Original author: momo, ChainCatcher

Bitcoin cannot outperform gold, silver, crude oil, and tech stocks; the altcoin season has nearly disappeared, and voices claiming that "crypto has entered garbage time" are becoming increasingly loud. But it is precisely during this so-called garbage time that Crypto natives are forced to understand the world, as a profound reconstruction of future trading forms is occurring.

1. Crypto natives are forced to understand the world

Looking at two sets of data together might provide different perspectives on the narrative of "crypto entering garbage time."

One set is the emergence of trading heat from TradFi in crypto. Over the past year, global liquidity has been continuously drained by assets like gold, US stocks, and crude oil; meanwhile, the trading volume of TradFi assets on crypto trading platforms has also been expanding. Recently, the trading volume of RWA on Hyperliquid has been hitting new highs; Binance's gold and silver contract trading volumes are breaking records; and Bitget's CFD segment has incorporated 79 popular trading categories such as gold, silver, and crude oil, with recent daily trading volumes surpassing $6 billion and setting new highs. What does this trading volume represent? Recently, Binance's daily spot trading volume was 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. On the contrary, they can remain within the crypto account system, unaffected by geographic and market closure constraints, and easily switch to TradFi assets to seek new profit opportunities or complete risk hedging.

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

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

Recently, a KOL reported that a significant amount of content in many crypto media outlets is no longer "purely crypto," with a substantial increase in AI and traditional asset content; even crypto CEXs like Bitget have seen their market daily reports gradually evolve into mixed information streams encompassing macroeconomics, TradFi, AI, and Crypto.

The other set of data shows a more "counterintuitive" shift in user flow.

In the past, bull markets attracted users through wealth effects, while bear markets often accompanied user exodus. However, according to a report from @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, and their first encounter with Crypto wasn't due to Bitcoin but because of index funds, gold, and crude oil.

This means that it is still possible to attract new users in a bear market, and the motivations for this new group of users have changed. They are not drawn to the crypto narrative of "getting rich overnight" but are instead enticed by the convenience of on-chain finance due to the high barriers and inefficiencies associated with traditional finance. In other words, Crypto is no longer solely relying on narratives and airdrops to attract new users, but is beginning to acquire customers by "solving real trading needs."

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

If past Crypto resembled a narrative-driven market, it is now entering a stage driven by real demand. In a sense, this may be the true beginning of its growth.

2. "Crypto CEX" may become a historical species

However, the migration of users from both within and outside the industry to TradFi may lead "crypto CEX" to exit the historical stage. This does not mean that crypto CEXs will disappear immediately, but rather that exchanges focused solely on trading 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 there was no significant influx of expected outside users, and the fading of traffic benefits has become an industry consensus. Simply relying on subsidies and trading rebates to generate trading volume is becoming inefficient and unsustainable for crypto CEXs.

The underlying reason is also simple: beyond crypto assets, the demand for multi-asset trading aimed at TradFi and on-chain assets is no longer a short-term need, but is expected to become a new normal that smooths out cyclical fluctuations in the future.

For a long time, the crypto market was a relatively self-contained system where narratives, liquidity, and price cycles primarily occurred within the circle. However, in the last 1-2 years, this self-sufficiency has been disrupted.

The previously simple cycle of bull and bear markets every four years is no longer effective. Surviving a bear market does not guarantee a subsequent widespread bull market; airdrop benefits have also diminished—Bitcoin has become increasingly embedded in macro cycles, no longer just considered a "crypto asset" but rather as part of global liquidity.

In this context, Crypto investors are no longer satisfied with a single crypto position; they yearn to leverage the liquidity of crypto assets to capture the Alpha and cyclicality of mainstream global assets.

The explosive growth of the RWA market corroborates this point. Recent data from RWA.xyz shows that, excluding stablecoins, the total value of on-chain tokenized real assets has surpassed $25 billion, nearly quadrupling from $6.4 billion a year ago. There are now six types of assets with on-chain scales exceeding $1 billion, including US Treasury bonds, commodities, private credit, institutional alternative investment funds, corporate bonds, and non-US government debt.

3. 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 currently engaged in a covert war around this theme.

1. Reconstruction of the trading system of crypto CEXs

Many have already noticed that mainstream exchanges such as Binance, OKX, Bitget, and Bybit are entering TradFi assets. However, most people tend to interpret this as another round of "hot narrative" akin to the Chinese meme or AI.

Yet, there is a detail that is often overlooked: some exchanges represented by Bitget are no longer placing TradFi in secondary or tertiary menus but putting it directly in a primary entry alongside Crypto. This is somewhat similar to how Alibaba and JD.com positioned their food delivery options prominently in their main sites during the food delivery war, signifying a shift in platform focus rather than merely introducing an additional category.

