Author: Zhou, ChainCatcher Since the 1011 liquidation event triggered a chain reaction, liquidity in the crypto market has remained sluggish, with spot trading volumes on major centralized exchanges (CEXs) falling to their lowest levels since 2024. Looking at major global assets, safe-haven assets such as gold and silver continued their strong upward trend from the second half of 2025 to the beginning of 2026, while the AI theme in US stocks dominated index performance. Meanwhile, major crypto exchanges are actively deploying precious metals/commodities/foreign exchange contracts and tokenizing US stocks, seeking a breakthrough by leveraging the external asset bull market. The Traffic Dilemma of Exchanges A CryptoQuant report shows that the total spot trading volume of cryptocurrencies in 2025 will be $18.6 trillion, a year-on-year increase of only 9%, far lower than the explosive growth of 154% in 2024; while the total trading volume of perpetual futures reached $61.7 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 29%, the growth rate has slowed significantly, especially showing an inflection point in the second half of the year. Entering 2026, the situation worsened further. Data shows that spot trading volume on major CEXs plummeted from approximately $2 trillion in October 2025 to around $1 trillion in January, falling to its lowest level since 2024. The market generally believes that the trigger for this liquidity contraction was the 10/11 liquidation event. The record-breaking scale of leveraged liquidations on that day destroyed a large amount of liquidity, directly leading to a subsequent collapse in spot demand. The current price of Bitcoin has fallen by approximately 37.5% from its October high. The low volatility environment has led to a strong wait-and-see attitude among traders, resulting in a decline in both user activity and trading frequency. For example, Binance's monthly Bitcoin spot trading volume has fallen from approximately $200 billion in October to the current $104 billion, indicating that even leading platforms are struggling. The most direct feeling for ordinary investors is that altcoin rotation is becoming increasingly weak, and meme coin rallies come and go quickly. Funds seem unwilling to linger within the crypto ecosystem, with some flowing into traditional channels like ETFs or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). On the other hand, a Delphi Digital report points out that decentralized platforms focusing on perpetual futures trading are developing rapidly. CoinGecko data shows that by the end of 2025, the market share of DEXs surged from 2.1% to 11.7%, and total trading volume also jumped from $4.1 trillion at the beginning of 2025 to over $12 trillion by the end of the year. Meanwhile, traditional brokers (such as IBKR and Robinhood) are quietly vying for high-net-worth users with their crypto products. In short, the old path of relying solely on listing new coins or internal incentives to attract traffic is no longer viable. At the macro level, Federal Reserve policies, geopolitical risks, and the narrative of a strong dollar have suppressed risk appetite. Structurally, the market remains dominated by Bitcoin, with altcoin liquidity deteriorating and high-leverage liquidations repeatedly undermining investor confidence. In addition to weak demand, market liquidity is also under pressure. Analysts say that the continued outflow of stablecoins from exchanges, coupled with a decrease of approximately $10 billion in the total market capitalization of stablecoins, has further weakened the buying base. As a result, the growth path of leading exchanges has been cornered: continuing to cling to a purely crypto-centric internal cycle is no longer sufficient to sustain scale expansion. The bull market in external assets has become the only visible window for growth. Should they follow the trend and break through with all assets? Seeking external growth is an inevitable choice for crypto exchanges; and the on-chaining of traditional assets is also an industry trend. The trading pace of traditional markets can no longer keep up with the habits of today's investors. Market conditions never wait for anyone; truly dramatic fluctuations often occur on weekends, during night trading sessions following geopolitical events, or during breaking news in Asian trading hours. Crypto users are already accustomed to 24/7 accessibility and the ability to quickly capture opportunities with high leverage. Truly valuable assets like precious metals, commodities, and US stocks fill this gap: users can settle with USD stablecoins and participate in the bull markets and volatility of external assets around the clock with high leverage, without leaving their familiar crypto platforms. This is the key logic behind crypto exchanges finding new growth points during a downturn in pure crypto spot trading. Since the second half of 2025, during the period of rising spot prices for gold and silver, exchanges launched a large number of related perpetual contracts, reaping the first wave of profits. Data shows that Binance's XAUUSDT once saw a peak daily trading volume of nearly $300 million, and XAGUSDT reached