Shunyet Jan

Q&A format focused on the financial super app vision, inclusivity and access, 24/7 trading, and price discovery.
Shunyet Jan spent the years before crypto on Wall Street, going back to the 1990s. He joined Binance in December 2025, and now oversees everything trading-related on the exchange, from spot and perpetuals to bStocks, Binance's tokenized equities product.
This conversation, pulled from a July 22nd fireside chat between our Head of Research, Ryan Calej, and Binance’s Head of Exchange & Trading, Shunyet Jan on X, followed the release of our latest Binance report, From Exchange to Infrastructure: How CEXs Are Reshaping Global Market Access. It covers four threads from that report: Binance’s financial super app vision, and Shunyet’s thoughts on access and inclusivity, 24/7 markets, and price discovery.
Binance’s financial super app vision
Binance started as a place to trade crypto. What's changed most fundamentally about the role exchanges play for users today?
Users first came to Binance to swap one crypto for another. Stablecoins were the next big shift, turning "stable to volatile" into a routine conversion. Perpetuals came after that: a 24/7 asset class that aggregates liquidity into a single instrument tracking spot price, instead of the month-by-month contracts TradFi futures markets are built around.
From there, the pattern repeated. Users didn't just want to only trade anymore. They wanted to make payments and get access to other asset classes, and exchanges had already built the infrastructure, 24/7 trading, instant settlement, cross-margining, to support it. Competitors that started in TradFi are now moving into crypto, and Binance is moving the other way, into TradFi assets and payments. Everyone is converging on the same goal: users who used to need three or four different apps now want one.
Is growth going to come more from the sheer number of assets you list, or from integrations on the collateral and settlement side, letting people use these assets as collateral for trading?
Both. Binance has started testing letting TradFi assets be used as collateral to trade other TradFi assets or crypto derivatives, and is working with regulators to expand that carefully. But the growth driver nobody's really talking about is a different one: wealth management. US equities are a massive asset class partly because there's an entire industry of mutual funds and hedge funds managing that money for people. Crypto doesn't have that. Strip out Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and BNB, and there isn't much diversification left, and there isn't much of an industry helping users manage what they hold.
Vaults exist today, but only for crypto assets. Tokenizing an ETF is close to tokenizing a fund, but most ETFs are index products, meaning passive management. Active management, and asset managers who actually understand both crypto and TradFi, are rare. Most global managers stick to one jurisdiction or one asset class. Whether the answer ends up being vaults, or opening access to third-party asset managers, isn't settled yet. But asset management is the piece that's still missing.
Do you see the line between "crypto exchange" and "TradFi exchange" blurring, to the point where CEXs eventually do as much TradFi volume as crypto volume?
 The broader asset market, equities and fixed income, is much bigger than crypto. Nvidia alone is bigger than the entire crypto market combined. CEXs took the lead on 24/7 trading and cross-margining, and that advantage is going to pull volume toward normalization based on market cap. It's plausible that half of Binance's volume eventually comes from TradFi assets.
Right now, most of that TradFi exposure is US-centric. But demand isn't only for US assets: users in the US may want access to Korea, users in Africa may want access to Hong Kong. Getting a brokerage account outside your home jurisdiction is hard even if you live in a developed country. CEXs are positioned to be the first to open that up broadly.
Inclusivity and access, 24/7 trading, and price discovery
Tokenized stocks have been tried before. Why is this the year it's actually taking off?
Regulatory clarity is the biggest factor. Earlier attempts at tokenizing equities were a good first effort, but they missed pieces of what users actually wanted. The newer generation of products, bStocks included, fills those gaps. That coincided with a market backdrop where the hype and growth in TradFi, especially around AI and the hyperscalers, gave people an additional reason to want in.
Is that demand retail-driven, and if so, why?
 Very much so, and very inclusive. A lot of bStocks volume is in small, fractional positions starting at $5. Opening a brokerage account isn't hard if you live in a developed country. Most of the world doesn't have that option. Stablecoins already proved the model: they made the US dollar available globally, and that same rail now makes other assets easy to access too. Historically, buying Nvidia or Microsoft meant needing a US bank account, US dollars, and a brokerage account, three things that are simply not available to most of the world's population. Tokenized stocks, through CEXs and DEXs alike, open that door.
How important is round-the-clock access, versus the five-day trading week TradFi users are used to?
It shows up on both the derivatives side and the equities side. Hyperliquid's volume is now roughly 40% TradFi perps. Binance has followed the same curve: TradFi volume on its perp market was at zero in January and is around 30% today. TradFi itself hasn't caught up, because it hasn't built the rails for 24/7 trading. CEXs and DeFi both have, and the volume is the proof that the demand was always there. A meaningful share of bStocks volume happens outside US trading hours, when TradFi markets are simply closed.
Do the same users trade both bStocks and crypto, or do they stay in separate lanes?
 There's a lot of overlap. Binance's users tend to track the news closely, and this year that's meant AI, which has driven both the TradFi equity rally and a lot of crypto activity. Users interested in one tend to be interested in the other.
As Binance expands into commodities, ETFs, and equities, what needs to be true for those markets to have deep, reliable liquidity?
Binance is already the price setter for crypto spot and crypto perpetuals: in leader-laggard terms, when the market moves, it tends to start on Binance, even with roughly 50% market share. That isn't true yet for TradFi assets during normal trading hours, but it flips on weekends. When TradFi markets are closed, and something moves markets, a geopolitical event, a company announcement, Binance and a handful of competitors become the price setters, simply because they're the only venues open.
The bigger structural piece is Direct Equities, a product that sources real US liquidity directly and lets users tokenize it for free. That solves the liquidity question during regular trading hours: if size isn't available on Binance, it can be sourced through TradFi channels and tokenized on demand. On weekends, when TradFi liquidity isn't accessible at all, Binance's own order book is the liquidity, and it holds that position by default.

Shunyet Jan spent the years before crypto on Wall Street, going back to the 1990s. He joined Binance in December 2025, and now oversees everything trading-related on the exchange, from spot and perpetuals to bStocks, Binance's tokenized equities product.

This conversation, pulled from a July 22nd fireside chat between our Head of Research, Ryan Calej, and Binance’s Head of Exchange & Trading, Shunyet Jan on X, followed the release of our latest Binance report, From Exchange to Infrastructure: How CEXs Are Reshaping Global Market Access.