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

In this context, examining the concept of UEX (Universal Exchange) becomes easier to understand. This concept was first proposed by Bitget, essentially hoping to enable multi-asset trading within a single platform through unified accounts and stablecoin settlements, encompassing not just Crypto but also stocks, foreign exchange, commodities, and even on-chain assets.

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

However, even with aligned directions, the pace and paths are noticeably differentiated.

One path is more conservatively cautious, exemplified by Binance and OKX. Their overall approach is to gradually expand TradFi capabilities within their existing crypto trading systems. Besides integrating some Ondo tokenized assets into their wallets, they primarily focus on providing TradFi targets in contract forms similar to crypto perpetual contracts, settled in USDT, with no expiry dates, while emphasizing a more unified in-exchange experience, and keeping asset coverage numbers relatively restrained.

Essentially, it is about 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 are more aligned with the UEX framework.

They have restructured the entire trading system: first bridging on-chain and CEX account systems last year; subsequently introducing RWA assets to connect on-chain and traditional assets, and completing multi-asset trading tools such as TradFi asset token perpetual contracts and CFD contracts earlier this year.

A point that many may find unfamiliar is CFD (Contracts for Difference). This is a different strategy for introducing TradFi assets compared to the more conservative Binance and OKX.

CFDs are essentially a mature traditional financial trading framework: users do not hold the underlying asset itself but trade around price fluctuations, with profits and losses determined by the price differences between buy and sell. This system is mainly applied in foreign exchange, precious metals, stock indices, and commodity markets, characterized by clear rules, a well-defined cost structure, and comprehensive margin and risk control mechanisms.

Essentially, this type of approach does not transform TradFi into Crypto but allows for a coexistence of multiple paradigms.

Bitget's approach also actively covers a wider range of assets, with the number of stock assets on the platform currently exceeding 250, basically achieving deep coverage. Bitget has also disclosed that TradFi accounted for over 10% of its total trading volume in January, with expectations that this ratio will continue to expand, suggesting that specialized crypto trading exchanges like crypto CEX may accelerate their exit from the stage.

2. Traditional TradFi exchanges' intense on-chain layout

Traditional TradFi exchanges are also converging towards similar goals. Although sentiment in the crypto market is currently low, at no time has there been such enthusiasm among TradFi institutions, businesses, and enterprises toward the crypto market as now.

In the first three months of 2026, the reverse trend betting by traditional TradFi institutions towards crypto has been astonishing.

• ICE has invested $25 billion in OKX, entering the market with real cash;
• The New York Stock Exchange has developed tokenization technology, planning to launch a blockchain-based platform for tokenized stocks and ETFs for around-the-clock trading;
• Nasdaq has received SEC approval to pilot tokenized securities trading that allows stocks to circulate on-chain and share order books with existing systems;
• Robinhood has launched over 2,000 US stock tokens in Europe, with plans to introduce around-the-clock trading and DeFi functionalities in the future.

The common direction of these actions indicates that traditional exchanges are moving their core assets, like stocks and ETFs, onto the blockchain while integrating numerous crypto assets and tools, aiming to leverage the biggest advantages of Crypto—24/7, borderless, and programmable.

From this perspective, crypto CEX and traditional exchanges are forming a kind of consensus that UEX is the model for future exchanges.

While many are fatigued by institutional layouts, what is different this time is that infrastructure and compliance are maturing in parallel.

During this wave of crude oil markets, the choice of on-chain trading by 50,000 people has indicated that infrastructure has met the conditions for attracting new users. On the regulatory front, the 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 Clarity Act for stablecoins. In February this year, new RWA tokenization policies were introduced by eight ministries in China, opening compliant pathways for RWA in Hong Kong.

Conclusion

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

Currently, each has its advantages. Traditional exchanges hold the sources of assets, compliance frameworks, and pricing power; while crypto exchanges have global distribution, 24/7 trading capabilities, and more flexible account and product structures.

The two are not simply competing but are moving toward the same direction, aiming to become "a unified multi-asset trading portal."

However, at present, the evolution of exchanges around UEX is still in its early stages, mostly just integrating CEX and DEX, as well as moving crypto and TradFi assets onto the same platform, but there are still many underlying issues to address, such as how to achieve unified pricing, risk management, and utilization of different assets within the same account.

Therefore, the real watershed may not lie at the product level but rather in underlying issues such as account systems and capital efficiency. Whichever entity can first establish cohesive margin and risk modeling capabilities across assets may be closer to the prototype of the next generation of exchanges.

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