Crypto exchanges are evolving from trading venues into financial infrastructure providers as tokenization, stablecoins, and artificial intelligence reshape the architecture of global finance, according to Bybit Co-Founder and CEO Ben Zhou.
Speaking at Point Zero Forum 2026 in Zurich during a fireside chat titled “The Exchange as Settlement Layer: How Tokenization Rewires the Role of a Crypto Platform,” Zhou outlined how exchanges must adapt as financial assets become programmable and settlement becomes instantaneous.
“The role of exchanges is changing fundamentally,” said Zhou. “In the early days, exchanges competed on matching engines, latency, and execution speed. Today, we are becoming gateways to payments, tokenized assets, real-world assets, and global financial access.”
Tokenization solves access, not liquidity
While tokenization has emerged as one of the defining narratives in financial markets, Zhou argued that the industry remains overly focused on putting assets on-chain without addressing the more difficult challenge of creating sustainable liquidity.
“Tokenization solves access, not liquidity,” Zhou said. “Making an asset available globally does not automatically create demand for it. The next question is who will buy it, where liquidity comes from, and how that liquidity moves across borders and jurisdictions.”
Zhou noted that governments, institutions, and asset issuers are racing to tokenize everything from money market funds to real-world assets, but argued that long-term success will depend less on issuance and more on the development of deep and efficient secondary markets.
As settlement becomes increasingly automated and programmable, Zhou believes exchanges will continue to play a critical role as liquidity hubs and distribution networks, drawing a comparison to major international airports.
“Settlement is only one part of the equation,” Zhou explained. “Airports are important not simply because planes land there, but because they become hubs for connectivity, services, and movement. Exchanges are similar. Liquidity, distribution, and access remain the core value proposition.”
Zhou also warned that tokenization risks creating a fragmented financial ecosystem if institutions issue proprietary versions of the same assets across multiple chains and platforms.
“We are already seeing multiple versions of the same assets emerge across different ecosystems,” Zhou said. “The challenge of the next decade is not creating more tokenized assets. It is creating interoperability and shared liquidity across those assets.”
Instant settlement and AI set to reshape market structure
Zhou described instant settlement as one of the most underestimated developments in financial markets, noting that blockchain infrastructure enabling near-instant settlement could gradually render parts of the traditional clearing and intermediary model obsolete. However, he cautioned that trust, custody, and legal enforceability will remain essential.
“Technology can automate settlement, but trust still matters,” Zhou said. “Institutions that provide custody, governance, and legal certainty will continue to play an important role in financial markets.”
Looking beyond tokenization, Zhou argued that artificial intelligence will become the interface layer for increasingly complex financial ecosystems, simplifying interactions and delivering personalized financial experiences as platforms expand into payments, investing, wealth management, and real-world assets.
“The future financial platform will become too complex for users to navigate manually,” Zhou said. “AI will act like a personal financial assistant that understands user goals and automatically connects users with the right products, opportunities, and strategies.”
Featured image via Shutterstock.