When markets never close: A Q&A with Binance’s Shunyet Jan

Bitcoin

Bitcoin spent the first eighteen days of August going nowhere, trading between $62,000 and $66,000. On August 19 it broke out, and by the 25th it had touched roughly $81,500. That's close to 27% from the breakout base, one of the sharpest weeks in the past five years.
The reflex reading of a move that fast is leverage. However, our data points to something else. Spot volume grew 50% faster than perpetuals, ETF liquidity was already flowing in two sessions before the breakout, and open interest fell in Bitcoin terms even as it rose in dollars. In simpler terms, this rally was bought, not levered.
Which raises the second question. If the move ran on cash rather than leverage, which venues did it run through?
It was bought, not levered
One way to assess whether a rally is spot-driven or leverage-driven is to compare spot and perpetual volumes. 
Through the first eighteen days of August, the market traded $6.02 in perpetual volume for every dollar of spot volume. During the breakout week, that ratio fell to $4.97, a 17.4% compression. The reason is straightforward: spot activity accelerated faster than derivatives with the average daily spot volume rising 153% over the period to $50.79 billion, while perpetual volume increased 109% to $252.59 billion. The gap suggests that the breakout was supported by a meaningful increase in spot participation rather than being driven primarily by leverage.
The ETF flows reinforce this observation. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows throughout the August 10-14 week, before reversing with two positive sessions just ahead of the breakout. The shift then persisted: since August 14, there has not been a single session of net outflows. Month-to-date net inflows now stand at $3.05 billion, making ETF demand an important trend to watch over the coming weeks.
As for perpetuals, we can’t ignore that volume nearly doubled over the period, while open interest in dollar terms climbed from about $21.9 billion just before the breakout to a peak of nearly $26 billion on August 24. But measured in BTC rather than dollars, the picture looks different. The market was carrying roughly 341,000 BTC in open positions before the breakout, compared with around 312,000 BTC today, an 8.5% decline.
In the end, perpetual trading remained elevated throughout the period, but open interest contracted in BTC terms as prices climbed and spot inflows returned. That combination demonstrates that the rally was supported by fresh capital rather than being driven primarily by leveraged bets. The next question is: who captured those flows?
Who captured those flows?
Tracking Bitcoin balances on centralized exchanges gives us a good view of where that fresh capital landed. Here, two venues stand out: Binance and OKX, which captured the bulk of the increase. Binance added $2.63 billion in BTC balances over the same period, double of OKX’s $1.27 billion. To put that into perspective, Binance alone absorbed nearly as much as the entire US spot Bitcoin ETF complex, which recorded $3.05 billion in net inflows over the same period.
Unsurprisingly, those inflows translated into trading activity. Both platforms saw spot volumes surge during the breakout, but Binance stood in a league of its own. Average daily spot volume climbed from $4.75 billion to $13.69 billion, a 188% increase, making it the only tracked exchange to exceed $10 billion a day. OKX operated at a more modest absolute scale, but its 234% growth was the strongest among major CEXs and well above the market average of 153%.
Together, Binance (46%) and OKX (11%) accounted for nearly 57% of the spot volume traded across the exchanges tracked, reinforcing the same picture seen in balances: fresh capital did not spread evenly across the market. Instead, it concentrated around a handful of venues, with Binance and OKX capturing most of both the inflows and the resulting trading activity.
What comes next?
With open interest peaking and then falling, much of the short squeeze seemingly behind us, and liquidity flowing back into the market, what happens next will largely depend on how spot and ETF demand evolves, a conclusion also shared by Binance Research.
That gives traders a clear signal to watch. If open interest starts rising faster than spot volume and the perpetual-to-spot ratio climbs again, the market will have shifted from one driven by fresh capital and more sustainable price discovery to one fueled by leverage again.

Spot volume grew 50% faster than perpetuals, ETF liquidity was already flowing in two sessions before the breakout, and open interest fell in Bitcoin terms even as it rose in dollars. In simpler terms, this rally was bought, not levered.

Bitcoin spent the first eighteen days of August going nowhere, trading between $62,000 and $66,000. On August 19 it broke out, and by the 25th it had touched roughly $81,500. That's close to 27% from the breakout base, one of the sharpest weeks in the past five years.

