Bitget, Reality and Keyring release research on fully onchain equity basis trade built on rTokens
- Bitget, Reality and Keyring released a joint research report on how tokenised equities, perpetual derivatives and decentralised lending can work together in an equity-basis strategy.
- Simulations showed annualised net returns of about 7% in-sample and 4% out-of-sample, against a gross funding premium of roughly 11%–14%.
- Selected products informed by the research are planned to launch through Bitget Earn, subject to product review, regulatory requirements, user eligibility and availability.
Bitget, the world’s largest Universal Exchange (UEX), has released a joint research report with Reality and Keyring exploring how tokenised equities can support trading strategies beyond traditional stock investing.
The study examines how tokenised equities, perpetual derivatives and decentralised lending can work together, with historical simulations examining the potential returns, financing costs and risks associated with these strategies.
How the rToken equity-basis model works
The research highlights how tokenised equities could expand beyond direct stock exposure into lending, collateral management and systematic investment strategies.
Using Reality’s rTokens, the model combines tokenised equity holdings with offsetting short positions in corresponding equity perpetual contracts.
When funding rates are positive, these positions can generate funding payments while seeking to reduce exposure to movements in the underlying stock price.
Keyring structures the associated lending markets, with IPOR Fusion providing onchain vault infrastructure and 1Token supporting portfolio monitoring and risk management.
Simulations show 7% net returns as costs eat into funding premium
Based on simulations covering December 15, 2025, to October 19, 2026, the rules-based index generated annualised net returns of approximately 7% during the in-sample period and 4% during the out-of-sample period.
The research also identified a gross funding premium of approximately 11%–14%, with financing costs, execution expenses and liquidity constraints affecting net performance. The findings demonstrate the importance of managing these costs when developing equity-basis strategies across decentralised markets.
“Tokenised stocks are opening up opportunities beyond buying and selling shares. Investors can use them as collateral, combine with derivatives, and integrated strategies that previously required separate financial platforms.” said Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget. “This research shows how those pieces can work together, while highlighting the importance of execution costs, liquidity and risk management. That is an important part of what we’re building with Bitget’s Universal Exchange.”
Pricing, liquidity and margin management remain key risks
The report also examines the risks of executing these strategies across decentralised markets, including negative funding rates, collateral valuation differences, liquidation exposure and settlement delays.
It emphasises that reliable pricing, sufficient liquidity and coordinated margin management remain essential to making these strategies viable.
A benchmark for institutions, with Bitget Earn products to follow
Alex McFarlane, Founder of Keyring, said: “Bringing the equity basis trade fully on-chain makes a strategy traditionally run by asset managers more transparent, programmable and accessible to a broader set of investors. More importantly, the index creates a benchmark and set of building blocks that investment banks, fund managers and CTAs can use to develop their own strategies. Bitget’s focus on expanding rToken into DeFi is a significant step in that direction.”
The research forms part of Bitget’s broader efforts to expand the use of tokenised assets within its Universal Exchange ecosystem. Selected products informed by the research are planned to launch through Bitget Earn, subject to product review, regulatory requirements, user eligibility and availability.
All performance figures are based on historical simulations and do not represent realised returns or guarantee future performance.
To read the full report, visit here.
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Hannah Collymore
Hannah is a writer and editor with nearly a decade of blog writing and event reporting experience in the crypto space. At Cryptopolitan, Hannah contributes to the news page, reporting and analyzing the latest developments in DeFi, RWA, crypto regulation, AI and frontier tech industries. She graduated from Arcadia university with a degree in Business Administration.
