The cryptocurrency trade is rising beneath tighter guidelines, as giant exchanges form their subsequent cycle round licenses and merchandise constructed to face up to regulatory scrutiny.
As an alternative of chasing explosive development by speculative listings and high-leverage buying and selling, the main focus for 2026 is shifting towards sturdier foundations, reminiscent of tighter fiat ramps, compliant derivatives in additional jurisdictions and constructing out stablecoin and tokenization rails.
Cointelegraph spoke with Haider Rafique, international managing companion at OKX, to unpack how main exchanges are making ready for the 12 months forward.
OKX indicators ambition to dominate licensed onshore crypto markets. Supply: Haider Rafique
Exchanges are leaving their onshore footprints
Rafique mentioned that OKX has already executed the onerous half: acquiring the regulatory inexperienced gentle to function in virtually all of the areas it cares about.
“We anticipate there’s going to be continued regulatory readability in 2026,” he mentioned, “primarily within the US and hopefully in different components of Europe.” That may allow OKX to carry extra of its derivatives franchise “onshore.”
The trade now runs licensed companies throughout the European Union (EU) from a Malta hub beneath the Markets in Crypto Belongings (MiCA) license. It additionally holds a license in Dubai, operates registered entities in Australia, a central financial institution‑accepted funds enterprise in Singapore and a US platform that’s licensed as a cash transmitter in most states.
Associated: OKX reviews buying and selling improve after growth into US, EU
It additionally maintains domestically compliant operations in markets reminiscent of Brazil and Turkey, making it, in Rafique’s phrases, “in all probability probably the most licensed trade on the earth our measurement.”
That’s a daring declare as OKX just isn’t 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‑vast MiCA license in Luxembourg.
Bybit has additionally obtained MiCA authorization through Austria and a nod from the United Arab Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority. Binance’s licensing listing contains 20 licenses and registrations in numerous jurisdictions.
In 2026, Rafique mentioned the job for OKX is to make sure its licenses discover success by localized, “fine-tuned” merchandise and fiat on-ramps.
Stablecoins as the brand new money leg
OKX’s first large structural wager in 2026 might 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 remodeling stablecoins into yield‑bearing monetary merchandise.
“In case you put your cash in a financial institution, you’re dropping between 8% and 40% in excessive‑inflation markets,” he mentioned, including that funds additionally should be locked up. In distinction, stablecoins let customers park their crypto and earn with no lockup.
Associated: Binance secures ADGM licenses to function worldwide platform
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 a substitute of the double‑digit payouts seen in earlier cycles.
Paxos’ USDL, for example, launched with a roughly 5% annual yield in 2024, whereas main exchanges reminiscent of Kraken and OKX market round 5% rewards on idle USDT and USDC balances.
Stablecoin balances on exchanges climbed to document or close to‑document ranges in 2025, based on Coin Metrics, highlighting the shift towards yield‑plus‑liquidity merchandise.
Nonetheless, S&P World, warned in a 2023 analysis that stablecoins should not risk-free as they are often susceptible to de-pegging. The tokens are additionally “topic to market volatility, market confidence and adoption, know-how danger, demand and provide, and market liquidity.”
Understanding root causes for depeg occasions | Supply: S&P World
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 beneath $10 billion in 2022 to greater than $19 billion in 2025, and analysis from 21.co tasks it to $5 trillion by 2030.
The RWA market began to draw sustained institutional curiosity in 2025. Supply: RWA.xyz
Rafique mentioned 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, “firms are going to take this actually severely,” 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 up to now 12 months, 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 convey 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 mentioned he sees BTC as more and more tied to US Treasury yields, fee expectations, and fairness correlations.
“I’m not like people the place I’ll provide you with a extremely obnoxious quantity,” he mentioned when requested his Bitcoin worth 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 instances” as reckless optimism that mislead retail traders.
“I don’t need folks to lose their shirts,” he mentioned.
That view defines OKX’s product lens for the approaching 12 months: 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.
