Crypto exchanges are expanding into traditional asset categories in a more coordinated way, according to CoinGecko’s report, How Crypto Exchanges Are Reshaping Traditional Asset Trading in 2026. Spot stocks, stock-linked derivatives, precious metals, commodities and foreign exchange are becoming a fresh battleground for centralized exchanges, with competition moving past crypto-native products toward a broader race to become a one-stop multi-asset trading gateway for global users.
The first section of the report compares product strategy and competitive positioning across six major exchanges: Binance, OKX, Bybit, Bitget, Gate and MEXC. The second section presents results from a MEXC user survey based on 6,185 valid responses worldwide, looking at the scale of user migration and the reasons behind it from the demand side. Odaily said it had compiled the main takeaways, while pointing readers to the full 22-page report.
Market cap of actively traded Crypto TradFi assets rose to $6.59 billion in 18 months
CoinGecko said Crypto TradFi assets grew from an early niche within the crypto sector into a market worth billions of dollars in roughly a year and a half. Across the asset classes tracked in the study, total market capitalization increased from $1.41 billion on Jan. 1, 2025 to a peak of $7.50 billion on Feb. 5, 2026, before easing to $6.59 billion on June 30, 2026.
That represents 366.7% growth over the past 18 months, based on the report’s figures. The expansion was concentrated in the earlier phase: a steady climb through the first half of 2025, followed by a faster move at the start of 2026. Because precious metals made up the largest share of the total, the trajectory broadly tracked gold’s record high in early 2026 and the pullback that followed. CoinGecko also said the relatively flat profile seen in the first half of 2026 masked a shift underneath, with interest in precious metals cooling somewhat while U.S. equities were added to the asset mix.
First-half 2026 volume reached $1.45 trillion
Trading volume expanded at a measured pace in 2025 before surging in 2026. Monthly combined spot and perpetual volume in Crypto TradFi products rose from $3.45 billion in January 2025 to $24.05 billion in December 2025. Demand for exposure to traditional financial assets then accelerated sharply in 2026, pushing volume to $87.58 billion in January, more than doubling from the prior month. In February, volume reached $186.32 billion, already above the full-year 2025 total of $135.47 billion.
For the first half of 2026 alone, total Crypto TradFi trading volume hit $1.45 trillion, or 10 times the full-year figure recorded in 2025.
By asset type, precious metals remained the largest single category for most of the period. Volume in that segment climbed from $23.99 billion in October 2025 to $80.97 billion in January 2026, then peaked at $236.76 billion in March when gold set a record high. It later fell 48.2% to $122.59 billion in June as gold prices pulled back.
U.S. equities led the market earlier on. In January 2025, total Crypto TradFi volume stood at $3.46 billion, of which U.S. stocks accounted for $3.08 billion, largely from single-stock perpetual contracts. During the second half of 2025, monthly U.S. equity volume held around $10.25 billion. It slipped at the start of 2026, then jumped to $43.40 billion in May and surged another 337.4% to $189.84 billion in June, overtaking precious metals for the first time. CoinGecko said that increase was mainly driven by speculative trading in semiconductor-related stocks such as Micron and Sandisk, as well as anticipation around a SpaceX IPO.
Open interest climbed from $60 million to $4.67 billion
Across the six exchanges in the study, open interest in Crypto TradFi perpetual contracts rose from $60 million on Jan. 1, 2025 to $4.67 billion on June 30, 2026, a 77-fold increase. Most of that growth came in 2026.
The report said open interest measures outstanding positions rather than turnover, so the steady climb adds to the case that trading tied to traditional financial assets inside crypto markets is developing into a more durable segment rather than a short-lived burst of activity.
Rotation among asset classes showed up here as well. Open interest in U.S. equities surpassed precious metals on June 18, 2026 and finished the period as the largest category at $2.01 billion, or 43.1% of the total. Precious metals stood at $1.69 billion, or 36.2%. CoinGecko said precious metals open interest had peaked earlier, at $1.98 billion on May 27, 2026, in line with rising gold prices, while the steady build in U.S. equity exposure pointed to a shift in market focus.
Binance, MEXC and Bitget stood out, but June reshuffled the rankings
Growth was not evenly distributed across centralized exchanges, and leadership changed hands several times. Binance posted the fastest rise, with trading volume increasing from $39.60 billion in January 2026 to $231.49 billion in June. That gave it more than half of the combined volume across the six exchanges that month.
MEXC expanded aggressively through most of 2026 and became the second-largest venue for much of that stretch, rising from $17.84 billion in January to a peak of $91.12 billion in May. In June, however, a spike in U.S. equity trading reordered the field. OKX moved up to $53.00 billion and Bitget to $44.23 billion, both ahead of MEXC at $38.68 billion. Bybit followed with $13.29 billion and Gate with $12.45 billion.
Market share data in the report shows how fluid the competition remained. In the early, lower-volume phase, no exchange held the lead for long. MEXC briefly led in February 2025 with a 35.4% share. Gate took 38.2% in July 2025 after listing spot U.S. stocks and global indices. Bitget then led in December 2025 with a 34.5% share after launching U.S. stock perpetual contracts ahead of peers.
Binance did not establish a sustained monthly lead until January 2026, when overall volumes expanded sharply. By June 2026, its share had climbed to 58.9%. CoinGecko also said MEXC consistently held the second-largest market share from January through May 2026, with a share more than double that of the other exchanges.
Exchanges are competing to become multi-asset gateways
The figures in CoinGecko’s report suggest that exchange moves into traditional assets have shifted beyond small-scale experimentation. Spot and derivative products tied to stocks, precious metals, commodities and foreign exchange are turning into a distinct line of competition among major CEXs.
Odaily, citing the report, said the contest is no longer confined to crypto-native assets. The question now is which platform can become the preferred one-stop gateway for global users seeking access to multiple asset classes. The full report is titled How Crypto Exchanges Are Reshaping Traditional Asset Trading in 2026.