Catenaa, Saturday, December 13, 2025- OKX Chief Executive Star Xu said roughly half of global economic activity could operate on blockchain in the coming decades, driven by generational demand for digital finance and emerging regulatory frameworks.
Speaking at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Xu described blockchains as programmable financial rails that move value instantly, globally, and around the clock.
Xu framed the adoption as infrastructure evolution rather than a trading opportunity. He cited stablecoin settlement growth, multi-trillion-dollar on-chain assets, and expanding wallet use as signs of readiness.
The OKX CEO compared the shift to earlier cycles in internet, mobile, and cloud technology, calling it a “financial internet” where storage, transfer, and settlement are software-driven and auditable.
Xu said current systems can meet institutional needs with high-throughput transaction capacity, low-friction user flows, and security standards similar to bank accounts. On-chain identity, auditing, and analytics are designed to improve transparency.
Regulatory work in the United States, Singapore, and other markets is creating channels for compliant activity, moving blockchain from pilot programs to production.
Xu also highlighted Bitcoin as “digital gold” for younger investors and stablecoins as a near-instant cross-border payment channel. He said tokenization of funds and government bonds will support transparent pricing and regulatory compliance.
Looking ahead, he outlined an ecosystem where self-custody wallets, portable identities, and base-layer issuance and settlement create open, efficient, and auditable financial systems.
He concluded that more open and efficient systems are likely to prevail as the internet generation shapes financial infrastructure.
