A New Alternative: The path toward a more transparent, accountable and inclusive system

By Hong Fang, OKX President

We’re witnessing a cryptocurrency evolution, offering an alternative to traditional systems with a more decentralized governance structure, enhanced transparency, and greater integrity. The Web3 transformation, powered by onchain technology, fosters increased inclusion by enabling ordinary people to participate more fully and directly in the financial system. In this evolution, one shared theme stands out in this new alternative path forward: giving power back to people.

Web3 technology is about moving onchain and we're in the early stages of the onchain era. From global wealth to global payments, the onchain volume of Bitcoin and stablecoins has surged, with adoption now extending beyond trading, showing that these assets are more than just speculative. For those who want to preserve and transfer wealth over time and across regions, they will find Bitcoin to be vastly superior to any other available options in human history. Its decentralization ensures that no single entity can control the network, enhancing its security, resilience and user autonomy. It offers better peace of mind if one is concerned about inflation risks or depreciation risks over time. It is more easily portable, divisible and verifiable compared to more traditional wealth-preservation vehicles such as gold, real estate, art, and yachts. As institutions, corporations and even sovereign countries begin to recognize the unique value of Bitcoin and change both their perception of and action toward this asset, it is clear that a powerful secular shift is underway for global wealth to move gradually onchain.

The number of onchain stablecoin addresses continues to increase regardless of market and trading volatility. The transaction volume of stablecoin has stealthily caught up with the the traditional payment institutions like Paypal, Mastercard and Visa. There are clear signals suggesting that stablecoins are finding their place in people's daily lives as a superior new alternative for payment, not only because they are natively digital and can enable direct and immediate settlement onchain. It is also because the cost of such onchain transactions is 1/5 to 1/10 of its traditional alternatives. This opens the door to a future where financial transactions will be more efficient and accessible, particularly in regions where the traditional financial system has failed to serve well.

The work to continue building an inclusive financial system onto the blockchain is far from over. The limited adoption of widely accepted cryptocurrencies on major blockchains, the need for improved wallet infrastructure, and the development of a global identity system are key areas to address. However, the growing adoption of stablecoins and real-world assets (RWAs) can facilitate the global acceptance of popular onchain currencies, aiding in the migration to a more decentralized financial system. Our team at OKX has been focused on building better wallet infrastructure that is both safe and easy to use for consumers and interoperable with traditional financial systems for easier and faster transition. Consumers and mass adoption requires usability and security. It is essential to build on these pillars to facilitate adoption among non-technical users. The technical knowledge barrier has limited access to these technologies, so we integrate this thinking into product development. Platforms must be designed to be easy to use and accessible. Between the offerings of OKX Wallet and Exchange plus other products being built in the industry, a more mature infrastructure will be in place to bring the new alternative to an onchain financial system into reality.

Regardless of bull market or bear market, we have been grateful to see continued investment from the crypto community in building better infrastructure and exploring more use cases for onchain applications even outside the financial system: DID system, onchain gaming, decentralized social media, onchain prediction market, just to name a few. The key in ushering the new alternative from vision into reality lies in building something useful and safe.

We believe that if we continue focusing on building the right pillars, we will be able to turn challenges into opportunities and unlock the true potential of cryptocurrencies. It has always been our dream to build a system that benefits everyone, where each individual has a voice and access to tools that once seemed out of reach.It may not feel real now, but to borrow the line from "Good Wife" in 2012, "The real is gonna change."