Gold, Silver and Oil Drive 65,000% Jump in Commodities
BitMEX reported on Thursday that commodity futures were the fastest-growing segment of TradeFix in the first quarter of 2026, with weekly volume rising 65,463% from $38.1 million to $25.0 billion.
Silver, crude oil and gold led most of the gains, the report said. In the year In the week of March 15, silver (XAG) had a market share of 34.8% of tokenized commodities, crude oil (CL) for 27.7%, gold (XAU) for 27.5% and silver on hyperliquids for 6%, according to Thursday's report.
BitMEX March crude oil added a new leg to the market, due to the geopolitical tensions related to Iran and the broader demand for 24/7 commodity exposure on crypto-native venues.
The figures point to a rapidly growing crypto derivatives market.
Brent crude rose 44% after the first US/Israeli attack on Iran on February 28. Oil prices rose to around $114 on Tuesday, their highest level since the conflict began.
Weekend displacement lifted commodity prices
Stephan Lutz, CEO of BitMEX, told Cointelegraph that Onchain TradFi Perps are enabling traders to “anticipate and hedge against weekend geopolitical events in real time, such as the recent Iran conflict. “While the Perpetual Exchange model continues to hold a large market share in commodity trading due to its 24/7 nature, we are very skeptical about placing spot assets.”
However, creating physical commodities on the blockchain is complicated by the old financial system's “complex, arbitrary legal rules,” Lutz added, adding that onchain derivatives will continue to eat into traditional commodity trading until “the giants like CME” start their own 24/7 trading venues.
RELATED: Crypto Exchanges Gain As Tokenized Commodity Market Hits $7.7B
In the broader market, the total market capitalization of onchain products fell 2.7 percent to $7.34 billion over the past 30 days, according to data aggregator RWA.xyz.
BitMEX, which claims to have launched its first perpetual exchange in 2016, now offers more than 20 TradFi contracts, the report said.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, introduced gold and silver eternal in January. It offers contracts that include precious metals and tokenized shares. Silver (XAG) contracts saw an average daily volume of $1.31 billion during the quarter, the report said.
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