Bought, Not Levered: What Actually Drove Bitcoin's August Rally

Tokenization makes stocks more accessible, more liquid, and in principle tradable 24/7, from anywhere. Traditional exchanges still close on schedule, but the venues distributing tokenized versions of the same stocks don't have to. The question: who actually shows up when Wall Street doesn't?
As of August 2, roughly six weeks after launch, Binance's bStocks have already crossed $500M in AUM. On top, bStocks also recorded $2B in trading volume over a single weekend, a signal worth stress-testing against real usage data. In this article, we compare Binance's bStocks, Kraken's xStocks, and Ondo's Global Markets as they represent three distinct tokenized-stock models while offering consistent hourly volume data. Using six weeks of DeFiLlama data, from June 14 to August 2 , 2026, we examine how trading volume shifts between weekday market hours, weekday off-hours, and weekends, whether one platform takes the lead once traditional markets close, and what these patterns reveal about its users.
Weekdays - A Market That Never Fully Closes
The weekday hourly profile confirms the basic premise: trading doesn't stop when the traditional market does, and tokenized venues hold their promise of round-the-clock access. However, the profile isn't uniform. Activity clusters tightly around the moment TradFi opens, with volume across all three venues surging between 13:00 and 15:00 UTC and slowly decreasing until the market closes.
Visually, it's tempting to conclude that most of the volume concentrates during the opening hours. However, that picture needs nuance. If we count 13:00-20:00 UTC as TradFi's opening hours, 49% of weekday volume falls in those 7 hours. But the remaining 51% still happens off hours. That's significant, and it says something specific: traders are here round the clock, and TradFi's trading hours function as a constraint. In other words, traders have to adapt around the opening hours.
As 24/7 access becomes standard across more venues and more tickers, that concentration should fade. The more normal it becomes to trade a tokenized stock outside market hours, the less trading should cluster around the one moment TradFi happens to be open.
By venue, Binance's lead holds through the entire day, ranging from 64% to 86% of combined volume in any given hour. But the pattern underneath is clear: Binance's dominance actually increases during off-market hours and is strongest over the weekend. 
Off-market hours, Binance averages 82% of volume, against 15.2% for Ondo and 2.8% for Kraken. During market hours, Binance’s share moderates to 69%, while Ondo rises to 27% and Kraken to 4.0%.
That gap points to Ondo and Kraken being relatively more active while the underlying market is live. Two main reasons can explain this. First, user typology: Binance leans more retail while Ondo is more institutional. Second, the structural layer or how each product is actually built and what it relies on to function.
The products may look similar on paper, but their liquidity models are fundamentally different. bStocks are converted 1:1 from Binance Stocks positions and trade directly on Binance’s order book. That liquidity also extends to BNB Chain, creating a bridge between CeFi and DeFi positions, particularly interesting for market makers. xStocks, by contrast, rely on pre-funded liquidity pools. These pools can become thinner once the underlying market closes. Ondo follows another model: tokens are minted and redeemed against live trades on NASDAQ and the NYSE. As a result, its liquidity is closely tied to US market hours. These structural differences help explain why some venues perform better outside traditional trading hours and especially on weekends.
Weekends - How Token Design Sets The Dominance
Weekend trading is still a small slice of the total, about 4.3% of combined volume across the sample. That's likely a floor rather than a ceiling: as more venues and more tickers get built for continuous trading, weekend share could grow from here.
Interestingly, the pattern within the weekend is relatively flat. Volume stays mostly in the $380K-$2.04M range across the sample, with a notable dip in activity on Saturday evening and again on Sunday evening, both in UTC. It only picks back up as Sunday evening turns into the Asian start of the week, ahead of Monday. 
Across the roughly 350 weekend hours in the sample, Binance holds somewhere between 85% and 97% of combined volume in nearly every one of them, averaging 92.8%. Kraken averages just 3.24%, spiking as high as 50.4% in a handful of isolated hours. Ondo trails further still, averaging 3.93% and dropping to zero in some hours entirely.
The main factor explaining this is the same structural element mentioned earlier, and in the end it comes down to where the liquidity is actually sourced from. Ondo's tokens are minted and burned against an actual Nasdaq trade happening in real time, so once Nasdaq shuts for the weekend, there's no live transaction to mint or burn against, though that's starting to change: Ondo enabled 24/7 minting and redemption for six of its assets in late June. Kraken's xStocks trade against pre-funded liquidity pools rather than a live link to the exchange, and only 10 of its 141 tickers are enabled for weekend trading. As for Binance, once a bStock is converted, it can be traded on Binance’s own centralized order book, the same infrastructure that already runs every other asset on the exchange at any hour, and on-chain. In other words, it doesn't rely on a pool that can run dry, or a mechanism that needs traditional markets to be awake to function.
On the surface, these figures could be read as just one venue accumulating more liquidity. But they point to something more important: price discovery increasingly happening on Binance rather than elsewhere. Indeed, the venue holding the deepest, most continuous order book during the hours nobody else is trading isn't just capturing volume, it's becoming the place where the market actually finds its price.
Conclusion
Two things stand out from the full-period view. Raw volume splits almost evenly between opening hours and weekday off-hours, 46.2% against 48.0%, with weekend trading a small 5.8% slice on top. But those weekday periods aren't the same size, opening hours are a fraction of the week's hours compared to nights, and normalized for that, they account for 66.0% of volume-per-hour against 28.2% for weekday off-hours. In other words, TradFi's operating hours still set the tempo today, though that grip should loosen as adoption spreads across time zones and 24/7 access becomes the norm rather than the exception.
By venue, Binance leads across every segment, and its lead grows in off-hours: 69.0% during market hours, 82.0% overnight, 94.4% on weekends. Ondo moves in the opposite direction, from 27.0% down to 15.2% and then to just 3.7%, a trajectory that tracks almost exactly with how much live Nasdaq activity its mechanism has to work with. Kraken barely moves at all, hovering between 1.9% and 4.0% regardless of the segment, which suggests its volume is small enough in absolute terms that session timing isn't really the constraint, distribution and catalog coverage are.
As of now, Binance bStocks end up looking like the product that best matches two things at once: how crypto-native users already trade, i.e., continuously, and what tokenization was supposed to deliver in the first place, i.e., deep liquidity and access anytime, anywhere.
Methodology: hourly and daily USD trading volume for Binance bStocks, Kraken xStocks, and Ondo Global Markets, June 14 to August 2, 2026 (UTC). bStocks volume is measured on Binance (56 assets), Kraken’s xStocks volume on Kraken (141 assets), and Ondo volume on the Ondo Global Markets platform (400+ assets). Market hours are defined as NYSE regular sessions, 13:30-20:00 UTC (considered 13:00-20:00 UTC in the analysis), weekdays. Data extracted by the DeFiLlama team.
Raw data: https://gist.github.com/FelixBruguera/7d10c40fc0cd8a885e7c0d82dd2a09a2

Tokenization makes stocks more accessible, more liquid, and in principle tradable 24/7, from anywhere. Traditional exchanges still close on schedule, but the venues distributing tokenized versions of the same stocks don't have to. The question: who actually shows up when Wall Street doesn't?

bStocks After Hours: Who is Capturing Liquidity When Markets Close?

As traditional assets move onchain and the boundary between crypto and traditional finance becomes less distinct, CEXs are positioned to take another step: becoming integrated access and infrastructure layers through which users and institutions can move between asset classes, settlement systems, and onchain applications.

Centralized crypto exchanges have evolved from simple marketplaces for digital assets into integrated financial platforms combining trading, payments, lending, yield products, custody, and institutional services.

CEXs are therefore evolving beyond trading venues into integrated access and infrastructure layers connecting multiple asset classes, financial products, settlement systems, and onchain applications for both retail and institutional participants.

From Exchange to Infrastructure: How CEXs Are Reshaping Global Market Access

Sébastien

Tether

Over the past 18 months, the tokenised equities market has grown at a pace few anticipated. Driven by demand for 24/7 access, crypto-native funding, and DeFi composability, a new generation of products has emerged across the board, from institutional protocols like Ondo and xStocks to centralised exchanges such as Kraken, Coinbase, and Binance. Every major actor is racing to capture a share of the market and carve out a position on the spectrum from traditional finance to onchain DeFi.
But when you map that spectrum closely, a clear divide appears. 

Some products sit firmly on the TradFi side, heavily regulated, custodial, built on familiar but rigid rails. Others lean into the permissionless ethos of DeFi, onchain, composable, self-custodied. Most players have optimised for one end or the other. None have managed to cover the full range.
That might be changing. With the launch of bStocks and its native integration with BNB Chain, naturally tied to Binance, the exchange is making a strategic move that goes beyond adding a new product. Together, Binance Stocks and bStocks allow users to navigate the full spectrum, from fiat entry to DeFi composability, without switching platforms, changing standards, or losing continuity. 
A market still finding its rails
On one end of the spectrum sit the traditional brokers. They offer unmatched depth with thousands of listed securities, institutional-grade liquidity, and decades of regulatory infrastructure, but their rails stop at the crypto frontier. They don’t offer self-custody, crypto features and composability between asset classes. 

