Encrypted CEX is becoming a historical species

Author: momo, ChainCatcher

Bitcoin cannot outperform gold, silver, oil, and tech stocks; the altcoin season has nearly disappeared, and the voices claiming that "crypto has entered garbage time" are growing louder. Yet, it is precisely during this so-called garbage time that crypto natives are forced to understand the world, and a profound reconstruction of future trading forms is underway.

I. Crypto Natives Are Forced to Understand the World

If we look at two sets of data together, we might have a different perspective on the claim that "crypto has entered garbage time."

One set shows the emerging trading boom of TradFi in crypto. Over the past year, whether it is gold, U.S. stocks, or commodities like oil, they have been continuously siphoning global liquidity; meanwhile, the trading volume of TradFi assets on crypto exchanges has also been amplifying. Recently, RWA trading volume on Hyperliquid has been hitting new highs; Binance's trading volume for gold and silver contracts has also reached record levels; and Bitget's CFD segment has integrated 79 popular trading categories, including gold, silver, and oil, with recent daily trading volume surpassing $6 billion, setting a new record. What does this trading volume signify? Recently, Binance's daily spot trading volume has been around $8 billion.

This also means that in a bear market environment, for crypto traders, "leaving" is no longer the only option as it once was. Instead, they can remain within the crypto account system, unrestricted by geography or market hours, directly switching to TradFi assets to seek new profit opportunities or complete risk hedging.

Although crypto natives often complain about being in "garbage time," during this phase, they are compelled to learn about and pay attention to variables they previously overlooked: the Federal Reserve's interest rate path, inflation data, AI industry cycles, and even the supply-demand structure of oil.

This change has even spilled over into professional content production. Whether in media or among KOLs, the topics of discussion have clearly expanded—macro, AI, commodities are now appearing alongside crypto, rather than just as background.

Recently, a KOL reported that a significant portion of content in many crypto media outlets is no longer "purely crypto," but instead includes a large amount of AI and traditional asset content. Even crypto CEXs like Bitget have seen their daily market reports gradually transform into a mixed information flow of macro, TradFi, AI, and crypto.

The other set of data reflects a more "counterintuitive" shift in user direction.

In the past, bull markets attracted users through wealth effects, while bear markets often saw users fleeing. However, according to a report by @smartestxyz, there is a metric called "Non-Crypto-First Users"—users whose first on-chain transaction is RWA Perp rather than crypto. As of March 2026, there are nearly 50,000 such users, who first encountered crypto not because of Bitcoin, but due to stock indices, gold, and oil.

This indicates that even in a bear market, new users can still be attracted, and their motivations for entering have changed. They are not drawn in by the crypto narrative of "getting rich overnight," but rather by the pain points of traditional finance, such as high barriers and low efficiency, which have pulled them into on-chain finance due to its convenience. In other words, crypto is no longer solely relying on narratives and airdrops to attract new users; it is beginning to acquire customers by "solving real trading needs."

The value of crypto presented by these two sets of data is somewhat contrary to the narrative of "garbage time." Perhaps more accurately, the current crypto market is superficially quiet but is undergoing internal reconstruction.

If past crypto was more like a narrative-driven market, it is now entering a phase driven by real demand. In a sense, this may be the true beginning of its growth.

II. "Crypto CEX" May Become a Historical Species

However, the migration of users from both inside and outside the crypto space to TradFi may lead to the "crypto CEX" fading from the historical stage. This does not mean that crypto CEXs will disappear immediately, but rather that exchanges focusing solely on crypto assets may not last long in the future.

For crypto CEXs, this crisis has already manifested in the anticipated bull market of 2024, where crypto CEXs did not see the large influx of external users they expected. The consensus in the industry is that the traffic dividend has faded, and crypto CEXs relying solely on subsidies and trading rebates to generate trading volume are becoming inefficient and unsustainable.

The reason behind this is simple: beyond crypto assets, the multi-asset trading demand targeting TradFi and on-chain assets is no longer a short-term need but is set to become a new norm for smoothing out cyclical fluctuations.

For a long time, the crypto market has been a relatively independent and self-consistent system, where narratives, liquidity, and price cycles primarily occurred within the circle. However, in the past 1-2 years, this "self-consistency" has been disrupted.

The simple cyclical model of bull and bear markets every four years is no longer effective. Surviving a bear market does not guarantee a subsequent bull market with widespread gains; airdrop benefits have also diminished, and Bitcoin is increasingly embedded in the macro cycle. It is no longer just "crypto assets" but is beginning to become part of global liquidity.

In this context, crypto investors are naturally no longer satisfied with a single crypto position but are eager to utilize the liquidity of crypto assets to capture alpha and cyclical opportunities in mainstream global assets.

The explosive growth of the RWA market also illustrates this point. Recent data from RWA.xyz shows that, excluding stablecoins, the total value of on-chain tokenized real assets has exceeded $25 billion, nearly quadrupling from $6.4 billion a year ago. Currently, six categories of assets have on-chain scales exceeding $1 billion, including U.S. Treasury bonds, commodities, private credit, institutional alternative investment funds, corporate bonds, and non-U.S. government debt.

III. UEX Takes Over, An Undercover War Has Begun

If the form of "crypto CEX" gradually fades from the historical stage, what will the next generation of trading apps look like? Mainstream crypto exchanges and TradFi institutions are engaged in a covert war around this theme.

1. Reconstruction of the Trading System of Crypto CEXs

Many have noticed that mainstream exchanges like Binance, OKX, Bitget, and Bybit are launching TradFi assets. However, most people interpret this as another round of "hot narratives" similar to Chinese memes or AI.

