Theory Ventures founder Tomasz Tunguz said the world’s fastest-growing market is not AI but the crypto market built around on-chain real-world assets, or RWA. In his view, RWA is bringing stocks as well as commodities such as oil and copper onto blockchains, while also taking on much of the public price discovery process when commodity exchanges are closed. Tunguz said stock perpetual contracts are being used to provide pre-listing price signals for companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceX, and Cerebras, while also opening access to international users. He cited data showing that Cerebras’ pre-IPO perpetual price was within 1.3% of its Nasdaq opening price. For SpaceX, he said perpetual open interest stood at about $215 million and cumulative pre-listing trading volume reached roughly $2.2 billion. He also pointed to a September 2026 report from Pantera Capital, which said stock perpetuals on Hyperliquid and Lighter recorded $67.8 billion in June trading volume, or 16 times the spot volume of tokenized stocks. Tunguz added that stablecoins have become one of the top 10 buyers of U.S. Treasuries and are being used to settle these tokenized asset trades.
ChainCatcher reported that Tomasz Tunguz, founder of venture capital firm Theory Ventures, said the world’s fastest-growing market is not AI but the crypto market formed through blockchain-based real-world assets, or RWA.
He said RWA allows stocks and commodities such as oil and copper to trade on-chain, and that it handles almost all public price discovery when commodity exchanges are closed.
Stock perpetuals used for pre-listing pricing
Tunguz said RWA, through stock perpetual contracts, provides pre-listing pricing for Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceX, and Cerebras, while also offering international access.
He cited data showing that Cerebras’ pre-listing perpetual price was within 1.3% of its Nasdaq opening price. For SpaceX, perpetual open interest was about $215 million, and cumulative pre-listing trading volume was about $2.2 billion.
Pantera Capital report cited on trading activity
According to Tunguz, a Pantera Capital report published in September 2026 showed that stock perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid and Lighter reached $67.8 billion in trading volume in June, or 16 times the spot volume of tokenized stocks.
Stablecoins and institutional push
He also said stablecoins have become one of the top 10 buyers of U.S. Treasuries, with holdings larger than those of China, Norway, and Switzerland, and that they are used to settle the tokenized asset trades mentioned above.
He added that institutions including JPMorgan, HSBC, BlackRock, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Franklin Templeton, Robinhood, and Stripe are pushing forward with RWA.
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