Beyond that, the traditional brokerage world is itself fragmented: each broker operates under its own regulatory perimeter, offers a distinct suite of products, and serves a defined set of jurisdictions. A user in Southeast Asia or Latin America often can't access the same securities as a US-based investor. 
At the other end sit the pure-play onchain protocols. Ondo, with over $1B in TVL and more than $300M in weekly volume on its Global Markets platform is leading the sector. xStocks, developed by Backed Finance and acquired by Kraken, has established itself as a solid interoperable alternative, available across multiple CEXs and chains including TON, EVM networks, and Solana. 

Both are technically compelling but neither quite function as a platform in the fuller  sense. They depend on external distribution rails: wallets, integrations, fiat on-ramps, and regulatory frameworks that are entirely outside their control.
In between lies a growing set of exchanges moving into stocks, each trying to bridge the gap in their own way, and each running into the same structural constraints.
Many of them have chosen to plug into existing infrastructure. Bybit and Kraken offer xStocks through their trading platforms and wallets. OKX has partnered with Ondo Finance to give users access to tokenised equities. Both deliver real utility but in each case, the tokenised equity layer sits on top of third-party infrastructure. In other words, these exchanges are just distributors.
Coinbase is pursuing an ambitious vision as the "Everything Exchange" combining crypto, equities, derivatives, and prediction markets in one interface, with tokenised stocks built on Base. The product is still in early rollout, with partial equities coverage and a nascent DeFi integration via Base.
Backpack offers perhaps the clearest philosophical alignment with where the market is heading: a regulated brokerage on one side, Solana-native tokenisation on the other, with onchain IPO access as a genuine differentiator. But Backpack Securities only began its rollout recently, with nascent infrastructure and a liquidity and user base that remains a fraction of the established players.
As the table above illustrates, the pattern is consistent across the board: each player has made an architectural choice that defines both what it can offer and what it can't. Until now, no single actor has been able to cover the full spectrum but by combining Binance Stocks and bStocks, Binance is actually about to make it happen.
The Binance continuum: from fiat to DeFi without leaving the platform
The fragmentation described above has a real cost for users. Going from a stock listed on a CEX to a tokenised share usable in DeFi typically requires multiple steps: conversions, swaps, transfers, bridges, with each adding friction, cost, and counterparty exposure. Through Binance Stocks and bStocks, Binance has built two distinct products that sit at opposite ends of the spectrum and connected them into a single, uninterrupted journey.
The entry point is Binance Stocks. Accessible directly from an existing Binance account, it gives users access to 7,000+ US-listed stocks and ETFs, funded in USDT, USDC, BNB, or USD1, with zero commission and fractional investing from $5. Trading runs 24/5 and users hold beneficial ownership of the underlying shares, held in regulated custody by Nest Clearing and Custody Limited, making them eligible for dividends and corporate actions.
But Binance Stocks remains custodial and stays on the traditional side of the spectrum, bound by 24/5 trading windows and offering limited financial composability. That's where bStocks comes in.
bStocks are BEP-20 tokens on BNB Smart Chain issued by BTech Holdings Limited, each backed 1:1 by a real US-listed share held in regulated custody, verifiable at any time via Binance's Proof of Collateral page. At launch, six securities are available: TSLAB (Tesla), NVDAB (Nvidia), CRCLB (Circle Internet Group), MUB (Micron Technology), SNDKB (SanDisk), SPCXB (SpaceX) and more to come as the product scales.
Users can access bStocks in two ways: by purchasing them directly with USDT or USDC on the spot market, or by converting an existing Binance Stocks position at a 1:1 ratio with no conversion fee and no lock-up. With near-instant settlement and no market hour dependency, a user who wants to trade on the back of an earnings release at 3am on a Sunday can.
One distinction worth noting on custody: with bStocks, users hold the token itself in self-custody, meaning they control the onchain asset directly in their own wallet. The underlying share, however, remains in institutional custody by the issuer. In other words, bStocks deliver the full economic exposure to the underlying security.
Once in self-custody, the asset changes character entirely. bStocks can be held in any compatible BNB Smart Chain wallet, including Trust Wallet and Binance Web 3 Wallet. From there, the position becomes DeFi-composable: users can trade on PancakeSwap or Aster, lend on Venus or Lista DAO and deploy across the broader BNB Chain ecosystem, all while continuing to earn dividends on the underlying security. 

Those dividends require no action from the user: they're processed automatically through the Multiplier, a rebasing mechanism that adjusts bStock balances onchain proportionally and credits them ahead of the traditional pay date.
To make this clear, here's an example of a concrete journey in the Binance continuum. A user deposits fiat or crypto into their Binance account, buys NVDA shares directly with USDC on the spot market, and converts it into a bStock (NVDAB) with one click. 

They withdraw to Trust Wallet, deposit into Venus (a lending protocol) as collateral, borrow USDT against it, and redeploy that liquidity on Aster (a perp DEX) to short Bitcoin, or any other listed asset. Meanwhile, their NVDAB position keeps earning dividends automatically via the Multiplier. 

One asset, one ecosystem, two markets running in parallel.
Laying the rails
The tokenised equities race is often framed as a product competition: who has the most titles, the best UX, the lowest fees. But the deeper question is architectural: who controls the full stack from fiat entry to DeFi composability, and who is merely renting someone else's infrastructure to get there.
Most players have answered that question by choosing a lane. Traditional brokers own the TradFi end but can't speak crypto. Pure-play onchain protocols own the DeFi end but depend on external rails to reach users. The exchanges in between are building fast, but none has closed the loop on its own terms: Kraken's two products serve different geographies, Coinbase's onchain layer is still nascent, Bybit and OKX are distributing infrastructure they didn't build.
Binance is in a different position. With Binance Stocks covering the traditional equities side and bStocks extending that same position into DeFi via BNB Chain, it has assembled the only end-to-end stack in the market today. A continuum that makes the user experience seamless.
Markets have only rebuilt their basic infrastructure twice before in modern history. The first time was Amsterdam in 1602, when the world’s first stock exchange gave ordinary investors a formal way to buy into companies they didn’t personally know. The second was Nasdaq in 1971, when electronic trading replaced the trading floor and made markets faster, cheaper, and more accessible than any physical exchange before it.
What’s happening now looks like a third with centralised exchanges and specifically Binance leading the charge. Crypto exchanges, built on stablecoin rails and smartphone access, rather than brokerage accounts and banking relationships, are extending markets to people the first two inflections never reached.

