Merkl’s reward forwarder technology addresses this by tracing token positions through supported smart contracts to identify the underlying holders and allocate distributions according to the applicable rules. The system can account for multiple layers of DeFi contracts and protocol-specific fees. Users and developers can check if individual contracts are supported through the Merkl Studio Forwarder Scan tool.
“The challenge with assets held in DeFi is knowing who sits behind each position,” said Pablo Veyrat, CEO and Co-founder of Merkl. “Our forwarder technology traces ownership through nested smart contracts and tells Reality exactly who holds what, so dividends can reach the right people wherever their tokens are deployed.”
“Tokenized equities should be useful beyond trading,” said Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget. “If someone puts their rTokens to work in DeFi, they should still be able to receive the dividends they’re eligible for. Working with Merkl helps us address that challenge and makes tokenized equities more practical for everyday use.”
Reality keeps dividend entitlements as Merkl handles forwarding
Under the partnership, Reality continues to manage rToken issuance and dividend entitlements, while Merkl provides the reward forwarding infrastructure for identifying eligible holders across supported DeFi positions.
Reality’s rToken model distributes eligible cash dividends separately from the token’s price, with net cash dividends generally settled in USDT.
Distribution through DeFi remains subject to the supported contracts and applicable distribution rules.
rToken adoption extends from exchange trading into DeFi
The partnership builds on the growing adoption of rTokens within Bitget’s UEX ecosystem. According to a DeFiLlama report, rToken trading volume reached $1.16 billion in cumulative volume between June and July, while the number of users trading both crypto and rTokens grew 23.54% month over month in July 2026, pointing to rising demand for tokenized equities as part of broader, cross-asset strategies.
The integration with Merkl supports the next stage of development, helping extend the use of tokenized equities beyond exchange-based trading into DeFi.