Bitcoin is underperforming gold, silver, crude oil, and tech stocks, the altcoin season has virtually vanished, and the notion that "crypto is entering garbage time" is gaining traction. But it is precisely during this so-called garbage time that crypto natives are being forced to learn about the world, and a profound reconstruction of future trading models is underway. Looking at two sets of data together might offer a different perspective on the "crypto is entering garbage time" argument. One set is the emerging TradFi trading boom within crypto. Over the past year, commodities such as gold, US stocks, and crude oil have been continuously absorbing global liquidity; within crypto trading platforms, TradFi asset trading volume is also expanding in tandem. Recently, RWA trading volume on Hyperliquid has continued to reach new highs; Binance's gold and silver contract trading volumes have simultaneously hit record highs; and Bitget's CFD section has integrated 79 popular trading categories, including gold, silver, and crude oil, with a recent single-day trading volume exceeding $6 billion, setting a new record. What does this trading volume mean? Binance's recent daily spot trading volume has been around $8 billion. This means that in a bear market, for Crypto traders, "leaving" is no longer the only option. Instead, they can remain within their Crypto accounts, unrestricted by location or market closures, and directly switch to TradeFi assets to seek new profit opportunities or hedge risks. Although Crypto natives often complain about being stuck in "garbage time," this phase forces them to learn about the world and pay attention to variables they previously paid little attention to: the Fed's interest rate path, inflation data, the AI industry cycle, and even the supply and demand structure of crude oil. This change has even spilled over into professional content production. Whether in the media or among KOLs, the topics discussed have clearly expanded—macroeconomics, AI, and commodities appear alongside Crypto, no longer just as background. A while ago, a KOL (Key Opinion Leader) compiled statistics showing that half of the content in many crypto media outlets is no longer "purely crypto," but rather includes a large amount of AI and traditional asset content. Even crypto centralized exchanges like Bitget are gradually transforming their daily market reports into a mixed stream of information on macroeconomics, TradeFi, AI, and crypto. Another set of data presents an even more counterintuitive shift in user flow. In the past, bull markets attracted users through the wealth effect, while bear markets often saw a user exodus. However, according to a report by @smartestxyz, there's an indicator called "Non-Crypto-First Users"—users whose first on-chain transaction was RWA Perp, not crypto. As of March 2026, there were nearly 50,000 such users, whose first encounter with crypto wasn't because of Bitcoin, but because of stock indices, gold, or crude oil.This means that even in a bear market, new users can still be attracted, and the motivations of these newcomers have changed. They are no longer drawn in by the "get rich quick" narrative of crypto, but rather by the convenience of on-chain finance, addressing the pain points of high barriers to entry and low efficiency in traditional finance. In other words, crypto is no longer relying solely on narratives and airdrops to attract new users, but is starting to acquire customers by "solving real trading needs." The value of crypto presented by these two sets of data contradicts the argument that it's "garbage time." Perhaps more accurately, the current crypto market is outwardly quiet, but inwardly undergoing restructuring. If the past crypto market was more like a narrative-driven market, it is now entering a phase driven by real demand. In a sense, this may be the beginning of its true growth. However, the migration of users from within and outside the crypto community to TradeFi may cause "crypto CEXs" to disappear from the scene. This doesn't mean that crypto CEXs will disappear immediately, but rather that exchanges that only deal with crypto assets may not last long in the future. For crypto centralized exchanges (CEXs), this crisis was already evident in the 2024 bull market. Crypto CEXs failed to see the anticipated influx of users from outside the crypto space, and the decline of traffic dividends has become an industry consensus. Crypto CEXs' reliance on subsidies and trading rebates to generate trading volume is becoming inefficient and unsustainable. The reason behind this is simple: besides crypto assets, the demand for multi-asset trading on TradeFi and on-chain assets is no longer a short-term need, but rather a new normal for smoothing cyclical fluctuations. For a long time, the crypto market was a relatively independent and self-consistent system; narratives, liquidity, and price cycles primarily occurred within the crypto sphere. However, in the last 1-2 years, this "self-consistency" has been broken. The simple bull-bear cycle of the past four years is no longer effective. Surviving a bear market does not necessarily guarantee a broad-based bull market; airdrop dividends are also ineffective. Bitcoin is increasingly embedded in macroeconomic cycles; it is no longer just a "crypto asset" but is beginning to become part of global liquidity. In this context, Crypto investors are naturally no longer satisfied with a single crypto position, but rather eager to leverage the liquidity of crypto assets to capture the alpha and cyclicality of mainstream global assets. The explosive growth of the RWA market also illustrates this point. Recent data from RWA.xyz shows that, excluding stablecoins, the total value of on-chain tokenized real-world assets has exceeded $25 billion, nearly quadrupling from $6.4 billion a year ago. Currently, six asset classes have on-chain assets exceeding $1 billion, including US Treasury bonds, commodities, private credit, institutional alternative investment funds, corporate bonds, and non-US government debt.If the "crypto CEX" model gradually fades from the scene, what will the next generation of trading apps look like? Mainstream crypto exchanges and TradeFi institutions are waging a covert war around this topic. Many have noticed that major exchanges like Binance, OKX, Bitget, and Bybit are listing TradeFi assets. However, most people interpret this as just another round of "hot topic