Crypto exchanges are fond of eye-catching statistics. Few, however, stack them as high as Bitget’s 2025 scorecard. The world’s self-styled largest “Universal Exchange” clocked roughly $8.17tn in annual derivatives trading volume last year, placing it firmly among the top tier of centralised crypto venues.
Average monthly derivatives turnover of $680bn and daily trading volumes nearing $18bn by December suggest that activity remained buoyant even as markets oscillated between exuberance and caution.
Scale alone is not new in crypto. What stands out is the composition of Bitget’s growth. Institutional participation, long promised as crypto’s stabilising force, appears to have moved from slogan to substance.
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In spot markets, the share of institutional trading volume rose from 39 per cent at the start of the year to 82 per cent by December. Futures followed a similar trajectory, with institutional activity climbing from a negligible 3 per cent to 60 per cent over the same period. Deeper liquidity and tighter spreads tend to follow such shifts, a prerequisite if crypto platforms are to be taken seriously alongside traditional exchanges.
Bitget sustained its global user base
User numbers reinforce the sense of momentum. Bitget’s global user base remained above 120m throughout the year, a notable achievement in a sector where engagement often wanes during quieter market phases. Confidence was further buttressed by balance-sheet optics: a 100 per cent-plus proof-of-reserves framework and a protection fund that peaked at $741m in October. In an industry still haunted by the ghosts of failed exchanges, visible buffers matter.
Beyond vanilla crypto trading
Yet the more interesting story lies beyond vanilla crypto trading. Bitget spent much of 2025 pushing its “Universal Exchange” thesis, the idea that centralised crypto, decentralised finance and traditional financial instruments can coexist on a single platform. Its on-chain trading layer, launched in April, generated $2.4bn in cumulative volume by year-end. That is modest relative to its core derivatives business, but it signals intent.
Tokenised finance provided more convincing evidence. Trading in tokenised stock futures exceeded $17bn for the year, with US equities such as Apple, Tesla and Nvidia accounting for more than $5bn.
Successful launch of Bitget Tradfi
The launch of Bitget TradFi, which allows users to trade equities, commodities, indices and foreign exchange in USDT, quickly pushed daily volumes past $2bn. In December, Bitget captured 73 per cent of the market for tokenised equities issued by partner Ondo Finance, with $88m traded in a single week.
This convergence of crypto and traditional markets is not unique to Bitget, but the pace is notable. Users increasingly treat tokenised assets less as novelty wrappers and more as real-time trading instruments. If that behaviour persists, exchanges that can offer credible access to both worlds may enjoy a structural advantage.
Infrastructure investment underpins the strategy
Bitget’s AI assistant, GetAgent, surpassed half a million users and handled more than 2m interactions, offering portfolio insights and strategy suggestions across asset classes. Meanwhile, Bitget Wallet expanded into everyday payments, with card spending jumping 28-fold year on year across more than 50 markets. These are the sorts of ancillary services that help turn trading platforms into financial ecosystems.
Sceptics will note that crypto volumes remain cyclical and regulation uneven. Big numbers in a good year do not guarantee resilience in a bad one. Still, Bitget’s 2025 performance suggests a platform edging beyond pure speculation towards something closer to a multi-asset exchange.
For 2026, the task is less about growing faster than peers and more about growing up. If Bitget can scale responsibly while keeping institutions engaged and regulators at bay, its universal ambitions may look less like marketing and more like a blueprint. Some armchair traders may still raise an eyebrow, but the direction of travel is clear.
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