Eleven years in crypto shouldn’t be merely an anniversary. It means navigating a number of boom-and-bust cycles, altering asset narratives, alternate failures, and the rising convergence between conventional finance and onchain markets.
At its 11-year mark, LBank stories greater than 30 million registered customers and $23.81 billion in day by day buying and selling quantity. In an unique interview with Bitcoinist, Eric He, LBank’s Group Angel & Threat Administration Advisor, seems to be past the subsequent sizzling token to debate a extra consequential query: how an alternate can steadiness velocity, entry, safety, and sturdy belief because the market turns into extra complicated.
Q. LBank is marking its eleventh anniversary. Wanting again, what’s crucial precept the corporate has realized—not the most important progress quantity?
Eric He: A ship is most secure in port, however that isn’t what ships are constructed for. In favorable markets, any platform can speak about progress. The actual take a look at comes when volatility rises and confidence is fragile: can the platform preserve working reliably, and may it preserve threat administration forward of quantity?
Over eleven years, what customers count on from an alternate has modified. Early on, the questions have been easy: Is the asset out there? Can I commerce it? In the present day, customers additionally ask whether or not liquidity is actual, whether or not listings are dealt with with self-discipline, how their property are protected, and whether or not the platform helps them navigate a extra sophisticated market.
That’s the reason we now have saved evolving our product and infrastructure somewhat than treating an anniversary as a static milestone. This yr, LBank surpassed 30 million registered customers globally. To me, that isn’t a end line. It represents 30 million particular person selections throughout areas, languages, ranges of expertise, and threat appetites. The quantity that issues most is whether or not they select to stick with LBank by means of the subsequent market cycle.
Q. Competitors amongst exchanges is shifting past who lists property quickest towards who can help extra buying and selling use circumstances. What function ought to LBank play on this subsequent section?
Eric He: Aristotle wrote that excellence shouldn’t be an act, however a behavior. An alternate shouldn’t be only a web page that brings consumers and sellers collectively. Throughout asset discovery, commerce execution, and threat choices, it ought to assist customers construct higher buying and selling habits over time.
The alternate was once primarily a gateway. Going ahead, it must be extra like disciplined buying and selling infrastructure: conscious of crypto-native alternatives, whereas giving customers higher liquidity, higher instruments, and clearer threat context. For LBank, meaning advancing three issues directly: staying near rising crypto narratives, increasing entry to property linked to the actual financial system, and persevering with to enhance threat controls and buying and selling expertise.
We don’t imagine extra options mechanically create extra worth. The target is to present customers a coherent path. They might start with property they already perceive, then—as soon as they perceive the principles and dangers—entry tokenized U.S. equities, stablecoin-related merchandise, or different eligible asset lessons. The measure of success shouldn’t be whether or not a characteristic exists, however whether or not customers genuinely use it.
Q. On the 11-year milestone, what achievements finest characterize the place LBank is in the present day? Which metrics would you like the market to concentrate to?
Eric He: Essentially the most significant achievements aren’t remoted peaks. They’re a set of indicators displaying that customers proceed to decide on the platform and that the platform itself is turning into extra succesful.
This yr, LBank reached 30 million registered customers and $23.81 billion in day by day buying and selling quantity. In 2026, spot buying and selling quantity reached $16 billion, whereas whole buying and selling quantity reached $23.81 billion. Extra importantly, progress shouldn’t be coming from one market alone. Our month-to-month TradFi buying and selling quantity reached $3 billion, whereas LBank ranked first for stock-market depth within the related market knowledge. LBank Inventory market share peaked at 27.32%, and U.S. inventory spot market share was reported at a 340% premium to the top-10 common.
The product knowledge issues, too. Copy buying and selling has reached $15 billion in capital, LBank Money has processed greater than 10 million transactions, and BK Genie has served greater than 1.5 million merchants. We’ve allotted $70 million in whole rewards, with $15 million in cumulative Earn subscriptions and $55 million distributed by means of Token Splash and airdrops. Sixteen listed property have delivered positive aspects of greater than 100x.
None of those figures is a worth judgment by itself. Collectively, they need to reply a extra helpful query: Is progress rooted in actual buying and selling demand, sturdy liquidity, and merchandise that individuals really use—not merely short-term incentives?
Q. As tokenized U.S. equities develop into a brand new battleground for exchanges, what’s LBank’s core aggressive benefit on this market?
Eric He: Partnerships and distribution can create a market entry level rapidly. However long-term competitiveness is determined by whether or not customers can execute high-quality trades as soon as they arrive. We don’t see tokenized equities as one other class to fill on a product shelf. We see them as an improve to what an alternate can provide: a path between crypto and conventional property that may function across the clock, with actual liquidity and clear threat boundaries.
LBank’s first benefit is execution high quality. It isn’t sufficient for an asset to be technically tradable. In a BeInCrypto market-depth report, LBank ranked first for U.S. inventory spot buying and selling depth. For HOOD-related pairs, HOODON order-book depth was 4.42 occasions that of Gate, HOODX was 2.23 occasions Gate’s, and HOODB depth was 22.8% increased than Binance’s. That issues as a result of it reveals customers can do greater than see tokenized equities listed; they’ll commerce them in a market with deeper, extra actionable liquidity.
