Traders are moving towards tokenized AI stocks – But crypto remains persistent

There has been a gradual convergence between the crypto and traditional finance sectors since tokenization began allowing crypto-native exchanges to offer tokenized equities to users.

MEXC, a leading global cryptocurrency exchange, reported growing interest among traders in tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs, especially as the crypto market faces a notable drought, with $1.64 trillion lost over the past 385 days.

The report, which covered trading activity for September, showed that traders’ interest was mainly focused on artificial intelligence (AI) stocks and ETFs, which saw trading volume surge 88% compared with their non-AI counterparts, which recorded trading volume growth of around 63%.

According to the report, the most traded AI-linked stocks came from the semiconductor and memory, optical communications and networking, computing infrastructure, and data center sectors, which accounted for 90% of the growth.

In summary, AI-linked assets accounted for 48% of tokenized U.S. stock and ETF trading volume, a 4% increase from the previous month. Circle’s [CRCLON] dominated trading volume, followed by SpaceX [SPCXON], Nebius [NBISON], Marvell [MRVLON], and Meta [METAON], respectively.

Traders turn to pre-IPO assets

Interest in tokenized U.S. stocks and equities appears to have surged at a time when broader interest in cryptocurrencies appears to be in a neutral phase.

This phase is often associated with investors being neither bullish nor bearish across the market, leaving many on the sidelines, especially as the market suffers from a capital drought and outflows.

Capital outflows in this case suggest that investors may be rotating their assets into other asset classes and sectors to capture growth.

MEXC’s September data shows that interest in pre-IPO offerings and pre-IPO futures surged significantly during the month as traders made these moves.

Pre-IPO offerings saw trading volume rise by 60%, with OpenAI, Kimi (Moonshot AI), and Enflame attracting traders’ interest. The pre-IPO Futures included assets linked to YMTC (Yangtze Memory Technologies) and Oura (Oura Health).

In a note to AMBCrypto, MEXC CEO Vugar Usi noted that interest is growing across the broader value chain.

“September’s data shows that demand for AI-related trading is expanding beyond chips into the broader value chain.”

Crypto outperforms U.S. equities on scale

The surge in tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs, alongside interest in pre-IPO offerings, appears to reflect more of a cyclical move than a complete exit from the market.

Artemis sector performance data shows that, over a three-month period, sectors within the crypto market outperformed the U.S. equities market by notable margins.

In fact, the top four spots among the best-performing sectors globally were occupied by crypto-linked sectors, with DeFi Lending and Yield, Crypto Infrastructure, DEX & Trading, and Smart Contract Platforms recording gains of 54.3%, 53.0%, 48.6%, and 37.5%, respectively.

At the individual token level, assets including Quant [QNT], Zcash [ZEC], Raydium [RAY], NEAR Protocol [NEAR], and Ethena [ENA] led gains over the past three months, with each recording gains of at least 140%.

Over a shorter period, there has also been evidence that traditional finance investors are increasing their crypto exposure, with capital inflows into U.S. spot crypto ETFs rising between the 26th and the 28th of October.

According to SoSoValue, total net inflows reached $212.11 million during this period.

Final Summary

• AI-linked assets accounted for 48% of tokenized U.S. stock and ETF trading volume in September, up 4% from the previous month.

• Crypto sectors outperformed U.S. equities over three months, while U.S. spot crypto ETFs recorded $212.11 million in net inflows between the 26th and the 28th of October.