But one detail is often overlooked: some exchanges, represented by Bitget, are no longer placing TradFi in secondary or tertiary menus but are instead positioning it as a primary entry alongside crypto. This is somewhat akin to how Alibaba and JD.com placed food delivery directly in the core position of their main sites during the food delivery war; this is not just "adding a category" but signifies a shift in platform focus.

In other words, TradFi is different from past memes and AI. It is not a simple asset launch but more like an adjustment of trading structure and strategic direction.

In this context, looking at the concept of UEX (Universal Exchange) becomes easier to understand. This concept was first proposed by Bitget, essentially hoping to enable users to complete multi-asset trading on a single platform through unified accounts and stablecoin settlements, encompassing not only crypto but also stocks, forex, commodities, and even on-chain assets.

A similar direction has also appeared in Coinbase's statements, where its CEO mentioned the desire to build a "one-stop exchange for everything." However, Coinbase emphasizes "on-chain" more, while Bitget emphasizes "integration," meaning that different assets and different trading forms on-chain and off-chain coexist within the same system.

Yet, even with a consistent direction, the pace and path are clearly differentiated.

One path is more conservative and steady, such as Binance and OKX. Their overall approach is to gradually expand TradFi capabilities within the existing crypto trading system. Besides integrating some Ondo tokenized assets into their wallets, they are more focused on creating TradFi targets in a format similar to crypto perpetual contracts, settled in USDT, with no expiration date, and emphasizing a more unified experience within the exchange, while the number of covered assets remains relatively restrained.

Essentially, they are incorporating TradFi into the existing crypto trading paradigm rather than designing a separate system for it.

The other path is closer to "structural reconstruction." Taking Bitget as an example, its actions lean more towards the UEX framework.

They have restructured the entire trading system: first, they connected on-chain and CEX account systems last year; then they introduced RWA assets, completing the bridge between on-chain and traditional assets, and at the beginning of this year, they completed the addition of TradFi asset token perpetual contracts and CFD trading tools.

One point that many may find unfamiliar is CFD (Contract for Difference). This is a strategy for introducing TradFi assets that differs from the more conservative approaches of Binance and OKX.

CFD is essentially a mature traditional financial trading framework: users do not hold the underlying assets themselves but trade based on price fluctuations, with profits and losses determined by the buy-sell price difference. This system is mainly applied in forex, precious metals, stock indices, and commodity markets, characterized by clear rules, a defined cost structure, and a complete margin and risk control mechanism.

Essentially, this approach does not transform TradFi into crypto but allows for the coexistence of multiple paradigms.

Bitget's path is also more aggressive in asset coverage; for example, the number of stock-related assets on the platform has reached over 250, covering the most depth. Bitget also disclosed that in January, TradFi accounted for over 10% of its total trading volume, and this proportion is expected to continue to expand, suggesting that crypto CEXs may accelerate their exit from the stage.

2. Traditional TradFi Exchanges' Intensive On-Chain Layout

Traditional TradFi exchanges are also converging on the same path. Despite the low sentiment in the crypto market, there has never been a time when TradFi institutions and enterprises have been as enthusiastic about the crypto market as they are now.

In the first three months of 2026, traditional TradFi institutions' contrarian bets on crypto have been astonishing.

• ICE invested $25 billion in OKX, entering the market with real money;

• The New York Stock Exchange has developed tokenization technology and plans to launch a blockchain-based platform for tokenized stocks and ETFs for around-the-clock trading;

• Nasdaq received SEC approval to pilot tokenized securities trading, allowing stocks to circulate on-chain and share order books with existing systems;

• Robinhood launched over 2,000 U.S. stock tokens in Europe and plans to introduce around-the-clock trading and DeFi features in the future.

The common direction of these actions is that traditional exchanges are moving their core assets, such as stocks and ETFs, onto the blockchain and integrating many crypto assets and tools, attempting to gain the maximum advantages of crypto: 24/7, borderless, and programmable.

From this perspective, crypto CEXs and traditional exchanges are actually forming a consensus: UEX is the future form of trading exchanges.

Although many people are fatigued by institutional layouts, what is different this time is that infrastructure and compliance are maturing simultaneously.

In this wave of oil market activity, the choice of 50,000 people to trade on-chain already indicates that the infrastructure has met the conditions for attracting new users. On the regulatory front, the U.S. SEC's guidance released on January 28 categorized tokenized securities into direct issuance and third-party models, reducing compliance uncertainty, while Congress is advancing the stablecoin "CLARITY Act." In February of this year, new RWA tokenization policies from eight Chinese ministries opened up compliance channels for RWA in Hong Kong.

Conclusion

As TradFi continues to be introduced, the boundaries between crypto exchanges and traditional exchanges are rapidly disappearing. But which will ultimately define the next generation of exchanges—traditional exchanges or crypto exchanges?

Currently, both have their advantages. Traditional exchanges hold the sources of assets, compliance systems, and pricing power; crypto exchanges possess global distribution, 24/7 trading capabilities, and more flexible account and product structures.

The two are not simply competitors but are converging towards the same direction, becoming "a unified multi-asset trading entry."

However, at present, the evolution of exchanges around UEX is still in its early stages, with most merely moving CEXs and DEXs, as well as crypto and TradFi assets, onto the same platform. Yet, there are still more underlying issues to address, such as how to unify pricing, risk control, and usage of different assets under the same account.

Therefore, the real watershed may not lie at the product level but rather in more fundamental issues like account systems and capital efficiency. Whoever can first establish cross-asset margin and risk models may be closer to the prototype of the next generation of exchanges.