At Paris Blockchain Week 2026, Bybit Co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou offered a vision of finance that goes far beyond crypto trading, price cycles, or short-term market narratives. Speaking during a fireside chat titled “Trust, Technology, and Transformation: Building the New Financial Platform for a Tokenized Economy,” Zhou described a future in which financial services become smarter, more accessible, and so seamlessly integrated into everyday life that users barely notice them.
Rather than focusing on speculation, Zhou positioned the next phase of the industry as a structural redesign of financial infrastructure. In his view, the transformation will be driven by three powerful forces converging at once: artificial intelligence, programmable assets, and increasing regulatory clarity.
A major part of that future, Zhou suggested, is what he called the rise of “agentic finance.” Instead of relying on users to manually navigate financial platforms, the next generation of systems may allow AI agents to do much of the work. Zhou noted that Bybit has already introduced AI agent accounts, enabling clients to create sub-accounts for AI systems to interact with markets, execute strategies, and access market data.
For now, these AI-driven applications are largely centered on analytics and data access. Over time, however, they could reshape execution itself. The result would be a world where users no longer engage directly with financial platforms in the traditional sense. The interface fades into the background, replaced by intelligence that interprets information, makes decisions, and optimizes outcomes in real time.
Zhou also pointed to a quieter shift happening across the financial landscape: the growing adoption of blockchain infrastructure by traditional financial institutions. He emphasized that many institutions are not approaching the space through speculation, but through utility. Stablecoins, in particular, are emerging as a key bridge, enabling faster payments, more efficient settlement, and broader access to global liquidity.
In many cases, Zhou observed, these firms are building on crypto rails without explicitly embracing the “crypto” label. That, in itself, marks an important turning point. Blockchain is no longer being treated solely as an alternative system on the margins of finance. It is increasingly becoming part of the foundation of the financial system itself.
For Zhou, however, the most important issue is not technology alone, but trust. He argued that as regulatory frameworks become clearer, they create the conditions necessary for broader institutional participation and long-term industry growth. He highlighted the United Arab Emirates as one of the leading jurisdictions in this regard, noting that it has taken an active role in welcoming innovation while offering clear and structured pathways for development.
He also pointed to progress in Europe, as well as evolving regulatory positions in the United States and the United Kingdom, as evidence that regulation is shifting from being seen as a barrier to becoming a catalyst. As the rules become more defined, institutions gain confidence to enter the space, and the market matures accordingly.
Zhou concluded by reframing the industry’s ultimate ambition. The goal, he said, is not to replace existing financial systems but to enhance them. The future of finance, in this model, is one where services are more efficient, intuitive, and globally accessible, yet increasingly invisible to the end user.
In that future, blockchain, wallets, and platforms recede from public attention. What remains is a system that simply works: trust embedded into the infrastructure, intelligence operating quietly in the background, and technology seamlessly supporting everyday financial life.
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