The second benefit is how these property connect with the remainder of the platform. By initiatives involving xStocks, Ondo Finance, and bStocks, we’re increasing the vary of property customers can entry. However we’re equally targeted on what follows: efficient value discovery, a transparent understanding of asset construction, and continuity throughout market hours. Tokenized equities ought to join with crypto-native liquidity, buying and selling instruments, and schooling—not sit in an remoted tab.
Our month-to-month TradFi quantity has reached $3 billion, which alerts actual demand for around-the-clock, cross-market entry. However this market have to be constructed on transparency, regional availability, asset mapping, liquidity, and clear threat disclosures. Customers ought to perceive precisely what they’re buying and selling, in addition to the rights and dangers concerned.
Q. LBank has partnered with a number of IPs lately, most notably Pudgy Penguins. Decrypt has additionally described LBank as a extra youth-oriented alternate. What’s the strategic logic behind this IP strategy, and what does “youth-oriented” really imply to you?
Eric He: Being youth-oriented shouldn’t be about utilizing brighter colours or repackaging FOMO. It’s about understanding how a brand new technology discovers property, varieties id, participates in communities, and is smart of complicated monetary concepts.
Crypto has by no means been only a value chart. For youthful, culturally fluent customers, a neighborhood, a personality, or a shared language may be the entry level to a brand new narrative. That’s the context for our partnership with Pudgy Penguins. It isn’t a easy emblem collaboration. Pudgy Penguins is a cultural asset that Web3-native communities already perceive. The collaboration helps make one thing summary—liquidity—extra tangible. Liquidity shouldn’t be solely a quantity on an order e-book; it may be understood, shared, and linked to a collective reminiscence.
However tradition shouldn’t be an alternative to product. IP can decrease the barrier to consideration and participation. The alternate nonetheless has to ship liquidity, product high quality, threat disclosures, and dependable asset safety. We wish youthful customers to enter LBank with their very own pursuits and method of expressing themselves, somewhat than asking them to suit a standardized dealer profile. That’s the actual that means of this yr’s anniversary theme, “Come As You Are”: protect particular person distinction whereas offering each person with clear selections and the identical baseline of safety.
Q. AI is now not a standalone sector—it’s turning into a structural pressure throughout markets. With corporations similar to Anthropic and OpenAI extensively seen as potential IPO candidates, capital markets, know-how narratives, and crypto are converging. How may this reshape asset provide, person decision-making, and threat administration for exchanges? How is LBank making ready?
Eric He: AI has moved past being one other market theme. It’s altering productiveness, capital allocation, and the way data is distributed on the similar time. If main AI corporations ultimately attain public markets by means of IPOs or different routes, customers won’t solely be taking a look at an AI-themed token. They are going to be attempting to know completely different dangers and alternatives generated by the identical know-how cycle throughout public equities, tokenized property, and crypto-native networks.
That modifications three capabilities an alternate wants. First, asset provide: exchanges must help credible AI-related crypto property and, the place rules permit, present paths to tokenized know-how publicity. However “AI” can’t develop into an excuse to decrease itemizing requirements. Second, person decision-making: when narratives journey quicker than analysis, platforms ought to assist customers separate technological worth, commercialization progress, liquidity, and pure sentiment somewhat than amplify the noise. Third, threat administration: AI can enhance risk detection, anomaly monitoring, anti-phishing efforts, and market surveillance. But AI-driven automation also can enlarge errors, manipulation, and data asymmetry if governance doesn’t preserve tempo.
For LBank, the work runs on two tracks. Externally, we’re following the asset and cross-market buying and selling demand created by the AI cycle, together with broader know-how publicity the place merchandise can be found in compliant jurisdictions. Internally, we’re making use of AI to market intelligence, product help, and threat identification—notably to establish uncommon fund flows, account habits, and rising assault alerts extra rapidly.
The boundary is evident: AI could make data extra out there, however it can’t make funding choices for customers. It might probably speed up threat response, however it can’t change clear guidelines, human evaluation, and accountability. The system price constructing shouldn’t be an “AI dealer” that bets for customers, however one which helps them see extra clearly, commerce with extra self-discipline, and shield their property extra successfully.
Q. After alternate failures, asset misappropriation, and more and more subtle assaults, what particular steps is LBank taking to strengthen safety?
Eric He: Safety can’t be decreased to “belief us.” It’s a system that has to work below strain. The business has realized that an alternate can solely present liquidity, execution, and international entry when asset safety and threat governance are credible first.
At LBank, safety is a platform-wide accountability, not a single crew’s activity. On the infrastructure layer, we proceed to strengthen cold- and hot-wallet segregation, multi-layer authorization, abnormal-behavior monitoring, real-time threat alerts, and incident-response mechanisms. On the person aspect, the aim is to make safety extra seen at important threat moments with out creating pointless friction in odd use.
