In July 2025, Gate, the world’s leading digital asset platform, officially launched the xStocks trading section, becoming the first global platform to support both spot and perpetual contract trading for tokenized stocks.
This innovative move allows users to trade tokens representing real publicly listed company shares directly with USDT.
A report from Gate Research Institute highlights an explosive growth market: by the end of 2025, the total market capitalization of tokenized stocks had surpassed $500 million, growing more than 50-fold within the year. This marks the rapid transition of asset tokenization from concept to large-scale adoption.
01 Market Wave: Explosive Growth of Tokenized Stocks
The boundaries between traditional finance and the crypto world are rapidly dissolving on platforms like Gate. According to Gate Research Institute’s report, tokenized stocks have emerged as the most critical new track for real-world asset tokenization, following stablecoins and government bonds.
Despite the rapid growth, tokenized stocks account for only about 0.0004% of the total global stock market capitalization, and about 0.003% of the ETF market. Behind these tiny percentages lies a vast blue ocean of untapped potential.
Market expansion is closely aligned with the platform’s own growth. According to Gate’s Transparency Report released in November 2025, its global spot market share has climbed to 6.04%, reaching a new annual high.
A massive user base provides fertile ground for promoting innovative financial products. The report shows that Gate now serves over 46 million registered users worldwide, offering more than 4,100 listed assets.
02 Product Core: How xStocks Is Reshaping Stock Investing
At the heart of the xStocks section is its compliant physical asset tokenization model. Every token listed corresponds to a share of a publicly traded company and is fully collateralized.
This means that when you purchase an NVDAX token, it is backed by actual shares of NVIDIA. This model ensures the authenticity and value backing of the asset.
Gate’s initial offerings include some of the world’s most influential tech companies, giving investors direct access to top-tier enterprises. Key trading pairs feature industry giants:
- COINX: Represents Coinbase stock
- NVDAX: Represents NVIDIA stock
- AAPLX: Represents Apple stock
- TSLAX: Represents Tesla stock
- GOOGLX: Represents Google stock
The biggest difference from traditional stock trading is the "around-the-clock" trading capability. xStocks supports trading 24/7, breaking free from the time constraints of traditional stock exchanges.
03 Trading Revolution: Dual Choice of Spot and Contracts
Within Gate’s xStocks section, investors have a flexible array of trading tools, enabling both basic spot trading and the use of derivatives for more sophisticated strategies.
For those seeking direct exposure, spot trading allows users to instantly buy or sell these tokenized stocks at current market prices. The process is as straightforward as trading any other cryptocurrency, but the underlying assets are core holdings from the traditional financial world.
Even more innovative, Gate has simultaneously launched perpetual contract trading for these tokenized stocks—a feature rarely seen in traditional stock markets.
Perpetual contracts allow investors to use leverage up to 10x to amplify their positions. Whether the market is rising or falling, investors can go long or short to express their market views, something not easily achieved in the typically one-directional traditional stock market.
04 How to Get Started: Trading Tokenized Stocks
For users looking to explore this new investment avenue, the path to participation is clear and straightforward. First, you’ll need a Gate account with completed identity verification.
While the platform does not explicitly list the specific KYC requirements for trading xStocks in its public materials, completing basic account verification is the first step for most financial services.
The second step is asset preparation. All xStocks trades are settled in USDT, so you’ll need to ensure your account has sufficient USDT to cover trades and any potential fees. According to platform information, both maker and taker fees for spot trading are set at 0.20%.
Once logged in to Gate, you can find the "xStocks" section in the trading interface. Here, you can browse all available tokenized stocks, view real-time price charts, and make investment decisions based on your own analysis.
05 Looking Ahead: Diverse Trends in On-Chain Assets
The tokenized stock sector is far from a single model. Gate Research Institute’s report analyzes multiple solutions, including xStocks and Ondo Global Markets, revealing a competitive landscape of "homogeneous assets, heterogeneous implementations."
Currently, the sector faces three main challenges: fragmented liquidity, mismatched demand, and regulatory fragmentation. Liquidity does not flow freely between different tokenization solutions, and regulatory requirements vary by region, limiting overall market efficiency.
Looking forward, three clear trends are emerging. First is the expansion of asset types, extending from single stocks to ETFs, pre-IPO projects, and even more diverse perpetual contract products.
Second is the push for regional adaptation, with solutions increasingly tailored to fit different regulatory frameworks and market needs.
Third is the deep involvement of traditional financial giants. As the market matures, large traditional institutions are likely to enter with their resources and client networks, further accelerating ecosystem development.
Outlook
On Gate’s platform, the market value of tokenized stocks representing US equities has surged 50-fold in a single year, yet this still accounts for only 0.0004% of the global stock market’s total value. That vast, uncharted territory is where future capital will flow.
Dr. Han Lin predicts that 2025 will see the crypto market achieve a "key transformation toward institutionalization and structural maturity." Products like xStocks serve as bridges between two worlds, with their foundations firmly anchored in the rising tide.
