Binance launches regulated TradFi perpetual contracts settled in USDT, starting with gold and silver

Binance has launched its first regulated perpetual futures linked to traditional financial assets, starting with contracts tracking gold and silver that are settled in the USDT stablecoin.

The new products, branded as TradFi Perpetual Contracts, offer traders 24/7 exposure to conventional assets through the same perpetual futures structure widely used in crypto markets.

According to an official announcement on Thursday, the inaugural contracts include XAUUSDT and XAGUSDT, which correspond to gold and silver. Binance added that more pairs are planned in the future. The contracts are offered by Nest Exchange Limited, a Binance entity regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market.

Binance said it is the first global digital asset platform to obtain a comprehensive suite of licenses under the ADGM framework, allowing it to offer the products on a regulated basis.

Perpetual contracts do not have expiry dates and are typically used for hedging or leveraged trading. Binance noted that the TradFi version mirrors its existing crypto perpetuals in terms of fee structure and settlement currency, while using pricing and risk-management mechanisms designed to handle periods when underlying traditional markets are closed.

The rollout follows signs that major crypto exchanges are increasingly looking beyond crypto assets for growth. In December, Binance API updates hinted at preparations for stock-linked perpetual contracts.

“We were beta-testing and can now announce the launch of TradFi Perpetuals — a new product category bringing TradFi assets into crypto through USDT-settled contracts,” a Binance spokesperson told The Block after Thursday’s news.

Jeff Li, Binance’s vice president of product, added that the launch aims to bridge traditional finance and crypto by giving users continuous access to conventional assets through a familiar derivatives format.

Rotating across asset classes

Trading activity has also rotated across asset classes in recent months. CryptoQuant Founder Ki Young Ju noted that capital flows into bitcoin have cooled compared with prior cycles, while interest in equities, commodities, and other traditional assets, such as precious metals like gold, has remained strong.

"Capital inflows into bitcoin have dried up," Ju posted to X on Thursday. "Liquidity channels are more diverse now, so timing inflows is pointless. Money just rotated to stocks and shiny rocks."

Beyond derivatives, tokenized versions of traditional assets have also gained traction over the past year. A Dune dashboard curated by Gate Research shows that these onchain representations of stocks and commodities had surpassed $1 billion in assets by late 2025, a staggering 50-fold increase over a year.