This yr, we additionally launched the Crypto Resilience Initiative, with CertiK and SlowMist taking part. The initiative shouldn’t be about including a one-off scan or borrowing credibility from a 3rd celebration. It’s about shifting safety from post-incident response towards long-term resilience by means of steady monitoring, shared risk intelligence, incident-response workouts, and person safety schooling. The target is to enhance each prevention and restoration when new assault strategies or excessive market circumstances emerge.
AI is a crucial layer in that effort. We’re strengthening AI-assisted threat identification and behavioral evaluation to detect suspicious fund flows, account anomalies, phishing exercise, and assault alerts earlier. However AI shouldn’t be a magic phrase that may change governance. It has to work alongside human safety groups, outlined response processes, and out of doors experience. We don’t promise “absolute safety.” We’re constructing defenses that may preserve evolving and may be examined.
Q. How do you see the market growing from right here? After rallies and pullbacks, why do you stay constructive on crypto?
Eric He: I’d not body short-term value strikes as a certainty. Crypto will stay unstable. Macro liquidity, charge expectations, regulation, know-how cycles, and market sentiment can all change costs rapidly. But when the query is whether or not I stay constructive on crypto’s long-term path, the reply is sure. I’m, at coronary heart, a crypto believer.
That conviction shouldn’t be based mostly on the concept costs solely transfer increased. It comes from the truth that infrastructure and actual demand are deepening on the similar time. Stablecoins are altering cross-border settlement and onchain capital effectivity. Tokenized property are making extra real-world worth accessible in versatile methods. AI is creating new productiveness and data-coordination use circumstances. And the demand for always-on, cross-border, verifiable monetary companies has not disappeared.
Each pullback removes some hypothesis, however it additionally forces the business to construct stronger merchandise, higher compliance practices, and extra resilient safety. I see market cycles as stress exams, not exams of perception. The market can rise or fall within the brief time period; the longer-term path will rely on whether or not the business can flip technical benefits into actual, credible, and sturdy person worth. LBank’s function is to not name each turning level. It’s to supply liquidity, instruments, threat administration, and entry to rising asset lessons by means of each cycle.
Q. What behavioral recommendation would you provide merchants within the present market?
Eric He: I’d somewhat speak about self-discipline than particular tokens or entry factors. Crypto rewards sustained studying, however it punishes individuals who deal with emotion as a method.
First, perceive the asset and the product you might be buying and selling—particularly extra complicated merchandise similar to leverage, perpetual futures, and tokenized property. Second, outline what you may afford to lose earlier than deciding your place dimension, not the opposite method round. Third, don’t let social-media momentum change analysis. A development generally is a helpful sign to research, however it shouldn’t develop into your conclusion. Lastly, set a time horizon and an exit situation earlier than volatility forces you to rewrite your personal guidelines.
I stay bullish on the business, however believing in an business shouldn’t be the identical as believing in each commerce. A mature dealer shouldn’t be somebody who captures each rally. It’s somebody who can nonetheless be within the recreation when they’re improper. The platform’s function is to supply clear data, adequate liquidity, clear threat disclosures, and dependable instruments. Every funding choice ought to stay unbiased and acceptable to the person’s personal circumstances; the place wanted, customers ought to seek the advice of a licensed skilled.
Q. In your anniversary letter, you outlined 4 coordinates for the longer term: globalization, safety, user-centricity, and a “super-ecosystem.” Why these 4?
Eric He: I’m cautious about end-state predictions. In an business that’s frequently repriced, saying “I don’t know” shouldn’t be a scarcity of path. It means we don’t confuse creativeness with certainty. That’s precisely why we want coordinates that don’t shift with each short-term narrative.
First, globalization. Actual globalization shouldn’t be translating the identical press launch into twenty languages. It signifies that a person in a small Latin American city or on a avenue nook in Southeast Asia can entry the identical baseline of belief and liquidity.
Second, safety. It isn’t a line in a whitepaper. It’s a disciplined respect for threat. On this market, threat administration should at all times transfer quicker than greed.
Third, user-centricity. Complexity ought to keep inside our techniques, whereas the person receives a less complicated, smoother expertise and extra tangible safety.
Lastly, what we name the super-ecosystem: connecting the asset flows of conventional finance, the uncooked vitality of crypto, and the neighborhood worth of IP so that they reinforce one another somewhat than sit in silos. These 4 coordinates don’t assure that each short-term name shall be proper. They assist us preserve our path when the tide goes out.
Q. Eleven years from now, how would you want customers to explain LBank?
Eric He: We don’t want customers to recollect LBank solely as a result of it listed a selected sizzling asset or ran a single marketing campaign. We wish them to think about LBank after they enter a fast-moving market and wish alternative, helpful instruments, and a platform that respects threat.
If customers come to see LBank as a spot that understands crypto-native tradition, brings a wider world of property into a transparent buying and selling expertise, and may be trusted when it issues, then the final eleven years can have meant one thing. An anniversary shouldn’t be the end line. It’s the subsequent web page within the work of proving that.
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