In this exclusive interview, we communicated with Bitget's product head, KH, about Bitget's strategic layout and product evolution in the direction of traditional financial assets (TradFi) over the past year.

As user demand expands from single cryptocurrency assets to broader asset allocation and as RWA and on-chain trading infrastructure gradually mature, cryptocurrency exchanges have the practical conditions to incorporate traditional assets such as stocks, foreign exchange, precious metals, and commodities into their platforms. Bitget has successively launched on-chain trading capabilities, perpetual contracts for stocks, and introduced contract for difference (CFD) products in cooperation with MT5, forming a multi-layered UEX covering spot, derivatives, and RWA.

On the execution level, Bitget entered the RWA sector through collaboration with Ondo, leveraging on-chain trading and 1inch liquidity capabilities to facilitate convenient trading of over 200 types of RWA Tokens, obtaining significant market share early on. Meanwhile, the CFD products demonstrate differentiated advantages compared to traditional brokers with stablecoin settlement, liquidity from leading market makers, and a 24/7 trading experience.

The interview also elaborated on Bitget's long-term vision for the panoramic exchange (UEX): centered around a unified account, integrating CEX, DEX, and TradFi to achieve cross-asset trading, margin reuse, and higher capital utilization. Overall, Bitget regards compliance capabilities, underlying infrastructure, product integration capabilities, and AI + Trading as key support points for future competition, aiming to construct the next generation of comprehensive trading platforms amid the ongoing integration of cryptocurrency and traditional finance.

The guest's comments do not represent Wu's viewpoint and do not constitute any investment advice. Please strictly adhere to local laws and regulations.

Why is Bitget accelerating the introduction of TradFi assets? How has the product evolved step by step?

KH: There are two core reasons. First, we believe the crypto industry is entering a new phase, with solutions like RWA gradually maturing; second, user asset demand has expanded from single CEX cryptocurrency assets to DEX and TradFi assets, reflecting a natural change in user demand structure. For CEX, introducing a richer variety of asset categories can also help smooth the strong bull-bear cycle fluctuations in crypto itself, providing users with more diverse and flexible asset allocation options.

Regarding the product rhythm, we have spent about a year continuously advancing this product line. Initially, it involved on-chain trading-related products, followed by the earlier launched perpetual contracts for stock tokens, and in Q4 last year, we introduced CFD products, which were fully opened to users in January this year, representing a gradual process.

Challenges abound in the execution process as well. For instance, with on-chain trading products, we were among the first to achieve seamless trading of all on-chain assets within the CEX account system, bridging the trading experience with DEX. Then, in Q3 last year, we were the first to connect with the RWA Tokens issued by Ondo, bridging over 200 RWA targets through on-chain trading capabilities, which found a new breakthrough for the on-chain trading product. These capabilities were not fully planned from the start, but evolved and improved continuously in response to market changes and user feedback. Looking back, it was precisely this product iteration that kept pace with the market rhythm that allowed us to seize new opportunities and gains amid challenges.

Why has TradFi only concentrated on launching recently? What role does compliance play?

KH: From our own practice, the core reason why TradFi products began to concentrate on launching around 2025 is mainly due to the increased maturity of the entire industry chain, not just the willingness of exchanges alone. Taking on-chain trading and Ondo's RWA as examples, Ondo, as the issuer, has resolved numerous key issues regarding compliance of underlying assets, token issuance, and regulatory structure, enabling exchanges to participate within a compliance framework. This is a result of the progressively clearer division of labor within the industry chain.

For CFD contracts, MT5 itself is a very mature and mainstream trading platform in the CFD market, offering a complete trading system and technical capabilities. What we needed to do was to apply for and obtain the necessary licenses under compliance conditions and complete deep integration with MT5. The entire process spanned almost the whole of last year, and it made us acutely aware that both the exchanges themselves and the collaborative ability with traditional financial technology service providers were rapidly improving. If we look back to 2021 or 2022, many institutions lacked the compliance awareness, execution capability, and resource investment to genuinely implement these matters.