With the launch of bStocks and its native integration with BNB Chain, naturally tied to Binance, the exchange is making a strategic move that goes beyond adding a new product.

Stocks onchain: how Binance Stocks and bStocks cover the full equities spectrum

The way people find information is changing. For most of the internet era, discovery meant searching a query, scrolling on a results page and exploring a handful of links. That model has been shifting since the arrival of AI. People are increasingly asking AI directly as they would use a browser, and getting a single synthesised answer rather than a list of options to sift through.
The shift in behaviour is already measurable. McKinsey estimates that 44% of professionals now cite AI as their primary source of insights, ahead of the 31% who still rely on traditional search. ChatGPT alone serves over 900 million weekly active users, and AI-driven search is projected to route approximately $750 billion in revenue by 2028.
For financial decisions, this shift carries real weight. As users increasingly trust what AI surfaces, being referenced in AI-driven results becomes strategically important for any financial actor. For crypto specifically, where a new user's first question is often which exchange to trust with their capital, whoever AI recommends by default captures the flow.
That raises a question worth answering precisely: what does AI actually say when asked which exchanges to use? Across 120 outputs generated from 30 prompts run through four LLMs (Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.4, Gemini 3 Flash, and Qwen 3.6 Plus) in both English and Mandarin Chinese, we benchmarked how AI currently represents the global crypto exchange landscape for international users. This article explores the key findings.
Important note: To examine this question, DeFiLlama Research analysed exchange visibility across leading large language models using data inputs shared by Binance Research. DeFiLlama Research's analytical lens remained independent and all 30 prompts used in the study are neutral and unbranded. The methodology and  prompt list is available in the appendix.
Key Findings
The Tri-Pillar Hierarchy
Three exchanges appear in 100% of outputs across all four models and both languages: Binance, OKX, and Bybit. Out of 120 runs, not a single one omits any of them. Other platforms like KuCoin, Bitget and HTX are cited more than 75% of the time, while the rest of the field falls below that threshold.
Looking at Top-1 placements specifically, a clear dominance emerges. Binance takes 90% of Top-1 slots, followed by Kraken at 6.7% and OKX at 3.3%. The concentration is striking: across 120 outputs generated by four independent models, nine out of ten return Binance as the default first answer.
Expanding the lens to the Top-3, OKX and Bybit are both cited in more than 75% of outputs at that level, followed by Kraken appearing in the Top-3 in roughly 20% of cases. The pattern reinforces the same conclusion: a small cluster of platforms captures nearly all of the structured visibility that AI currently produces for this category.
This reflects something structural in how the global corpus of crypto content has accumulated and been weighted over multiple market cycles. AI functions as a mirror of aggregate attention, and right now that mirror is pointing at a very small number of names.
At the language level, a small but meaningful distinction emerges. English-language outputs are more concentrated than Mandarin ones. Binance takes the Top-1 position in 96.7% of English prompts, compared to 83.3% in Chinese. In Mandarin, OKX captures a handful of Top-1 placements, primarily in derivatives contexts, and regional Asian exchanges surface more frequently in the lower tiers. This matters beyond the numbers. Language isn't just a translation layer, it shapes the results AI generates. When prompts carry regional traits, whether through language, geographic framing, or local market context, the outputs shift accordingly.
Every Exchange Finds Its Field But Binance Covers Them All.
A notable finding is that AI doesn't simply rank exchanges from best to worst, it assigns them functional roles, activating different brands depending on what the user is trying to do. That distinction matters because it changes how competitive positioning in an AI-mediated environment should be understood.
The clearest example is Kraken. Its overall appearance rate is 66.7%, well below the three leading brands. Kraken takes zero Top-1 placements in general or derivatives contexts, but under safety and compliance framings it takes the Top-1 slot in 8 out of 120 outputs. Coinbase International shows a similar pattern: it appears in only 24.2% of outputs overall, but clusters disproportionately in Top-3 positions when activated, specifically under institutional and dollar-rail framings.
Bybit follows the same logic in the other direction. Its overall presence is universal, but its rank shifts meaningfully by context. In general spot prompts it sits at rank 3. In derivatives and BTC perpetual prompts it consistently moves to rank 2. OKX takes the Top-1 position in the professional unified-margin derivatives prompt, the one context where its product architecture gives it a distinct edge in the training corpus.
Crypto.com is another instructive case. It appears in 38.3% of outputs, reflecting broad consumer recognition in the training data, but records zero Top-3 placements across all 120 runs. It has visibility without authority.
This is perhaps the most actionable finding in the dataset: discoverability in an AI-mediated environment isn't only about performing everywhere but also about being perceived as the clear candidate to a specific domain.
Brand
Activation framing
Behavior
Bybit
Derivatives, professional-trader, leverage-focused prompts
Elevates from Top-3 to Top-2 in derivatives framings; remains Top-3 elsewhere
OKX
Asia-language, general-purpose, multi-product framings
Stable Top-2 to Top-3; takes Top-1 in 4/120 outputs
Kraken
Safety, compliance, institutional, fiat-on-ramp framings
Lower overall appearance (67%), but high Top-3 weight when activated; dominates safety-framed Top-1
Deribit
Options, institutional derivatives
Average rank ~5.6, narrow but consistent visibility
Coinbase Intl.
Reputation, institutional, dollar-rails
Narrow band (24% appearance) but disproportionate Top-3 share when present
Source: Binance Research, as of May 12, 2026
Discovery Concentration vs Market Reality
