KuCoin Says Crypto Is Entering the ‘Trust Economy’
By Lidia Yadlos
For years, crypto platforms competed on listings, liquidity, and user growth. According to KuCoin Chief Marketing Officer Skylar Wu, that playbook is starting to change.
Speaking at BEYOND Expo 2026 in Macao during a panel discussing the future of Web3 liquidity, Wu argued that the industry is moving from an attention-driven economy toward a trust-driven one, where transparency, security, compliance, and reliability become the key differentiators.
“The era of growth driven purely by speculative traffic and short-term incentives is fading,” Wu said.
“The next generation of platforms will not win because they attract the most attention — they will win because they build the most trusted infrastructure.”
Trust Is Becoming Infrastructure
Wu believes crypto is entering a new phase where liquidity alone is no longer enough to attract users and institutions.
As digital assets become increasingly integrated into global financial systems, market participants are placing greater importance on execution quality, regulatory clarity, security standards, and operational resilience.
“In the past, infrastructure was measured primarily by speed and liquidity,” Wu said. “Today, infrastructure must also be measured by resilience, compliance, transparency, and the ability to operate sustainably across global markets.”
The shift comes as Bitcoin ETFs continue attracting institutional capital, stablecoins expand beyond trading into payments and settlement, and regulatory frameworks become more established across major jurisdictions.
According to Wu, these developments are gradually transforming crypto from a speculative asset class into a foundational layer of financial infrastructure.
The Rise of Hybrid Liquidity
Wu also argued that the distinction between centralized and decentralized finance is becoming less important to end users.
Rather than existing as separate ecosystems, centralized exchanges, decentralized protocols, institutional platforms, and payment networks are increasingly converging into what she described as a hybrid liquidity environment.
“Users care less about where liquidity comes from, and more about whether execution is efficient, secure, and reliable,” she said. “Future platforms will abstract away blockchain complexity and deliver experiences that feel as intuitive as mainstream internet applications.”
That evolution is likely to place greater emphasis on infrastructure providers capable of connecting liquidity, compliance, custody, and settlement across multiple systems rather than operating within isolated environments.
KuCoin’s Long-Term Bet on Trust
As part of its broader "Trust First" strategy, KuCoin says it continues to invest heavily in Proof of Reserves transparency, institutional-grade infrastructure, security systems, and global compliance initiatives.
Wu highlighted the company's ongoing $2 billion Trust Project as part of that effort.
The exchange, which serves more than 40 million users across over 200 countries and regions, has also expanded its regulatory footprint in recent years through initiatives including AUSTRAC registration in Australia and MiCA licensing efforts in Europe.
For Wu, the long-term opportunity extends beyond building a crypto exchange.
“Web3 is no longer just building trading platforms,” she said. “The industry is building the trust infrastructure for the next era of digital finance.”
As tokenization, stablecoins, and digital asset adoption continue moving deeper into mainstream finance, Wu believes the platforms that succeed won't necessarily be those with the most users or liquidity today — but those capable of building trust at a global scale.
Published on Blockster