What problems did the recent major upgrade of Bitget's TradFi products aim to address?

KH: The upgrade in February was essentially a systematic reconstruction of our TradFi product line, not just simply adding new products. This includes CFD contracts, on-exchange perpetual contracts, and RWA related tokens, all of which have been unified under the framework of the broader asset category of TradFi.

This step was completed based on continuous construction and iteration over the past year. At this stage, we believe that the TradFi products have formed a relatively complete basic framework, whether for spot form tokens or different types of derivatives, in terms of trading capability, depth, and integrity.

We also noted that many exchanges in the market have gradually launched TradFi related products, but the definition and use of the term TradFi are unclear, leading to potential deviations in user understanding of TradFi. Therefore, one of our goals is to help users better understand and participate in the TradFi market. TradFi is short for Traditional Finance, referring to a broad category of assets, so we hope to define and guide users more accurately.

On the other hand, from a coverage perspective, our TradFi product line is relatively more systematic and complete compared to all mainstream exchanges. Therefore, now is the right time to clearly communicate a change to users: Bitget has been iterating products along the UEX strategy. The platform is no longer just an “app for trading crypto” but truly a unified trading system that integrates crypto and traditional financial assets.

Internally, we refer to this version as the “super version”, which can be understood as the trading platform entering the next stage. With this update, users can intuitively perceive this change when they open the app—TradFi is no longer a subdirectory of a secondary or tertiary menu but has a primary entry alongside crypto, which signifies that TradFi products will gain millions of new exposures monthly. We should be one of the first mainstream exchanges to take this step.

After entering the TradFi Hub, users can directly access spot, perpetual contracts, and contracts for difference related to TradFi assets in one stop. It's similar to how Alibaba placed the food delivery option in the most prominent position within the Taobao app during the food delivery war, showcasing its determination to enter the delivery market. This update also conveys externally the strategic height of the TradFi business within our operations and our confidence that we are well-prepared at the product level. For users, this is also an “invitation,” encouraging them to try and enrich their investment portfolios globally through platforms like Bitget's UEX.

What is the relationship between UEX and TradFi? How far has this strategy progressed?

KH: UEX is a long-term direction we proposed in the second half of last year, envisioning the “next version form” of exchanges, which includes not only centralized or decentralized crypto exchanges, but we believe that traditional brokers are also transforming towards UEX. The core feature of UEX is to allow users to trade global mainstream assets on a single platform through unified accounts and stablecoin settlement, which includes both crypto and TradFi, and even extends to DEX assets.

This concept was initially relatively abstract, but as the underlying capabilities gradually improve, it is becoming more concrete. Last year, through on-chain trading products, we achieved integration between CEX and DEX within the crypto ecosystem, and now, as the TradFi product line matures, the integration of crypto and TradFi has transformed into products that users can genuinely perceive. UEX is no longer just a concept but an actual experience of “one platform, one account, trading multiple types of assets.”

From a strategic cycle perspective, UEX is not just a short-term goal aimed at 2026 but is a long-term direction spanning three to five years. At this stage, we are more focused on solidifying product infrastructure and user experience rather than pursuing aggressive growth metrics.

From market feedback, performance has overall exceeded expectations. The trading volume for stock contracts launched during Q3 and Q4 has continued to grow, exceeding $15 billion in a single quarter; the monthly trading volume of Ondo's related RWA Tokens exceeds $1 billion, and Bitget once captured 90% of the trading share for Ondo's RWA assets; the TradFi CFD contracts launched in January of this year, driven by precious metals trends, have also exceeded $4 billion in average daily trading volume. These figures validate the correctness of the direction, but even so, our current core goal remains to continuously refine underlying capabilities and overall experience to lay the foundation for the long-term evolution of UEX.

What advantages do Bitget's CFD contracts have compared to traditional brokers? How does the asset expansion strategy balance?