2026上半年加密行業復盤：交易所加速邁向綜合數字資產服務平台

If we were to describe the crypto industry in the first half of 2026 with one word, "adjustment" might be more fitting than "bear market."

On one hand, Bitcoin and Ethereum both saw significant declines, with US spot Bitcoin ETFs experiencing their first net outflows since launch, and market trading activity noticeably cooling down. On the other hand, new sectors like tokenized assets, stablecoin payments, and prediction markets continue to heat up, while on-chain financial infrastructure is constantly improving.

In such a market environment, the development direction of exchanges is also changing. Compared to the past, which mainly revolved around the growth of trading volume, more and more platforms are now, while continuously enhancing trading experience, liquidity, and product competitiveness, further expanding into ecosystem businesses such as asset management, payments, wallets, and RWA, aiming to provide users with a more comprehensive one-stop digital asset service.

The competition between platforms is also gradually extending from a single focus on trading capability to a comprehensive competition in product ecosystem, user service capabilities, and global layout capabilities.

From Trading Platform to Ecosystem Platform: The Dimensions of Competition are Expanding

Trading business remains the core of exchanges, but more and more platforms are no longer satisfied with just being a platform for matching orders. Instead, they are building richer product systems around user needs.

In the past few years, industry competition mainly focused on trading depth, asset coverage, fee structures, and product innovation. In recent years, however, more exchanges have started incorporating businesses like asset management, payments, wallets, prediction markets, RWA, and TradFi assets into their platform ecosystem while maintaining their advantages in trading, hoping to allow users to complete more digital financial activities within a single account system.

Behind this change is the continuous upgrade of exchange service models. During market cycle fluctuations, a richer product ecosystem can help platforms deepen user service engagement, enhance asset utilization efficiency, and further expand business scenarios.

Meanwhile, the trend of convergence between traditional finance and the crypto market is becoming increasingly evident. Products like tokenized stocks, ETFs, US Treasury bonds, and yield-bearing stablecoins are continuously expanding. More and more platforms are exploring the integration of traditional financial assets with digital asset trading scenarios, offering users more diversified investment options.

New Growth Scenarios Constantly Emerge, Prediction Markets and Payments Become Key Directions

Beyond the continuous expansion of asset types, new scenarios outside of exchanges are also becoming new growth directions for the industry.

Prediction markets are undoubtedly one of the most discussed new tracks this year. From Polymarket and Kalshi to Coinbase announcing its "Everything Exchange" strategy, more and more platforms are incorporating event prediction into their product suite. Compared to traditional trading, prediction markets are easier to attract average users, can generate ongoing interaction around topics like sports events, macroeconomics, and global hotspots, and are gradually becoming a new traffic gateway.

On the other hand, the development speed of stablecoin payments is also exceeding market expectations. As stablecoins gradually enter more scenarios such as cross-border payments and consumer payments, exchanges are also beginning to layout payment networks, bank cards, and fiat transfer services, aiming to extend user relationships from trading to higher-frequency daily use scenarios.

These changes imply that future competition among exchanges will not just be about trading depth, but about building a more complete digital financial ecosystem centered around user assets, payments, consumption, and investment.

BitMart's Choice: A Microcosm of Industry Change

In this round of industry adjustment, many exchanges have started to shift their development focus, and BitMart's performance in the first half of the year also reflects this trend.

Recently, BitMart released its 2026 H1 Summary Report. The report shows that in the first half of this year, BitMart listed a total of 495 spot assets and 492 perpetual contract trading pairs, along with nearly 200 TradFi-related assets covering stocks, indices, ETFs, precious metals, and foreign exchange. The asset structure has begun to move towards greater diversification, not limited to traditional crypto assets.

More noteworthy than trading volume data is the expansion of the platform's product ecosystem. During the reporting period, BitMart's Assets Under Management (AUM) grew by approximately 256%. The platform simultaneously upgraded products such as wealth management, yield-bearing stablecoins, payment services, prediction markets, and Web3 wallets. The prediction market has accumulated over 2,000 events, with about 44% of trading users being new platform users. This indicates that new products are becoming a new customer acquisition channel, not just a supplement to trading functions.

In terms of core platform capabilities, BitMart has also continuously invested in product experience and global compliance construction, including launching a licensed entity in Australia, advancing US business cooperation, upgrading account security systems, and consistently optimizing the App experience and AI customer service capabilities. While these investments may not attract as much attention as market trends, they are gradually becoming a crucial part of the platform's long-term competitiveness.

Looking Ahead, Trading Capability and Ecosystem Strength Will Jointly Determine Competitiveness

If industry competition in the past few years primarily revolved around trading, then starting from 2026, the development direction of exchanges is becoming more diversified.

RWA and TradFi assets are continuously enriched, prediction markets are growing rapidly, stablecoin payments are constantly expanding, on-chain ecosystems are further integrating with centralized platforms, and AI technology is starting to penetrate trading experience and risk management fields. In the future, trading capability, user base, asset service ability, and ecosystem building capacity will collectively determine the long-term competitiveness of an exchange.

Market cycles will still change, but the logic of competition between platforms is constantly evolving. Truly advantageous exchanges will not only need to continuously optimize their core trading services but also build a more complete one-stop digital asset ecosystem centered around user assets, financial needs, and digital economy scenarios.

For the entire industry, this competition centered on product capabilities and infrastructure development is entering a new phase.