As the crypto industry moves beyond speculative growth cycles, KuCoin believes the next phase of Web3 competition will be defined not by traffic or token incentives, but by trust infrastructure.

Speaking at BEYOND Expo 2026 in Macao during the panel discussion "The Answer to Web3 Liquidity: Asset Management, CEX, DEX and the Future," KuCoin Chief Marketing Officer Skylar Wu said the industry is undergoing a structural transition from an "attention economy" toward a "trust economy," where long-term growth increasingly depends on transparency, compliance, security, and sustainable infrastructure.

"The era of growth driven purely by speculative traffic and short-term incentives is fading," said Skylar during the panel discussion. "The next generation of platforms will not win because they attract the most attention — they will win because they build the most trusted infrastructure."

Skylar argued that the crypto industry is entering a new competitive phase where liquidity alone is no longer sufficient. Instead, users and institutions are increasingly prioritizing execution reliability, transparency, regulatory clarity, and security resilience as digital assets become more integrated into mainstream financial systems."In the past, infrastructure was measured primarily by speed and liquidity," she said. "Today, infrastructure must also be measured by resilience, compliance, transparency, and the ability to operate sustainably across global markets."

According to Skylar, this transformation is also reshaping how liquidity itself evolves. Rather than existing as isolated ecosystems, centralized exchanges, decentralized protocols, institutional infrastructure, and payment networks are increasingly converging into a more interconnected "hybrid liquidity" environment.

"Users care less about where liquidity comes from, and more about whether execution is efficient, secure, and reliable," she said. "Future platforms will abstract away blockchain complexity and deliver experiences that feel as intuitive as mainstream internet applications."

Skylar further pointed to Bitcoin ETFs, stablecoin adoption, and expanding global regulatory frameworks as signals that digital assets are increasingly transitioning from speculative assets into financial infrastructure. She noted that stablecoins, in particular, are evolving into global payment and settlement rails rather than remaining purely trading instruments.