The cryptocurrency trade is rising underneath tighter guidelines, as massive exchanges form their subsequent cycle round licenses and merchandise constructed to resist regulatory scrutiny.
As a substitute of chasing explosive progress via speculative listings and high-leverage buying and selling, the main focus for 2026 is shifting towards sturdier foundations, similar to tighter fiat ramps, compliant derivatives in additional jurisdictions and constructing out stablecoin and tokenization rails.
Cointelegraph spoke with Haider Rafique, international managing associate at OKX, to unpack how main exchanges are making ready for the yr forward.
Exchanges are leaving their onshore footprints
Rafique stated that OKX has already finished the laborious half: acquiring the regulatory inexperienced mild to function in nearly all of the areas it cares about.
“We anticipate there’s going to be continued regulatory readability in 2026,” he stated, “primarily within the US and hopefully in different elements of Europe.” That can allow OKX to deliver extra of its derivatives franchise “onshore.”
The trade now runs licensed companies throughout the European Union (EU) from a Malta hub underneath the Markets in Crypto Property (MiCA) license. It additionally holds a license in Dubai, operates registered entities in Australia, a central financial institution‑permitted funds enterprise in Singapore and a US platform that’s licensed as a cash transmitter in most states.
Associated: OKX experiences buying and selling enhance after growth into US, EU
It additionally maintains domestically compliant operations in markets similar to Brazil and Turkey, making it, in Rafique’s phrases, “most likely essentially the most licensed trade on this planet our dimension.”
That’s a daring declare as OKX shouldn’t be the one trade that has been on a licensing spree currently.
Coinbase holds dozens of licenses and registrations throughout 45 US states and a number of worldwide jurisdictions, and in June secured an EU‑large MiCA license in Luxembourg.
Bybit has additionally obtained MiCA authorization by way of Austria and a nod from the United Arab Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority. Binance’s licensing checklist contains 20 licenses and registrations in varied jurisdictions.
In 2026, Rafique stated the job for OKX is to make sure its licenses discover success via localized, “fine-tuned” merchandise and fiat on-ramps.
Stablecoins as the brand new money leg
OKX’s first massive structural wager in 2026 can be stablecoins. The worldwide stablecoin market cap climbed to about $310 billion in 2025, led by Tether’s USDT and USDC.
Rafique argued that exchanges are quietly reworking stablecoins into yield‑bearing monetary merchandise.
“Should you put your cash in a financial institution, you’re dropping between 8% and 40% in excessive‑inflation markets,” he stated, including that funds additionally need to be locked up. In distinction, stablecoins let customers park their crypto and earn with no lockup.
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As benchmark rates of interest have climbed into the mid‑single digits, yields on yield‑bearing stablecoins and centralized ‘earn’ merchandise have additionally settled in roughly the 4%-8% vary, as an alternative of the double‑digit payouts seen in earlier cycles.
Paxos’ USDL, as an example, launched with a roughly 5% annual yield in 2024, whereas main exchanges similar to Kraken and OKX market round 5% rewards on idle USDT and USDC balances.
Stablecoin balances on exchanges climbed to file or close to‑file ranges in 2025, based on Coin Metrics, highlighting the shift towards yield‑plus‑liquidity merchandise.
Nonetheless, S&P International, warned in a 2023 analysis that stablecoins will not be risk-free as they are often susceptible to de-pegging. The tokens are additionally “topic to market volatility, market confidence and adoption, expertise danger, demand and provide, and market liquidity.”
Elsewhere, the European Central Financial institution has warned that stablecoins pose international monetary stability dangers and will draw retail deposits away from eurozone banks, sparking a sell-off of reserve property.
Tokenization, RWAs and the 2026 product slate
Past stablecoins, exchanges are gearing up for the actual‑world asset (RWA) tokenization wave. The marketplace for onchain tokenized property climbed from underneath $10 billion in 2022 to greater than $19 billion in 2025, and analysis from 21.co initiatives it to $5 trillion by 2030.
Rafique stated that RWAs are “within the very early innings,” pending regulatory readability on whether or not tokenized property qualify as utilities or securities. As soon as that distinction crystallizes, “corporations are going to take this actually critically,” bringing commodities, shares, and metals like gold and silver onchain, wrapped and tradable in exchanges.
A survey by a16z discovered that round half of US Gen-Z and millennial adults now personal or have traded crypto previously yr, placing digital property on par with direct inventory possession for a lot of youthful traders.
For Rafique, that’s why tokenized shares and RWAs belong on trade apps. They bring about conventional property into the venue that youthful customers already deal with as their major market.
Constructing for a much less explosive Bitcoin
Underpinning OKX’s technique is a extra tempered view of Bitcoin’s (BTC) future, because the asset’s main indicators shift from hype towards macroeconomic forces. Rafique stated he sees BTC as more and more tied to US Treasury yields, charge expectations, and fairness correlations.
“I’m not like people the place I’ll give you a very obnoxious quantity,” he stated when requested his Bitcoin value prediction for 2026.
His bear case for BTC is round $90,000, which rises to a spread between $150,000 and $200,000 if charges ease and liquidity returns. He rejected “excessive bull circumstances” as reckless optimism that mislead retail traders.
“I don’t need folks to lose their shirts,” he stated.
That view defines OKX’s product lens for the approaching yr: treating crypto much less like a as soon as‑in‑a‑lifetime lottery ticket and extra like a core macro asset that drives regular spot, derivatives and RWA flows throughout its newly licensed markets.