As the crypto industry heads into 2026, few executives have a clearer vantage point than Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget.
Founded in 2018 during a bear market, Bitget has grown into one of the world’s largest digital asset platforms, serving 120 million users globally, processing $20B+ in daily trading volume, and operating the largest crypto copy trading platform in the market. Built by early believers who stayed through multiple cycles, Bitget’s evolution mirrors the broader maturation of the crypto industry itself — from speculation to infrastructure.
That scale gives Chen’s outlook real weight. Leading a platform used daily by millions of traders, institutions, and communities worldwide, she’s seen firsthand how market structure, payments, regulation, and capital flows have shifted over time — and where they’re heading next.
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After a challenging end to 2025, sentiment across the industry has turned more constructive and opportunity-driven. Rather than chasing short-term hype, attention is moving toward durable systems, real utility, and global coordination.
Below, Chen outlines five structural shifts she believes will define crypto markets in 2026 — and why the next phase of digital assets will be shaped less by cycles, and more by convergence.
1. Crypto and TradFi Merge Into a Single Market Structure
By 2026, the line between crypto markets and traditional financial markets largely disappears at the infrastructure level.
Crypto exchanges are expanding into equities, ETFs, and commodities, while banks and fintech platforms integrate crypto trading and custody. What emerges is Digital Asset Trading (DAT) — a unified market where assets are judged by liquidity, settlement speed, and global access, not by origin.
“Assets are no longer defined by whether they come from crypto or traditional finance,” Chen explains.