Trading volume in the international crypto market is distributed across dozens of venues. Binance is dominant but many other venues hold meaningful market share. Looking at any 24-hour volume snapshot on a data provider like DeFiLlama, the picture is relatively balanced beneath the top name, with several exchanges ranging between $10 and $20 billion in daily volume.
AI doesn't reflect that picture. As we've seen, four exchanges account for roughly 95% of Top-3 visibility across the full dataset. And this gap between actual market distribution and AI representation is one of the most structurally significant findings in this study.
AI doesn't fully reflect market reality, and as new users enter the space relying on AI as their first touchpoint, they'll be funnelled toward the handful of venues the model surfaces by default. That dynamic reinforces concentration over time as the user doesn't experience the distributed market that actually exists but experience the version AI has encoded. And that version is significantly narrower. 
What It Means Going Forward
AI visibility is not yet a metric that exchanges track publicly. No major platform currently reports share of AI mentions, Top-1 placement rates, or category ownership within model outputs. That's likely to change. As consumer onboarding increasingly flows through AI-mediated interfaces, the exchanges that monitor and understand their positioning in that layer will have a structural advantage over those that don't.
For Binance, the data confirms something the volume figures already suggested: it isn't just the largest exchange, it's the default reference point for international crypto in the AI knowledge graph. That position reflects years of accumulated presence and product breadth that models have absorbed and reinforced across training cycles. Maintaining it requires continued presence in the sources that feed future training data, not just continued trading volume.
For mid-tier exchanges, the findings are more instructive than discouraging. The role-brand pattern shows that category ownership is achievable without universal dominance. Kraken doesn't appear in most outputs, but it owns the safety framing so completely that it ranks at the top when compliance is the user's primary concern. Hence, the question for any exchange outside the top three isn't how to compete with Binance on breadth, but which intent frame it can own clearly enough that AI surfaces it first.
The training corpus inertia finding has a practical implication too. Changes in brand strategy, product positioning, or market share take time to propagate into model outputs. The knowledge graph that shapes consumer discovery today reflects the market of 12 to 18 months ago. Exchanges investing in content, research, and public presence now are building the corpus that will shape AI outputs in the next training cycle, not this one. That lag isn't a reason to wait. It's a reason to start earlier than feels necessary.
The broader point sits underneath all of this. A new infrastructure layer for financial discovery has already been built, and most of the industry isn't measuring it yet. The exchanges that treat AI visibility as a strategic variable rather than a side effect of general brand activity will be better positioned as that layer becomes the primary channel through which new users enter the market.
Appendix - Methodology and Limitations
Methodology
The study tested 30 prompts across four large language models: Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.4, Gemini 3 Flash and Qwen 3.6 Plus. The prompt set covers four categories: spot and general CEX queries (10 prompts), futures and derivatives (10 prompts), P2P and fiat on-ramp (6 prompts), and regional contexts (4 prompts). Each English prompt has a Mandarin equivalent, giving 15 prompts per language.
Each prompt was run in direct-answer mode without live internet access. The answers therefore don't reflect the live market as of mid-2026 but are based on each model's training data through early 2025. Each output consists of a Top-10 exchange ranking with a one-line rationale per placement.
Limitations
First, each prompt was run once per model. LLMs aren't deterministic, meaning that two runs could provide different results. Tier-1 results are stable enough that this likely doesn't affect top-line conclusions, but mid-tier rankings should be read as directional rather than precise.
Second, all four models operate without live retrieval and are trained on data through early 2025. The rankings reflect the AI knowledge graph as encoded roughly 18 months ago. Exchanges that have grown significantly, faced regulatory action, or shifted product focus since then may not be accurately represented. 
Third, all prompts are framed around international non-US users. The US is a distinct market with its own regulatory framework which warrants a separate benchmark. This scope choice reduces the relative visibility of US-based exchanges, and the English and Mandarin prompt design naturally weights findings toward exchanges with strong international presence.
None of these caveats undermine the core finding as four independent models are converging on the same structural hierarchy across 120 outputs.
Prompts used
Spot / CEX (English)
Which crypto exchanges are best for non-U.S. international users in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Which crypto exchange has the highest liquidity globally and is best for large traders in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
What is the best all-around crypto exchange for non-U.S. users in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Which crypto exchange is best for professional traders outside the US in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Which crypto exchange is the safest and most reliable for international users in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Spot / CEX (Mandarin)
2026年对国际用户（非美国）最好的加密货币交易所是哪些？
全球最好的加密货币交易所是哪家，适合国际用户？
哪个加密货币交易所全球流动性最高，最适合大额交易？
2026年最适合非美国用户的综合型加密货币交易所是哪家？
哪个加密货币交易所对国际用户最安全可靠？
Futures / Derivatives (English)
What is the best crypto futures exchange globally in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Which exchange has the highest liquidity for crypto derivatives trading in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
What is the best BTC perpetual contract exchange for non-U.S. users in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Which crypto derivatives platform is best for professional traders in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Which exchange has the deepest perpetual futures liquidity in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Futures / Derivatives (Mandarin)
2026年最好的加密货币合约交易平台是哪家？
全球最大交易量的加密货币合约交易所是谁？
哪个交易所最适合做 BTC 永续合约？
哪个加密货币衍生品平台最适合专业交易者？
哪个交易所永续合约流动性最深？

