Bitget, describing itself as the world's largest Universal Exchange (UEX), has launched TradFi Quanto Perpetual Futures, a novel derivatives product that gives crypto-native traders exposure to non-USD-denominated stocks without requiring currency conversion. The first contract, MINIMAXHKDUSDT, tracks the Hong Kong-listed artificial intelligence company MiniMax and became available on July 21 with 24/7 trading and up to 20x leverage.
The key innovation is that the contract maintains its price reference in the local currency of the underlying stock—in this case, Hong Kong dollars (HKD)—while the entire trading process is denominated in USDT. Traders post margin in USDT, pay funding fees in USDT, and receive realized profits and losses in USDT, effectively treating the numerical value of the local-currency price as equivalent to USDT at a 1:1 ratio. For example, a 10-contract long position opened at 30 and closed at 50 would yield a 200 USDT profit, calculated as the 20-unit price difference multiplied by 10 contracts, with settlement occurring directly in USDT.
Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, commented: "Quanto contracts are not new in crypto derivatives, but no major exchange has applied the structure to traditional financial assets until now. ... The Quanto contracts remove the last barrier for global traders: currency conversion. Anyone holding USDT can now trade Hong Kong and other non-USD stocks as easily as they trade Bitcoin."
The launch addresses practical hurdles for crypto users seeking international equities. Traditionally, gaining exposure to a Hong Kong-listed company requires brokerage access and converting capital into HKD, introducing additional steps and foreign exchange risk. Bitget's quanto structure sidesteps this by separating the stock's local-currency price reference from the settlement currency.
The product arrives amid rapid growth in TradFi perpetuals. According to TokenInsight's Q2 2026 Crypto Exchange Report cited by Bitget, monthly trading volume for traditional finance perpetuals surged from approximately $52 billion in January to $268 billion in June—a fivefold increase. Equity perpetuals have overtaken commodities as the main growth driver. Bitget itself generated roughly $69 billion in TradFi perpetual volume during Q2, capturing 11.01% of the market.
The quanto perpetuals are the latest step in Bitget's broader strategy to merge crypto infrastructure with traditional financial markets under its Universal Exchange model. The exchange already offers tokenized stock perpetuals with up to 100x leverage, CFD trading across equities, commodities, and forex, and a Pre-IPO trading service called IPO Prime in partnership with Republic. By extending to non-USD equities, Bitget aims to bring additional asset classes into a single USDT-settled trading environment.
It is important to note that holding the perpetual contract does not confer shareholder rights or direct ownership of MiniMax shares, and leveraged derivatives carry risks including amplified losses, funding costs, and liquidation. Nevertheless, the launch represents a notable step in the convergence of crypto and traditional finance.