nearly $500 million, far exceeding most altcoin spot and contract trading. Entering the correction and consolidation phase in early February, gold prices fell from their highs to the $4,500-$5,000 range, while silver plummeted by 30% before rebounding. These sharp price fluctuations continued to stimulate speculative and hedging demand. According to Coinglass data, Gate XAUT contracts still maintained a 24-hour trading volume of $300-500 million during the pullback period, ranking among the top three global assets. Meanwhile, platforms are accelerating their expansion into non-native crypto asset businesses. Gate launched a celebration event for its TradFi platform, establishing a $150,000 trading reward pool. Data shows that since its launch, Gate TradFi's total trading volume has exceeded $20 billion, with a peak daily trading volume exceeding $5 billion. Binance is attracting users by reducing transaction fees, announcing a phased zero-fee order placement and a 50% discount on takers for XAG and XAU perpetual contracts; exchanges like MEXC and Bitget are increasing leverage to over 100x while expanding into forex and index contracts. Furthermore, the tokenization of US stocks is another structural opportunity targeted by crypto exchanges. Currently, the "Seven Sisters" stocks and AI themes continue to dominate US stock index performance. Stock tokenization allows crypto users to bet on a US stock market bull run 24/7 without needing to go through traditional brokers.Data shows that tokenized stocks grew by 128% in the second half of 2025 alone, pushing total asset value to nearly $1 billion. Currently, Robinhood offers over 2,000 US stock tokens in the EU and plans to introduce 24/7 trading and DeFi features, including self-custody, lending, and staking; Kraken's xStocks covers over 50 tokenized stocks; and Bybit and MEXC's perpetual contracts focus on popular US stocks such as NVDA and TSLA. Notably, the US SEC's guidance released on January 28th categorizes tokenized securities into direct issuance and third-party models, reducing compliance uncertainty. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev emphasized that on-chain real-time settlement avoids the risk of transaction freezes like GameStop in 2021. With the SEC exploring tokenized securities and Congress advancing the CLARITY Act, this is a crucial window of opportunity to push for the implementation of a regulatory framework for stock tokenization. Tenev points out that although the US stock settlement cycle has been shortened from two days to one day, settlement can still extend to 3-4 days on Fridays or during long holidays, and systemic risk remains. He believes that tokenizing stocks and putting them on the blockchain can enable real-time settlement, thereby reducing the risk exposure of clearinghouses and brokers and alleviating market pressure during periods of high volatility. How will this affect crypto investors? Currently, the market's attitude towards crypto exchanges offering various derivatives is generally positive. Many traders believe that these products are a friendly new battleground for crypto players. Essentially, it's a leveraged perpetual contract, playing almost identically to BTC or ETH contracts. The bull market benefits of traditional assets are fully packaged into the efficiency tools of crypto platforms, allowing users to adjust positions and hedge systemic risks at any time. Many believe this is the ultimate form of decentralized exchanges: bringing truly valuable assets into a 24/7 ecosystem, freeing traders from the limitations of traditional trading sessions. However, another voice in the market argues that this wave of TradFi entering the crypto space may cause hidden harm, or even be a case of drinking poison to quench thirst. On the one hand, funds have clearly shifted from spot and futures trading of BTC, ETH, and Altcoin to perpetual contracts for precious metals, further drying up liquidity in native crypto assets. The original crypto narrative and stories are being marginalized, attention to innovative themes is declining, and platforms are increasingly resembling CFD casinos rather than crypto infrastructure. On the other hand, high leverage combined with the dramatic volatility of precious metals significantly amplifies the risks. For example, silver experienced a single-day pullback of over 30%, with liquidations far exceeding those in pure crypto assets. This is not simply a friendly tool; it directly grafts the inherent leverage and gambling nature of crypto onto traditional assets. Retail investors who might have entered with the intention of hedging or preserving value easily end up going all-in, losing everything after liquidation. Furthermore, regulatory risks cannot be ignored. While the US SEC's guidance has reduced some uncertainty, perpetual contracts and tokenized securities in the secondary market remain in a gray area. Pessimists worry that if the Claritical Act progresses or the CFTC tightens its stance, precious metal contracts settled in USD-denominated stablecoins will become a primary target. Platforms may be forced to remove related products or face complete restrictions in certain jurisdictions.