The contracts that pay in USDt let traders bet on how the prices of the two firms’ stocks will change without actually holding the equities.
Crypto exchange KuCoin has created equity-related perpetual futures connected to companies like Tesla and Strategy. These contracts pay in USDt and trade around the clock, letting traders bet on how their prices will change.
The initial listings, which were announced on Friday, were TSLAUSDT and MSTRUSDT perpetual futures. These contracts follow the price movements of the underlying stocks but do not give the holder ownership of the shares. Stablecoins settle the items, which are actually synthetic derivatives.
There is no end date for the contracts, and they can be traded at any time. You can open positions with just 1 USDt USDT$1, which makes it easier for traders who want to trade crypto on a platform that tracks equity-linked price movements.
KuCoin says that the product uses a pricing system that considers the variations between the hours of the regular stock market and the continuous trading environment of crypto derivatives exchanges.
The company warned that access to the contracts may be limited in some places because of local laws.
KuCoin boasts that their platform serves well over 40 million users in more than 200 countries and lists more than 1,000 digital tokens for trading. It was founded in 2017. Based on CoinMarketCap data, the exchange is the ninth largest in terms of spot trading volume.
MicroStrategy, which changed its name to Strategy in February 2025, is the company with the most Bitcoin, with 738,731 BTC on its balance sheet. With 11,509 BTC, Tesla is the 12th largest public holding.
Source: BitcoinTreasuries.NET
Tokenized equities gain momentum across crypto and finance
Since the beginning of 2025, the market for tokenised stocks has risen quite rapidly. RWA.xyz said that the total market value of tokenised stocks is currently more than $1.03 billion, up from roughly $291 million on January 1, 2025.
The market is growing thanks to fintech companies, crypto exchanges, and regular brokerages.
Fintech companies, crypto exchanges, and traditional brokerages are all helping the sector grow.
Robinhood added 80 new stock tokens to its tokenisation project on the Arbitrum blockchain in October. This increased the total number of tokenised assets on the platform to almost 500.
After Backed Finance’s xStocks offering came out in June, Kraken and Bybit both got more than 60 tokenised equities. Kraken launched tokenised equity perpetual futures on its regulated derivatives platform last month. This lets qualifying non-US clients trade 24/7 with leverage on major US stock indexes, gold, and businesses like Tesla, Nvidia, and Apple.
Traditional exchanges are also exploring this idea. The New York Stock Exchange said in January that it is working on a platform for trading tokenised equities and exchange-traded funds with 24/7 trading and fast settlements, but only if regulators give their clearance.
In September, Nasdaq asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to list tokenised stocks. It has since teamed up with Payward, Kraken’s parent business, and Backed Finance, a subsidiary, aim to create a gateway for tokenising stocks. In the first half of 2027, issuers should be able to use the platform.