P2P / Fiat On-ramp (English)
Which crypto exchange has the best P2P market for international users in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Which exchange is best for fiat on-ramp outside the US in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Which crypto platform is best for buying crypto with local currency internationally? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
P2P / Fiat On-ramp (Mandarin)
2026年哪个交易所的 P2P 市场最好？
哪个交易所最适合非美国用户买币入金？
哪个平台最适合用本币购买加密货币？

Regional (English)
Which crypto exchange is best for users in Asia in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Which crypto exchange is best for users in the Middle East in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Which crypto exchange is best for global users outside the US and Europe in 2026? Please rank the top 10 and give a brief one-line reason for each.
Regional (Mandarin)
2026年哪个交易所最适合亚洲用户？

The way people find information is changing. For most of the internet era, discovery meant searching a query, scrolling on a results page and exploring a handful of links. That model has been shifting since the arrival of AI.

The AI discovery layer: how LLMs are shaping the Crypto exchange visibility

Financial markets are entering a phase of convergence, where the historical separation between traditional finance and crypto is gradually breaking down. Assets, liquidity and users are no longer confined to distinct systems, but are increasingly moving across shared infrastructure.
In this context, platforms such as Binance are emerging as more than trading venues. By expanding access to traditional assets within a 24/7 crypto-native environment, they are beginning to act as a bridge between both systems.
This article explores that shift. It examines how traditional and crypto markets are converging, and how Binance’s expansion into commodities reflects a broader transition toward continuous, 24/7 price discovery across asset classes.
Two systems, one structural gap
For most of their history, traditional finance and crypto have operated as two separate systems. Crypto assets were traded on blockchain-native infrastructure, while traditional financial instruments remained confined to regulated exchanges, brokers and fixed trading hours. That separation is now breaking down.
Traditional markets are moving toward continuous trading
On the one hand, traditional markets are moving toward faster, more continuous trading environments. Nasdaq has announced plans to enable 24-hour trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, while NYSE Arca has received approval in 2025 to extend its hours as part of a broader shift toward near-round-the-clock access. At the broker level, firms such as Robinhood already offer 24-hour trading in selected U.S. equities, and platforms like Blue Ocean ATS were built specifically to support overnight trading.
These developments reflect a growing demand for global, always-on access to financial markets. An increasing share of activity now comes from investors operating outside U.S. hours, with around 70% of overnight volume originating from Asia. At the same time, a significant portion of market returns is generated outside regular trading hours. Between 2020 and 2025, SPY delivered +47% overnight returns versus +29% intraday, while QQQ posted +53% overnight versus +30% intraday.
Still, legacy infrastructure continues to impose constraints. Markets shut down for several hours each day, creating gaps in price discovery while news and capital flows continue to evolve. As a result, investors are often unable to react in real time and adjust their positioning accordingly.
Crypto infrastructure expanding beyond native assets
On the other side, crypto has already demonstrated what a continuous market structure looks like. Trading is always on, settlement is faster, collateral is more mobile, and users can manage positions without waiting for markets to reopen.
Interestingly, what began as a system designed for native crypto assets is now expanding beyond that scope to include more traditional financial exposure. Stablecoins were the first clear signal of this shift. Initially used as trading pairs, they have evolved into a broader financial layer supporting payments, derivatives, collateral, treasury management and yield strategies as discussed in our recent article on stablecoin usage on BNB Chain. 
The same dynamic is now visible across real-world assets. Since March 2025, the onchain RWA market has grown from approximately $4.3 billion to around $22 billion, highlighting that demand for traditional financial exposure within crypto environments is no longer marginal.
This migration is likely to continue, driven by advantages such as faster settlement, improved capital efficiency and composability. However, key limitations remain. Security risks, custody concerns, regulatory uncertainty and user experience challenges continue to act as barriers to broader adoption.
Convergence is the next step
Together, these dynamics highlight a structural convergence. Traditional markets are moving toward continuous trading, while crypto infrastructure is expanding toward traditional assets. The remaining gap lies not in demand, but in the infrastructure required to support continuous price discovery across both systems. This convergence becomes particularly visible when looking at specific asset classes.
Commodities as one of the first RWAs adapting to 24/7 markets
Among traditional assets, commodities provide one of the clearest illustrations of this shift. The broader commodity complex represents more than $135 trillion in nominal value, spanning energy, precious metals, industrial metals and agricultural products. In practice, most participants don’t seek physical delivery, but rather exposure through instruments such as ETFs, futures, options and perpetuals. 
In other words, commodities are well suited to market structures built around access, liquidity and continuous trading rather than ownership alone.
If the primary objective is always-on price exposure, then always-on crypto infrastructure is the obvious option. Audited reserves and transparent collateral backing can often be sufficient to recreate the asset’s economic function without reproducing the full logistical complexity of the underlying commodity. 
In that sense, bringing commodities onchain does not create a new market, but introduces a new 24/7 access layer to an existing liquid market.
The data shows that this shift is already underway. Tokenised commodities have grown from roughly $1.1 billion to around $6.4 billion over the past year, making them one of the largest real-world asset categories onchain after tokenised U.S. Treasuries. 
Growth remains highly concentrated, with roughly 95% of the market centred on tokenised gold through XAUT and PAXG. XAUT, at around $3.7 billion, and PAXG, at around $2.4 billion, form the backbone of the sector. Their holder growth has also been strong, with XAUT rising from roughly 3,000 to more than 30,000 holders and PAXG increasing from 48,000 to 98,000 within a year. This suggests that product-market fit is emerging first in the most liquid and familiar part of the commodity universe: gold.
The transition becomes clearer when looking at how these assets are used. Commodities onchain are no longer simply static representations held in wallets. They are increasingly traded across spot markets, perpetual exchanges and DeFi applications, reflecting a shift toward continuous, always-on market activity.
As an example, cumulative DEX volume for tokenised gold has increased from roughly $1.4 billion to more than $8.4 billion over the past year. The share of PAXG transactions routed through decentralised exchanges has also risen from around 5% to nearly 20%, suggesting that these assets are increasingly traded around the clock rather than merely transferred or stored.
This shift from passive exposure to active trading introduces a structural requirement. As commodities transition toward continuous, 24/7 markets, the infrastructure supporting them must evolve to enable deep liquidity, global participation and real-time price formation.
Binance as a 24/7 price discovery engine for commodities
Meeting these requirements demands infrastructure capable of sustaining continuous trading at scale. This is where platforms such as Binance play a critical role: providing access to commodities while enabling real-time price discovery through deep liquidity and perpetual markets.
Perpetual contracts serve not only as a tool for accessing commodities but also as a primary mechanism for price discovery. Unlike traditional futures, they trade continuously, incorporate leverage and enable constant positioning across market participants. Funding rates and arbitrage dynamics help anchor prices to broader market expectations, while high-frequency trading activity ensures that new information is rapidly reflected in pricing.
Early data suggests that Binance plays a key role in price discovery. In just a few months, Binance’s commodity perpetuals surpassed $153 billion in cumulative trading volume, with more than 113 million executed trades. This level of activity is a key component of price discovery itself. Continuous trading, dense execution flows, and global participation create an environment in which prices are formed dynamically rather than adjusted at discrete intervals.
The composition of this activity mirrors broader market dynamics, with gold and silver dominating. On March 3, daily trading volume reached approximately $3.77 billion for gold and $3.75 billion for silver, with earlier peaks even higher. On January 30, gold approached $4 billion in daily volume, while silver reached roughly $7 billion.
Trade counts reinforce this dynamic. In one session, total activity reached roughly 4.4 million trades, including 2.0 million in gold and 1.9 million in silver. On February 2, activity exceeded 6.3 million trades, with silver alone accounting for nearly 3.7 million. This level of continuous participation across time zones enables prices to evolve in real time rather than adjusting in discrete intervals.
This highlights Binance’s role on both sides of the transition. It lowers barriers for traditional users by providing 24/7 access through a familiar interface while, more importantly, enabling continuous price discovery. In traditional commodity markets, prices are formed within fixed trading hours, even though information, macro events and capital flows evolve globally at all times. This creates gaps where markets reopen with delayed adjustments rather than reflecting real-time conditions.
By contrast, Binance’s always-on trading environment allows commodity prices to update continuously as new information emerges. This results in a pricing mechanism that is continuous, globally distributed and more responsive to macro events unfolding outside traditional trading hours.
In that sense, Binance is not simply facilitating access to commodities. It contributes to a structural shift in price formation, moving from fragmented, time-bound markets toward continuous, globally integrated price discovery.

