Crypto exchange KuCoin has launched equity-linked perpetual derivatives on stocks including Tesla and Strategy, allowing traders to speculate on price movements through USDt-denominated contracts that trade overnight.
According to Friday’s announcement, the first listings include perpetual contracts TSLAUSDT and MSTRUSDT, which track price movements in the underlying stock but do not provide ownership of the shares. Instead, the products are synthetic derivatives embedded in stablecoins.
Contracts have no expiration date and can be traded continuously. Positions can be opened with as little as 1 USDt (USDT), which lowers the profit margin for traders who want to be exposed to price movements related to stocks through the crypto trading platform.
According to KuCoin, the product uses a pricing framework designed to track key stock indicators while accounting for the difference between traditional stock market hours and the constant trading environment of crypto derivatives markets.
Access to contracts may be restricted in some jurisdictions due to local regulations, the company said.
Founded in 2017, KuCoin says its platform serves more than 40 million users in more than 200 countries and lists more than 1,000 digital tokens for trading. According to CoinMarketCap, the exchange is ranked eighth in terms of spot trading volume.
MicroStrategy, which rebranded to Strategy in February 2025, is currently the largest Bitcoin holder with 738,731 BTC in its balance sheet. Tesla is the 12th largest public asset with 11,509 BTC.
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Fintechs and exchanges are moving to list stocks
The market for tokenized shares has grown since the beginning of 2025. According to RWA.xyz, tokenized shares now have a total market value of about $1.03 billion, an increase of about $291 million from January 1, 2025.
The development of this sector is driven by fintech companies, cryptocurrency exchanges and traditional brokers.
In October, Robinhood expanded its tokenization initiative on the Arbitrum blockchain, adding 80 new equity tokens, bringing the total number of tokenized assets on the platform to nearly 500.
In June, more than 60 tokenized stocks became available on Kraken and Bybit following the launch of the xStocks Backed Finance product. Last month, Kraken launched perpetual tokenized stock futures on its regulated derivatives platform, which allows non-US clients to trade 24/7 leveraged exposure to major US stock indices, gold and companies including Tesla, Nvidia and Apple.
Traditional exchanges also explore the concept. In January, the New York Stock Exchange announced that it would develop a trading platform for tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds with 24/7 trading and instant settlement, subject to regulatory approval.
In September, Nasdaq applied to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to list tokenized shares. It has since partnered with Payward, Kraken’s parent company, and its subsidiary, Backed Finance, to develop an equity tokenization gateway. The platform is expected to start serving issuers in the first half of 2027.
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