OKX Star: 50% of global economic activities will run on the blockchain in the future

On December 8th, Star, CEO of OKX, was invited to attend Abu Dhabi Finance Week and delivered a keynote speech titled *"Project 50% – How Economies Powered by Blockchain Level the Playing Field"*.

Below is the full text of Star’s speech (edited for clarity):

It is a great honor to be invited to Abu Dhabi Finance Week, a globally forward-looking financial event. Today, I would like to share a concise yet bold assertion with all of you: The internet generation, raised alongside the internet, is forging a new on-chain economy; within the next few decades, approximately 50% of global economic activities will operate on blockchain. This is not a speculative prediction, but an inevitable demand from the new generation for financial infrastructure that aligns with their lifestyle, amid the deep integration of digitalization, mobility, and artificial intelligence.

To understand this trend, let us look back at history and explore the evolution of infrastructure paradigms that iterate every decade: the 1990s were the era of the internet, the 2000s the mobile era, and the 2010s the cloud computing era. Today, we are ushering in an even more ambitious new narrative — a programmable global financial infrastructure. This is a "financial internet" tailored for the internet generation, with a core vision to enable value to flow freely, instantly, globally, and 24/7, just like information. Blockchain technology is making this vision a reality.

Behind this transformation is the comprehensive upgrading of the economic system driven by the global digital population. Blockchain stands out because it breaks through numerous limitations of legacy systems from the internet era: it builds a trustless, programmable storage infrastructure to support round-the-clock, real-time global value transmission; it reduces systemic risks by continuously enhancing transparency, creates an open and interconnected network ecosystem, and breaks the "silos effect" of traditional global finance. Throughout every technological iteration cycle, more open, transparent, and efficient systems ultimately prevail, and the new generation has always been the first to embrace change. Today, this transformation is no longer just a conceptual hype, but has entered a phase of large-scale development and implementation: stablecoin settlement volume has surpassed Visa, the scale of on-chain assets is approaching $3 trillion, and the number of global cryptocurrency wallets has exceeded 500 million; meanwhile, regulatory authorities in countries such as the United States and Singapore are actively establishing corresponding regulatory frameworks to promote the orderly development of the industry. The world is accelerating towards a unified global on-chain financial operating system, and the internet generation is the core driving force behind this process.

Notably, the current on-chain financial infrastructure has matured and possesses large-scale application capabilities, sufficient to meet institutional-level needs and hundreds of millions of transactions, with security reaching the standard of bank accounts. On the OKX platform, users can personally experience the convenience brought by this technological innovation: we support Apple ecosystem account integration, offer high-quality services with zero gas fees, and deliver performance comparable to Web2 applications; at the same time, OKX has deployed numerous emerging blockchain networks, achieving millions of transactions per second, and is setting new industry standards for transparency through on-chain identity verification, on-chain analysis, and auditability features. It can be said that the maturity of technology, the improvement of regulatory frameworks, and the readiness of the internet generation’s needs are resonating in harmony.

A clear signal has emerged: Bitcoin has become the "digital gold" of the internet generation. As the first mainstream cryptocurrency in history, it boasts core characteristics of transparency, decentralization, and independence from single-country control, with the majority of its holders being under 40 years old. This generation grew up in the era of globalized internet and mobile connectivity, for whom digital value is far more relevant than physical gold. Today, a growing number of financial institutions worldwide are adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets, propelling it from a niche asset to a mainstream one — a shift that clearly indicates the world is ready to embrace the era of programmable digital finance.

Let us focus on money itself: stablecoins are emerging as a new global payment channel, particularly popular among young users and emerging markets. The circulation of USD stablecoins has reached trillions of dollars within months, while regional stablecoins such as AUD and EUR stablecoins have also become mainstream financial tools. Through programmability, they enable real-time settlement and compliant transactions, gradually replacing traditional inefficient cross-border settlement models. For the internet generation, cross-border and cross-temporal fund transfers should inherently be as instant and convenient as sending an email.

The impact of this transformation extends far beyond payments, with its scale and depth breaking the boundaries of the traditional financial system. Today, banks, sovereign wealth funds, and various asset management institutions are actively entering the on-chain ecosystem, while traditional assets such as funds and government bonds are gradually moving into on-chain trading scenarios. These assets operate 24/7 on-chain, with transparent and verifiable liquidity and pricing, coupled with robust compliance mechanisms. It is evident that asset tokenization is no longer an experimental endeavor, but is gradually becoming the default infrastructure of modern financial markets.

Looking ahead to the next decade, it will not only be a decade of large-scale adoption of cryptocurrencies, but also a decade of intergenerational shift in the global economic operation model. For the internet generation, currency, markets, and identity will all be on-chain, and all financial activities will be completed within a unified underlying system. When these elements are organically integrated, a complete internet-native economic structure will take shape. Blockchain will become a true global financial internet, where everyone will have a universal on-chain identity and self-custody wallet, enabling them to take control of their funds, achieve efficient cross-jurisdictional asset interaction, while maintaining real-time transparency and auditability. This global financial system, tailored for a fully online population, is poised to lead the future not because it is "trendy," but due to its inherently superior systemic advantages.

Thank you.

Author: OKX

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