Bybit's expansion into "stocks + options" is not an isolated action but a continuation of the "de-crypto" wave for crypto exchanges in 2025-2026: Bitget will launch US stock token trading in 2025, OKX will introduce stock options in 2026, and KuCoin will launch "stock tokens + index futures" in 2025. This reflects the survival strategy of crypto exchanges after the "crypto winter": shifting from "pure crypto" to "all assets."

Similar cases can be compared to FTX's ambition for a "full asset platform" in 2023—offering trading across all categories including US stocks, commodities, crypto, NFTs, etc., but collapsed due to risk management failures; Bybit opts for a "gradual expansion": options in 2021 → stocks in 2026 → potential future expansion into commodities/forex, forming a robust path of "product diversification + risk isolation."

On the capital path, Bybit chooses a "liquidity-first + combined margin" dual-track strategy: the options market provides deep liquidity, reducing slippage and bid-ask spreads, while combined margin allows users to share margin across product lines (spot, futures, options, stocks), enhancing capital efficiency, similar to Deribit's "options + futures" combined margin model in the 2020s.

Essentially, this belongs to the "exchange paradigm shift" within the reconstruction of the industrial chain: moving from "crypto-specific" to "universal all-assets." The mechanistic reason is that the decline in volatility in the crypto market (with BTC's annualized volatility dropping below 40% in 2025-2026) makes "pure crypto" insufficient to support growth, compelling exchanges to expand into "traditional assets" to acquire new users and trading volume.

ABAB News · Law of Cognition

The ultimate fate of crypto exchanges: not crypto, but all assets
Liquidity is not a function, but a moat
When volatility decreases, exchanges must seek new battlefields