KuCoin Chief Marketing Officer Skylar Wu said that the next stage of Web3 development will be defined not by hype, short-term traffic, or speculative incentives, but by trust, transparency, secure infrastructure, and regulatory compliance.
According to KuCoin, the crypto industry is gradually moving beyond speculative growth cycles. While many platforms previously grew through hype, active trading, and token-based incentives, the market is now shifting toward a more mature model. At the center of this model are reliability, user protection, reserve transparency, platform resilience, and the ability to operate within a global regulated financial environment.
From the Attention Economy to the Trust Economy
Speaking during the panel discussion “Web3’s Liquidity Answer: Asset Management, CEX, DEX and the Future” at BEYOND Expo 2026 in Macao, Skylar Wu noted that Web3 is moving from an attention economy to a trust economy.
According to her, the period when crypto platforms mainly relied on speculative traffic and short-term incentives for growth is gradually coming to an end. The next generation of platforms will not win because they attract the most attention, but because they are able to build reliable infrastructure that users and institutional participants can trust.
“The era of growth driven solely by speculative traffic and short-term incentives is coming to an end. The next generation of platforms will not win because they attract the most attention — they will win because they build the most reliable infrastructure.”
Skylar emphasized that future competitive advantage will be determined not only by speed and liquidity. systеm resilience, compliance, operational transparency, reliable trade execution, and the security of user assets are becoming increasingly important.
Liquidity Alone Is No Longer Enough
KuCoin believes that liquidity alone is no longer sufficient for long-term competitiveness in the crypto market. Retail users, professional traders, and institutional participants are increasingly paying attention to how transparent, secure, and capable a platform is when it comes to meeting regulatory requirements across different jurisdictions.
Previously, crypto market infrastructure was often evaluated mainly by two factors: speed and depth of liquidity. Now the criteria are broader. A platform must be not only fast, but also resilient, compliant, understandable for users, and ready to operate within a globally integrated financial environment.
“In the past, infrastructure was measured primarily by speed and liquidity. Today, infrastructure must also be evaluated by resilience, compliance, transparency, and the ability to operate sustainably across global markets.”
This is especially important as digital assets gradually become part of the broader financial systеm. Cryptocurrencies are no longer seen only as speculative instruments: they are increasingly used in payments, settlements, investment products, institutional trading, and asset management.
A New Model of Hybrid Liquidity Is Emerging
Skylar Wu also noted that the market is moving toward closer interaction between centralized exchanges, decentralized protocols, institutional trading infrastructure, and payment networks.
She described this process as the formation of a hybrid liquidity ecosystem. In such a model, users care less about the exact source of liquidity — whether it comes from a CEX, DEX, market maker, or another infrastructure layer. What matters more is how efficiently, safely, and reliably the trade is executed.
“Users care less about where liquidity comes from and more about how efficiently, safely, and reliably execution happens.”
According to KuCoin, future platforms will abstract away blockchain complexity from the user. Instead of dealing with complex networks, bridges, wallets, and manual operations, users should receive a clear and intuitive experience similar to mainstream internet applications.
CEX, DEX, and Payment Networks Are Becoming Part of One Infrastructure
The development of hybrid liquidity shows that the boundaries between different segments of the crypto market are gradually becoming blurred. Centralized exchanges, DeFi protocols, custody solutions, institutional trading infrastructure, and payment services are beginning to work together as part of one larger systеm.
For the user, the final experience becomes more important than the technical architecture. What matters is that the trade is executed quickly, funds are protected, the interface is clear, and the platform works reliably regardless of which infrastructure is used behind the scenes.
Stablecoins and ETFs Are Accelerating Crypto’s Move Into the Mainstream
Among the signs of industry maturity, Skylar highlighted the growth of Bitcoin ETFs, the adoption of stablecoins, and the expansion of regulatory frameworks across different countries.
Bitcoin ETFs show that digital assets are becoming closer to traditional investment products. Stablecoins are moving beyond their basic role as trading instruments and are increasingly being used as global payment and settlement rails. Regulation, meanwhile, helps make the market more understandable for institutional participants.
