Bybit CEO Ben Zhou: TradFi Firms Embrace Cryptocurrencies

Ben Zhou faced a⁤ surprising ⁣first challenge when he ⁤founded Bybit in 2018: convincing his team that Bitcoin wasn’t a scam.Now, eight years later, digital assets have‍ moved into the mainstream.The U.S. passage of the GENIUS Act last year signaled a dramatic shift, ‍with ⁢governments and traditional finance institutions increasingly accepting cryptocurrencies.

“The traditional ⁢world is embracing crypto,” Zhou, CEO of ⁣the world’s second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, told Fortune. “If they don’t, they will become obsolete, especially with crypto wallet adoption growing 20 to 30%⁤ each year.”

Stablecoins are gaining traction and facing increased regulation, now used for remittances and payments. In ⁣2025, stablecoin transactions exceeded $18 trillion, surpassing the combined volume of Visa and Mastercard, according to Delphi⁣ Digital. Forbes reported on ⁤this milestone during⁤ Black Friday.

Zhou contends ⁣that cryptocurrency transactions are “faster and cheaper” than traditional bank transfers. “SWIFT transfers are just too slow,” he said.

The integration of crypto is already underway. Goldman Sachs is working to incorporate tokenized assets into its trading and advisory services. Visa and Mastercard are partnering with exchanges like bybit to launch payment cards that allow users to spend crypto holdings as fiat currency in real-time.

Zhou ⁣believes crypto will be the “main driving force”⁢ behind traditional financial instruments like stocks and credit-default swaps within the next decade. “Accessibility, connectivity and unification is really the beauty of this technology.”

Building Bybit

Before Bybit, Zhou spent seven ‍years ⁤as China general manager for the financial brokerage XM, where he worked as a forex trader. Back then, crypto was a niche market, frequently enough ‍dismissed as a “pump and dump” scheme, he recalls.

Zhou’s early interest in crypto led him to…