The Global CEO of one of the world's largest crypto exchanges reflects on his first year of leadership, the platform's evolution from trading venue to financial infrastructure, and what it will take to bring digital assets to the next billion users.
-- Nathan Chow spent 17 years in traditional finance before making the leap to crypto. In April 2025, he joined BitMart as Global CEO with a mandate to transform the eight-year-old exchange into comprehensive digital financial infrastructure. In this conversation, Chow reflects on what he has built, what he has learned, and where the industry is headed.
You joined BitMart as Global CEO in April 2025 after 17 years in traditional finance. What convinced you that crypto was worth the career transition?
The realization was not sudden. It was a gradual recognition that blockchain is not a market but a movement to reshape how wealth is created and accessed. I remember being 22 years old in a dimly lit Oppenheimer & Co. boardroom in Manhattan, redlines flying across screens as we scrambled to close a multi-hundred-million-dollar leveraged buyout.
As the deal sealed and a senior colleague quipped about "winners and losers in the game," a knot formed in my stomach: in reshaping markets, were we truly expanding opportunity, or just entrenching the status quo for the elite?
That question followed me through 17 years at Oppenheimer, J.P. Morgan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Bank of China, and ICBC. Traditional finance excels at serving those who already have capital.
The pivot came in 2016, when I made modest investments in Bitcoin - then at $400-and Ethereum. Colleagues scoffed at the "speculative fad," but I saw something else entirely: a permissionless, 24/7 network that could connect a Brazilian teen to a Singaporean VC without gatekeepers. What drew me to this space was the infrastructure problem: how do you build financial tools that serve 8 billion people, not just the fraction with brokerage accounts and credit scores?
Blockchain reframed everything - not as a gamble, but as a tool for equitable wealth. For six years, I straddled worlds, delving into crypto communities. By 2022, I joined Animoca Brands' venture arm, funding Web3 innovations in DeFi, infrastructure, and digital ownership.
In April 2025, as BitMart's Global CEO - serving 13 million users across 180+ countries - I aimed to bridge these realms. We are aiming to build an omni-asset platform, blending yield products, equities, bonds, FX, commodities, and crypto seamlessly.
BitMart turns 8 this month. How would you characterize the platform’s evolution, particularly over the past year?
The past year was about converting philosophy into products. When I arrived, BitMart had strong trading infrastructure and a loyal user base. The real question was whether we could become something more - not just a place to trade, but a complete financial platform. The answer came through execution.
We launched a crypto card accepted in over 160 countries and 50 million merchants worldwide, a DEX supporting 1.49 million tokens, and a yield-generating stablecoin backed by RWAs such as U.S. Treasuries. We rebuilt our trading engine to handle 200,000 orders per second - with a 2-millisecond latency and added a suite of AI tools.
The growth followed: 13 million users, spot and contract volumes up 59% and 68%, financial products AUM up 468%. But I always come back to this: the numbers are the consequence. The cause was reducing friction - at every layer, from onboarding to settlement to real-world spending. That discipline is what compounding looks like.
BitMart US reached a major milestone in February 2026, securing full operational coverage across the United States. How does the U.S. expansion fit into BitMart's broader regulatory strategy?
Compliance is not a cost center. It is a long-term competitive moat. The U.S. represents the world's largest capital market, and entering it responsibly requires a level of structural rigor that most exchanges underestimate. We built that foundation deliberately, because institutional capital will not flow through platforms that treat regulation as optional. The exchanges that will define the next decade are the ones building regulatory infrastructure today, not the ones seeking regulatory arbitrage.
The U.S. is a core but not an exclusive pillar of our strategy - it is where much of the regulatory playbook for the rest of the world is being written, especially around stablecoins, custody, and tokenization. Being compliant in all 50 states is less about bragging rights and more about proving that our infrastructure can meet the highest standards and then export those practices globally.
As regulatory frameworks crystallize in 2026, the moment is now for business leaders to invest in education, pilot programs, and inclusive financial systems, helping shape a future where finance is treated not as a privilege, but as an opportunity accessible to all.
Where does BitMart go from here? What does the next chapter look like?
Three priorities define 2026: decentralized infrastructure, real-world asset distribution, and prediction markets, all underpinned by institutional compliance. We will expand BitMart DEX with deeper multi-chain coverage and advanced on-chain analytics. BMRUSD is the entry point for what we envision as a comprehensive distribution layer for tokenized treasuries.
Beyond BMRUSD, we see significant opportunities in real-world assets more broadly. Currently, BitMart offers a diverse selection of tokenized RWAs, including over 100 individual U.S. equity pairs, 17 global indices, 12 metals, and 3 commodity pairs. Our ambition is to build a comprehensive distribution layer that extends into credit instruments, commodities, and real estate as the market matures.
The addressable RWA market is estimated at 16 to 30 trillion dollars, and it requires exchange infrastructure to reach retail users globally. We also see prediction markets transitioning from zero-sum betting to positive-sum risk management, and we intend to provide compliant, liquid access to those instruments.
The ambition - and I use that word deliberately - is to become the everything app for digital finance. Not by doing everything superficially, but by solving the fragmentation that prevents crypto from reaching the next billion users. Financial freedom requires tools, not just markets.
ABOUT BITMART
BitMart is a premier global digital asset trading platform with more than 13 million users worldwide. Consistently ranked among the top crypto exchanges on CoinGecko, BitMart offers over 1,700 trading pairs with competitive fees. Committed to continuous innovation and financial inclusivity, BitMart empowers users globally to trade seamlessly. Learn more about BitMart on the Website, follow on X (Twitter), or join the Telegram for updates, news, and promotions. Download the BitMart App to trade anytime, anywhere.
DISCLAIMER
The statements or opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of BitMart or its affiliates, and shall not be considered professional financial investment advice.
All crypto investments are highly speculative in nature and involve substantial risk of loss. Past, hypothetical, or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. The value of digital currencies can go up or down and there can be a substantial risk in buying, selling, holding, or trading digital currencies. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital currencies is suitable for you based on your personal investment objectives, financial circumstances, and risk tolerance. BitMart does not provide any investment, legal or tax advice.
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