Stablecoins Are Becoming Payment Infrastructure
According to the KuCoin representative, stablecoins may become one of the key elements of the future digital financial systеm. They are already being used not only for trading, but also for cross-border transfers, settlements, payments, and access to dollar liquidity in different regions of the world.
This makes stablecoins an important part of future Web3 infrastructure. They connect the crypto market with traditional financial systems and allow users to move value faster between countries, platforms, and applications.
KuCoin Focuses on Its Trust First Strategy
As part of its long-term Trust First strategy, KuCoin says it continues to invest in transparency, security, Proof of Reserves, institutional-grade infrastructure, and regulatory compliance.
The company separately highlights the importance of Proof of Reserves, as reserve transparency has become one of the key factors of user trust in crypto exchanges after the crises of previous years. For the market, this is no longer just an additional feature, but one of the basic elements of trust in centralized platforms.
$2 Billion Trust Project
KuCoin also mentioned its $2 billion Trust Project, aimed at strengthening user trust, improving security, and increasing platform resilience.
In the annual review of the project, the company marked the anniversary of the initiative, which was launched in April 2025. KuCoin positions this project as part of its broader work to build transparent, secure, and resilient infrastructure for digital assets.
KuCoin Wants to Move Beyond Being Just an Exchange
Skylar Wu said that Web3 is no longer limited to building trading platforms. According to her, the industry is moving toward building trust infrastructure for the next era of digital finance.
“Web3 is no longer simply building trading platforms. The industry is building trust infrastructure for the next era of digital finance.”
KuCoin sees its role not only as a cryptocurrency exchange, but also as a participant in a broader financial infrastructure. The company aims to develop solutions that can support a unified global digital asset market, where users gain access to cryptocurrencies, liquidity, payments, and financial instruments through a secure and transparent platform.
This approach reflects a broader trend: major crypto companies are gradually shifting their focus from simple trading to infrastructure, compliance, institutional services, payments, and long-term reliability.
KuCoin’s Global Development and Regulation
KuCoin was founded in 2017 and today positions itself as a global crypto platform focused on security, trust, and access to digital assets. According to the company, the platform serves more than 40 million users across more than 200 countries and regions.
The exchange provides access to more than 1,500 digital assets and offers a wide range of products for trading and working with cryptocurrencies. KuCoin also emphasizes that it continues to develop infrastructure aligned with regulatory requirements and user expectations.
Certifications and Regulatory Steps
The company points to certifications such as SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and ISO/IEC 27701:2019, which relate to security management, data protection, and operational processes.
In addition, KuCoin notes progress in global regulation, including AUSTRAC registration in Australia, a MiCA license in Europe, and further movement toward compliance in other markets.
Why This Matters for the Future of Web3
KuCoin’s statement reflects a broader shift in the crypto industry. Web3 is gradually moving away from the phase of experiments, speculation, and short-term incentives toward a stage where security, infrastructure, regulation, and trust play the key role.
For mass adoption of digital assets, users need more than just access to tokens. They need understandable products, protected platforms, transparent reserves, reliable trade execution, and confidence that the service can operate over the long term.
Trust Infrastructure Is Becoming the New Competitive Advantage
Previously, platforms could grow through token incentives, marketing noise, and short-term trader activity. In the new phase of the market, that is no longer enough. Users and institutional participants will choose companies that can prove their reliability, transparency, and resilience.
That is why trust infrastructure may become the main competitive advantage of the next stage of Web3 development. This includes compliance, data protection, asset security, reserve transparency, institutional standards, and the ability to operate across different jurisdictions.
Conclusion
The statement from KuCoin’s Chief Marketing Officer reflects an important shift in the crypto industry. Web3 is gradually moving away from a model where growth was mainly driven by speculation, hype, and short-term incentives. Trust, transparency, security, compliance, and reliable infrastructure are coming to the forefront.
For users, this means more mature and secure platforms. For institutional participants, it means clearer conditions for entering digital assets. For the industry itself, it marks a transition from an experimental market to a full-fledged part of the global financial systеm.
KuCoin believes that platforms capable of building trust infrastructure will define the next stage of Web3 and digital finance.