Crypto exchanges and traditional brokerages have historically occupied very different corners of financial markets. One grew around digital assets, 24/7 trading and globally accessible infrastructure; the other around equities, clearing, custody and established capital-market systems.
Increasingly, those worlds are beginning to overlap.
Digital-asset platforms are expanding the range of financial products available to their users, while brokerage infrastructure providers are making it easier for fintechs and other digital platforms to offer access to traditional markets without building the entire underlying stack themselves.
Bybit's expansion into U.S. equities through Alpaca sits at the intersection of those trends.
We spoke with Ben Zhou, Co-founder and CEO of Bybit, and Yoshi Yokokawa, Co-founder and CEO of Alpaca, about why the distinction between crypto and traditional finance is becoming less relevant to users, what modern brokerage infrastructure needs to look like, and how financial platforms could evolve over the next five years.
1. Ben, Bybit was built first and foremost as a crypto platform. What are you seeing from users and the market that made expanding into equities the logical next step?
Ben Zhou: The biggest change we are seeing is that users no longer think about their financial lives in separate boxes. They may hold Bitcoin, use stablecoins for payments, trade traditional markets and invest in equities, but today those activities are often spread across different platforms.
That is changing. Crypto has helped accelerate the shift toward markets that are more global, digital and available around the clock. At the same time, traditional assets are becoming more accessible through digital platforms.
For us, equities are a natural extension of that evolution. Bybit already serves a large global user base, and adding stocks broadens the range of markets available to eligible users through one platform.
This is part of the broader direction we have been building toward: Bybit becoming a financial platform rather than being defined only by one asset class. We want users to have more choice and access through one platform.
2. Yoshi, are you seeing the same convergence between crypto and traditional financial markets from the infrastructure side?
Yoshi Yokokawa: I think we are seeing a broader convergence between digital assets and traditional finance.
Digital assets have matured significantly, and customers increasingly do not think about their financial lives in terms of these historical industry categories. They simply want access to the assets they want to own.
So I think it is a natural evolution. If a financial platform has strong distribution, technology and a trusted relationship with its customers, it is natural for that platform to expand the range of assets those customers can easily access.
At the same time, every asset class has historically had its own execution, clearing, custody and operational infrastructure. That creates enormous complexity for a financial platform that wants to add more products.
The role of modern brokerage infrastructure is to consolidate that complexity into one pipe. The more asset classes converge at the customer level, the more important that infrastructure layer becomes.
3. Ben, why bring stocks directly into Bybit rather than assume users will continue using a separate brokerage for equities?
Ben Zhou: Users increasingly expect convenience, but more importantly, they want their financial activities to work together.
If I have assets on one platform and stocks on another, I am constantly moving between systems, managing different accounts and thinking about different interfaces. That made more sense when financial markets were naturally separated. Technology is removing some of those barriers.
With stocks now available through Bybit, eligible users can access supported U.S. stocks and ETFs using USDC and manage eligible crypto and equity positions within the Bybit ecosystem.
We are not saying every financial product has to become identical. Crypto and equities have different market structures and regulations. What we can do is make the user experience more connected.
That is really what we mean by The New Financial Platform. It is about giving people broader access to financial markets without forcing them to think about the boundaries between those markets.
4. What makes the relationship between Alpaca and Bybit complementary?
Ben Zhou: For Bybit, the infrastructure and regulatory foundations are critical. Entering U.S. equities is very different from simply adding another trading product.
We needed a partner with the appropriate brokerage infrastructure, execution capabilities and custody arrangements to support the underlying securities.
Alpaca has that infrastructure. Orders are routed through Infra Capital Limited, Bybit's introducing broker regulated by the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius, and executed by Alpaca, which also holds the underlying securities in custody.
That allows us to focus on what Bybit does best, which is building a global, technology-driven financial platform, while working with a specialist partner on the infrastructure required for U.S. equities.
Yoshi Yokokawa: The complementarity comes from focus.
Alpaca's job is infrastructure. We focus on execution, clearing, custody, middle office, back office, APIs and all of the operational complexity required to provide access to capital markets.
Our goal is to handle that complexity so platforms like Bybit can focus on what they do best: building great experiences for their customers.
If we do our job well, the infrastructure becomes almost invisible, while remaining fully transparent in how it is disclosed to customers.
5. Yoshi, what attracted Alpaca to working with Bybit specifically?
Yoshi Yokokawa: Bybit has built a large global, crypto-native user base and an experience that those users already know and are comfortable with.
What is exciting to us is Bybit's ability to bring access to traditional capital markets into the existing experience their end customers have.
Historically, accessing U.S. equities often meant going to a completely different type of financial institution and using a completely different experience.
We think that when customers have more choices, it is better for them. It would be amazing if they could access different asset classes through the financial platforms they already choose to use.
The U.S. equity market remains by far the largest equity market in the world. At the same time, there are billions of people globally whose primary financial experience is increasingly digital-first.
The opportunity is to connect those two things: one of the world's largest pools of investable assets with global users through the digital experiences they already use and understand.
