Crypto exchanges expanding into traditional finance as pure-play era ends

The era of the “pure crypto exchange” is ending as customers seek stocks, gold and payments alongside digital assets, Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou told Cointelegraph on Thursday.

“The people who trade crypto also want stocks, gold, forex, indices, and derivatives,” Zhou said. “They want to pay, save, and grow their wealth in the same place.”

His comments accompanied Bybit’s launch of “Make Your Move,” a campaign positioning the exchange as a broader financial platform. Bybit already offers derivatives tied to stocks, gold and indexes, as well as forex. Those products provide price exposure without ownership of the underlying assets.

Bybit’s repositioning comes as several established crypto exchanges wind down. BitMEX ended trading on Wednesday after 11 years, while CoinEx announced a wind-down this month, citing falling trading volumes and rising compliance costs. BitMart announced plans to close in July but is now exploring a restructuring that could allow some operations to resume.

Meanwhile, rival Coinbase is broadening its offerings under its “Everything Exchange” strategy, adding stocks and prediction markets alongside crypto.

“The next generation of financial platforms won’t be built around a single asset class,” Zhou said.