Financial markets are entering a phase of convergence, where the historical separation between traditional finance and crypto is gradually breaking down. Assets

When Markets Stop Closing: Binance and the Shift to 24/7 Finance

What always-on markets mean for liquidity, settlement, and market structure

Nish is a dynamic and experienced practitioner in the cryptoasset and financial services industry, with expertise in cryptoasset and blockchain technologies across multiple jurisdictions. His background spans firms of varying sizes and scales, from global tier 1 banks to early-stage start-ups. He currently serves as the Regional Director for Binance in the UK.

You’ve had a career spanning tier 1 banks, the FCA, Rain, and now Binance. What first drew you into the crypto space?
I was drawn to crypto by its potential to fundamentally change how value is created, transferred, and accessed globally. 
My experience in banking, regulation, and fintech showed me how financial systems evolve, and crypto felt like the next phase in that evolution. It blends technological innovation with the promise of open, borderless markets. 
The opportunity to help shape infrastructure that is secure, compliant, and built from the ground up was compelling, and that intersection of innovation and responsibility continues to motivate me.

Which role taught you the most about the delicate balance between innovation and regulatory compliance?
Across my career, I’ve come to see innovation and compliance not as opposing forces but as complementary. My time in regulatory bodies gave me a strong understanding of the principles behind policy, while industry roles have shown me how those principles can be applied to real products. 
The most sustainable approach is to build with regulation in mind from the start, protecting users and supporting market trust. This requires constant engagement between innovators and regulators, which aligns with Binance’s philosophy.

How significant is the UK’s clarification on staking for the country’s crypto market?
The UK’s clarification that staking is not a collective investment scheme is an important milestone. 
It reopens access to products for qualifying professional users and signals a balanced regulatory stance that values innovation while protecting consumers. 
With 12% of UK adults having owned crypto, this development could encourage institutional capital and strengthen the UK’s position among markets advancing adoption through clear regulation. 
For professional investors, it provides the regulatory clarity and infrastructure needed to re-enter the market with confidence.

How has the FCA’s view on crypto changed since you helped draft early AML/CTF standards?
There’s been a noticeable global shift from focusing solely on risks and enforcement to recognising crypto’s potential within a supervised framework. 
When AML/CTF rules were first applied to the sector, the priority was rightly on addressing financial crime in a new and fast-moving space. Those protections are still essential, but there’s now more emphasis on enabling responsible innovation. 
Countries are developing tailored frameworks, engaging more deeply with the industry, and acknowledging that crypto, if built on strong compliance, can support the broader financial system.

How does the UK’s approach differ from other major jurisdictions Binance operates in?
It’s difficult to make direct comparisons because each jurisdiction’s approach is shaped by local legal and policy considerations. 
The best frameworks are those that reflect domestic priorities while allowing global participation. 
In the UK, as elsewhere, we support a model that enables growth without compromising user protection. The focus on both innovation and compliance is central to building lasting trust in the digital asset industry.

How are Earn products for professional users tailored differently from those for retail?
For qualifying professionals, Earn products are designed with scale, complexity, and compliance in mind. In the UK, access is restricted to professionals only, enabling them to use products like Liquid Staking, On-Chain Yields, and Crypto Loans within a regulatory framework. 
These offerings are built to fit into institutional strategies and offer liquidity, competitive yields, and governance opportunities, all underpinned by Binance’s infrastructure.

Which Binance Earn products are most popular among the UK’s professional investors today?
We’re seeing strong demand for our liquid staking products, particularly WBETH and BNSOL. 
WBETH now represents 20% of the global market with more than $9 billion in value, and BNSOL is the second-largest SOL liquid staking token with about $1 billion in total value locked. 
These products are integrated across Binance’s ecosystem and offer yields, liquidity, and governance capabilities, all within a compliant structure. For UK professionals, they serve as institutional-grade tools that align with broader market strategies.

With various yield options available, how do you help clients choose based on risk and strategy?
As an exchange, we don’t provide financial advice. 
What we do is offer a broad range of products that meet diverse risk profiles and strategies, from flexible and fixed terms to staking and loan-based options. 
Clients assess what works for their portfolios, and we focus on making our offerings competitive, accessible, and aligned with user needs.

What’s driving WBETH and BNSOL’s rapid growth, and how are you expanding their utility?
Their growth mirrors the strength of the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems. They simplify access to staking rewards by removing the need to run validator nodes, while allowing users to maintain liquidity and exposure. 
Beyond their yield, we’re expanding their use across Binance and the wider DeFi space through protocol integrations, platform support, and partnerships that broaden their use cases.

In a crowded staking and yield market, what is Binance focusing on next?
Our priority is user-focused innovation that enhances flexibility, security, and accessibility. We expect the next wave of products to include more personalised and adaptive yield strategies, such as varied lock-up terms, multi-asset options, and integrations with DeFi for hybrid yields.

With Earn access now extended to professionals, what are Binance’s next steps in the UK?
We’re focusing on re-engaging UK professionals through targeted outreach and tailored product offerings. 
This includes liquid staking solutions like WBETH and BNSOL, as well as structured yield tools that fit into institutional strategies. 
We’re also working directly with family offices, high-net-worth clients, and institutions to provide secure, compliant access to advanced investment tools. These efforts answer a growing demand for sophisticated products in a regulated environment.

What are your top UK priorities over the next year, and how do you see the UK’s crypto scene evolving?
Globally, crypto is at a critical juncture, with institutional uptake, clearer regulation, and real-world use cases all progressing in tandem. Developments like the CLARITY Act and Bitcoin ETF flows in the US show the sector maturing, with focus shifting from speculation to application.
In the UK, our goal is to be the leading digital asset platform. With regulatory momentum from the FSMA changes and recent FCA guidance, we expect increased institutional involvement. 
We plan to expand access to institutional-grade products within the existing framework and continue investing in compliance talent and systems. With permissions in over 21 jurisdictions, we’re one of the most regulated exchanges globally. 
The UK is likely to see closer ties between traditional finance and crypto, and more emphasis on compliant innovation, a direction we are actively supporting.

You’ve had a career spanning tier 1 banks, the FCA, Rain, and now Binance. What first drew you into the crypto space? I was drawn to crypto by its potential to 