A DeFi exchange becomes the first to offer equity perpetuals powered by Nasdaq data

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A DeFi exchange becomes the first to offer equity perpetuals powered by Nasdaq dataMarkets

What to know:

  • Ostium has become the first onchain trading venue to offer equity perpetuals on individual U.S. stocks using Nasdaq data, giving global traders blockchain-based access to Wall Street equities.
  • Built on Arbitrum, Ostium specializes in perpetual futures tied to real-world assets and has processed more than $50 billion in volume from over 26,000 traders since its 2024 launch.
  • The partnership underscores both the rapid growth of equity perpetuals in onchain markets and Nasdaq’s broader strategy to support tokenized equity trading infrastructure.

I was excited to see Ostium announce they’re letting us trade equity perpetuals – basically, contracts that track stock prices – directly on the blockchain! They’re the first platform doing this, and what’s really cool is they’re using data straight from Nasdaq. They basically asked the community what stocks we’re interested in trading on their new platform.

Traditionally, accessing U.S. stock markets has been difficult, requiring permission from brokers and being limited by location. Now, the decentralized exchange Ostium allows traders around the world to invest in U.S. stocks with the advantages of blockchain technology – including clear, open records, immediate transactions, and full control of their own assets.

The collaboration will make it easier to connect with financial markets worldwide and increase trading activity on the platform. Ostium previously provided perpetual equity contracts, but this new partnership with Nasdaq brings in official, high-quality data for institutional investors.

Ostium is a platform built on Arbitrum, a technology that speeds up and lowers the cost of transactions on Ethereum. It allows traders to make leveraged predictions on things like stocks, currencies, and commodities using their existing crypto wallets. Unlike most decentralized exchanges (DEXes) that only deal with cryptocurrencies, Ostium focuses on perpetual futures contracts for these real-world assets.

Since launching in 2024, the exchange has seen over $50 billion worth of trading from more than 26,000 users. Currently, the total value of active futures contracts on the platform is around $91.6 million, according to DefiLlama.

Ostium’s new feature comes as more cryptocurrency traders are turning to traditional investments like gold, silver, oil, and U.S. stocks. They’re using a type of crypto trading called ‘onchain perpetuals’ to trade these assets 24/7, even when regular stock markets are closed.

Equity perpetuals are becoming increasingly popular, representing almost 20% of the $75 billion+ in trading volume for perpetual contracts last week, as reported by Stork Labs. They’re also contributing to more accurate price setting in the market.

According to Stork Labs, individuals who acquired Cerebras Systems stock before its initial public offering (IPO) accurately predicted its opening price on the Nasdaq within just a few hours.

Hyperliquid, a popular platform for trading perpetual contracts without a middleman, has recently observed a trend: trading in commodities and stock market futures is most active on its platform during weekends. These markets currently have the highest trading volume and the most open positions.

Being listed on Nasdaq could boost Ostium’s reputation, helping them attract investors interested in the growing market for on-chain macroeconomic data.

This news also shows Nasdaq is expanding into the world of blockchain-based assets. Earlier in March, they partnered with Payward, the company behind Kraken, to build the technology needed to link traditional stock markets with decentralized blockchain systems.

Ostium’s collaboration is Nasdaq’s second partnership in just two months, indicating they’re actively developing a long-term plan for onchain trading technology, not just experimenting with a single project.

It’s still uncertain if traders around the globe will widely adopt a DeFi platform for trading stocks listed on the Nasdaq.

When a major player in the financial world starts using blockchain technology for its market data, it shows that turning stocks into digital tokens is becoming a reality, not just a future possibility.

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2026-05-19 11:28