narratives," similar to the Chinese memes and AI trends. But one detail is often overlooked: some exchanges, like Bitget, are no longer placing TradeFi in secondary or tertiary menus, but rather placing it as a primary entry point alongside Crypto. This is somewhat similar to Alibaba and JD.com placing their food delivery entry points in a core position on their main websites during the food delivery war—it's not just about "adding a category," but a shift in platform focus. In other words, TradeFi is different from past memes and AI trends. It's not simply a new asset listing, but more like an adjustment to the trading structure and strategic direction. Against this backdrop, the concept of UEX (Universal Exchange) becomes easier to understand. This concept was first proposed by Bitget, essentially aiming to allow users to complete multi-asset transactions within a single platform through unified accounts and stablecoin settlements. This includes not only cryptocurrencies but also stocks, forex, commodities, and even on-chain assets. A similar direction has also appeared in Coinbase's statements; its CEO has mentioned wanting to build an "exchange that trades everything." However, Coinbase emphasizes "on-chain" more, while Bitget emphasizes "integration," meaning different assets and different on-chain and off-chain trading models coexist within the same system. Even with the same direction, the pace and path are clearly divergent. One approach is a more conservative and stable one, such as Binance and OKX. Their overall strategy is to gradually expand TradeFi capabilities within the existing crypto trading system. Besides integrating some Ondo tokenized assets into their wallets, they primarily create TradeFi assets in a form similar to crypto perpetual contracts, settled in USDT, with no expiration date, emphasizing a more unified in-exchange experience, and maintaining a relatively restrained approach to the number of assets covered. Essentially, one approach is to integrate TradeFi into the existing crypto trading paradigm, rather than designing a separate system for it. The other approach is closer to a "structural restructuring" path.Taking Bitget as an example, its actions lean more towards restructuring the entire trading system within the UEX framework: last year, it first integrated the on-chain and CEX account systems; then it introduced RWA assets, bridging the gap between on-chain and traditional assets; and at the beginning of this year, it completed the addition of multi-asset trading tools such as TradeFi asset token perpetual contracts and CFD contracts for difference. Here's a point many may be unfamiliar with—CFD (Contracts for Difference). This is a TradeFi asset introduction strategy that differs from the more conservative approaches of Binance and OKX. CFD is essentially a mature traditional financial trading framework: users do not hold the underlying asset itself, but rather go long or short based on price fluctuations, with profits and losses determined by the bid-ask spread. This system is mainly used in the forex, precious metals, stock index, and commodity markets, and its core characteristics are clear rules, a well-defined cost structure, and a complete margin and risk control mechanism. Essentially, this approach doesn't transform TradeFi into Crypto, but rather represents a coexistence of multiple paradigms. Bitget's approach is also more proactive in asset coverage; for example, the platform currently offers over 250 types of equity assets, providing the deepest coverage. Bitget also disclosed that TradeFi accounted for over 10% of its total trading volume in January, and this proportion is expected to continue to expand in the future, potentially accelerating the fading out of the crypto CEX market. Traditional TradeFi exchanges are following a similar path. Despite the current downturn in the crypto market sentiment, there has never been a period when TradeFi institutions, organizations, and companies have shown such enthusiasm for the crypto market. Looking at the past three months of 2026, the contrarian bets of traditional TradeFi institutions on crypto are astonishing. These actions all point to one thing: traditional exchanges are moving their core assets, such as stocks and ETFs, onto the blockchain and integrating many crypto assets and tools, attempting to gain the biggest advantages of crypto: 24/7 availability, borderlessness, and programmability. From this perspective, crypto CEXs and traditional exchanges are actually forming a consensus: UEXs represent the future form of trading exchanges. While many are tired of institutional strategies, this round is unique in that infrastructure and compliance are maturing simultaneously. The fact that 50,000 people chose on-chain trading during this oil price surge demonstrates that the infrastructure has the capacity to attract new users. On the regulatory front, the US SEC's guidance on January 28th categorizes tokenized securities into direct issuance and third-party models, reducing compliance uncertainty. Congress is also pushing forward with the stablecoin "CLARITY Act." In February, China's new RWA tokenization policy from eight ministries opened a compliance channel for RWA in Hong Kong.As TradeFi continues to be introduced, the boundaries between crypto and traditional exchanges are rapidly disappearing. But who will ultimately define the next generation of exchanges? Currently, each has its advantages. Traditional exchanges control asset sourcing, compliance systems, and pricing power; crypto exchanges control global distribution, 24/7 trading capabilities, and more flexible account and product structures. The two are not simply competing, but rather converging in the same direction to become a "unified multi-asset trading portal." However, this exchange evolution centered around UEX is still in its first stage. Most of it simply involves moving CEX and DEX, as well as Crypto and TradeFi assets, onto the same platform. There are still many underlying issues, such as how to ensure unified pricing, risk control, and usage of different assets under the same account. Therefore, the real dividing line is not at the product level, but rather at the fundamental issues such as account systems and capital efficiency. Whoever can first unlock core capabilities such as cross-asset margin and risk models may be closer to the prototype of the next generation of exchanges. [ChainCatcher]