tokenized equity perpetual futures on its regulated derivatives platform, offering eligible non-US clients leveraged exposure to major US stock indexes, gold, and individual companies including Tesla, Nvidia, and Apple. In June, more than 60 tokenized stocks became available on Kraken and Bybit through Backed Finance‘s xStocks product. In October, Robinhood expanded its tokenization initiative on the Arbitrum blockchain, adding 80 new stock tokens and bringing its total tokenized assets to nearly 500.
Traditional exchanges are also moving in this direction. In January, the New York Stock Exchange announced it is developing a platform for tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds with 24/7 trading and instant settlement, pending regulatory approval. Nasdaq filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in September seeking approval to list tokenized stocks and has since partnered with Payward and its subsidiary Backed Finance to develop an equities tokenization gateway. That platform is expected to begin serving issuers in the first half of 2027.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice.
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