DUBAI — At Paris Blockchain Week 2026, Bybit co‑founder and CEO Ben Zhou sketched a vision for a financial system people can trust and barely notice. Speaking in a fireside session titled “Trust, Technology, and Transformation: Building the New Financial Platform for a Tokenized Economy,” Zhou argued the industry’s next phase is less about market cycles and more about redesigning core infrastructure around AI, programmable assets, and clearer regulation.
Agentic Finance: Intelligence Replacing Interfaces
Zhou described a shift from manual user interfaces to agentic finance, where AI agents perform many day‑to‑day tasks. Bybit has begun experimenting with AI agent accounts and sub‑accounts that let clients give AI systems permission to access market data, run strategies, and execute transactions on their behalf. Zhou called this trend — including “agentic payments” — an early but fast‑growing theme.
The idea is simple but profound: users delegate decisions to intelligent systems that interpret data and act in real time. Over time, the interface itself fades; intelligence operates in the background and users interact with outcomes rather than menus.
Institutional Integration, Not Just Speculation
Zhou emphasized that the most consequential changes are happening quietly inside institutions. Rather than entering crypto as speculation, many banks and payment providers are adopting blockchain as infrastructure. Stablecoins, he said, are becoming a practical bridge for faster payments, more efficient settlement, and easier access to global liquidity. In many cases, these organizations use crypto rails without branding themselves as “crypto” firms, signaling that tokenized infrastructure is moving toward mainstream utility.
Trust and Regulation as Catalysts
For Zhou, trust—not novelty—is the core product. He noted that regulatory frameworks have grown clearer in recent years, citing jurisdictions like the UAE that are proactively encouraging innovation while shaping rules. Europe’s structured approach and evolving stances in the U.S. and U.K. are turning regulation from a barrier into a catalyst for institutional participation. As rules firm up, more traditional players enter the space and help mature the system.
An Invisible Financial Layer
Zhou closed by reframing the ambition: the goal isn’t to replace existing finance but to enhance it. The ideal future he described is one in which blockchain, AI, and regulations combine to make financial services more accessible, efficient, and seamless—so embedded in daily life that users no longer notice the underlying tech. In that future, trust is engineered into the platform, intelligence runs behind the scenes, and technology becomes effectively invisible.
About Bybit
Bybit is the world’s second‑largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, serving over 80 million users since its 2018 founding. Focused on Web3 and bridging TradFi and DeFi, Bybit provides custody, markets, and developer tools to support on‑chain innovation.
Media contact: [email protected]
Follow Bybit for updates on community channels and social media.