6. Crypto and equity markets operate very differently. How do you create a unified experience without ignoring those differences?
Ben Zhou: The first challenge is respecting the differences rather than pretending they do not exist.
Crypto operates 24/7 and is global by nature. U.S. equities operate within a regulated market structure with specific trading hours, settlement processes and corporate actions. You cannot simply take a crypto product and apply the same model to stocks.
That is why the underlying infrastructure and compliance framework matter so much.
From the user's perspective, however, we can still make the experience more connected. For example, eligible users can fund supported stock purchases with USDC, and the platform can bring crypto and equity positions together within the same ecosystem.
Stocks also have their own corporate actions, including dividends and stock splits, which need to be handled appropriately.
The opportunity is to simplify the experience without simplifying away the rules.
7. Yoshi, you have said financial infrastructure should ultimately operate almost like a utility. What does that look like in practice?
Yoshi Yokokawa: It needs to look like a utility. When you turn on a faucet, you do not think about the infrastructure delivering the water. Financial infrastructure should eventually work the same way.
Whatever the asset class, developers should be able to access it through one infrastructure layer without having to understand all of the execution, clearing, custody and operational complexity behind it.
I actually think the point where users no longer care which infrastructure powers their investment is the end state we should be working toward.
Most people do not think about the infrastructure behind their electricity, water or internet connection. Financial infrastructure should eventually become similarly invisible.
For that to happen, infrastructure providers like Alpaca need to make execution, clearing, custody, settlement and regulatory operations reliable and seamless enough that platforms can focus entirely on the customer experience.
At the same time, transparency remains just as important. Customers should always know who executes their trades and who holds their assets.
When customers no longer have to think about the infrastructure, it is doing its job.
8. Ben, what does Bybit's idea of “The New Financial Platform” mean beyond simply adding more asset classes?
Ben Zhou: It means Bybit is moving from being defined by crypto to giving users access to a broader range of financial products and services through one platform.
The first phase was crypto. Then we expanded into areas such as payments, cards and traditional markets. Now we are adding equities and continuing to build out the platform.
But it is not just about adding more products. We are also investing in the intelligence layer of the platform.
Bybit AI is designed to make it easier for users to discover, navigate and interact with financial services through a conversational experience.
Ultimately, the user should not have to understand how the company is organised internally or which business unit provides a particular service. They should be able to say what they want to achieve and have the platform help them find the appropriate product or service.
That is the practical meaning of The New Financial Platform: more financial access, more choice and a more connected experience.
9. As that happens, does the distinction between a crypto exchange, brokerage and fintech platform start to matter less?
Ben Zhou: Yes, from the user's perspective, I think those boundaries will become less meaningful.
The financial industry was historically organised around products and institutions. You had a bank for one thing, a broker for another and a crypto exchange for something else.
Technology is changing that model. Users increasingly care about what they can do, rather than which category a company belongs to.
That does not mean the regulatory distinctions disappear. They remain very important. In fact, as platforms expand across financial products, licensing, compliance, custody and local regulatory relationships become even more important.
Over time, I think we will see more platforms bringing together crypto, equities, payments and other financial services. The companies that succeed will be the ones that can combine that breadth with strong regulatory and operational foundations.
Yoshi Yokokawa: Absolutely. I think the distinction between digital assets and traditional finance will matter less and less from the customer's perspective.
We are already seeing those worlds converge, and I expect that trend to continue accelerating.
Ultimately, customers care about accessing the assets they want, not which historical industry category those assets belong to.
10. Looking five years ahead, what does the investment platform of the future look like?
Ben Zhou: I think it will be much more connected than what we have today.
Users will not necessarily think in terms of “crypto account,” “brokerage account” or “bank account.” They will think about their financial goals and expect technology to make the relevant products and services easier to access.
That could mean crypto, stocks, stablecoins, payments, yield products, traditional assets and eventually other financial services, all accessible through one platform, subject to local availability.
AI will also play a much bigger role. The interface may become less about navigating menus and more about telling the platform what you want to do. Bybit AI is an early step in that direction, helping users find and understand features on the platform.
But I do not think the future is simply about putting everything into one app. Trust will remain the foundation. You need the right licenses, compliance, security, local support, liquidity and technology behind the experience.
That is ultimately what we are trying to build with Bybit: a global financial platform that is open to different markets and products, but built on the infrastructure and trust needed to make that access useful in the real world.
When Financial Infrastructure Moves Into the Background
The argument from Zhou and Yokokawa is not that the differences between crypto and traditional markets are disappearing underneath the surface. Equities still require their own execution, custody, settlement and regulatory infrastructure, while digital assets retain a fundamentally different market structure.
What is changing is how much of that distinction the customer needs to experience.
Bybit is betting that users increasingly want access to multiple parts of their financial lives through a more connected platform. Alpaca is betting that the infrastructure enabling that access can become increasingly modular and less visible.
If that convergence continues, the financial platform of the future may be defined less by whether it began life as a crypto exchange, brokerage or fintech, and more by how effectively it can connect users to the assets and financial services they want to access.
