Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Golem (@web 3_golem)

Recently, narratives around AI, robots, and other technologies continue to surge, while the crypto industry appears restrained and reserved. Beyond the noise, the market may be waiting for new structural variables.

Odaily Planet Daily had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Han, founder and CEO of Gate. A systematic dialogue unfolded around topics such as the current state of the crypto market, stock tokenization, RWA, Gate's compliance landscape, and future developments. As a frontline entrepreneur who has been deeply involved in the industry since 2013, Dr. Han provided unique insights ranging from cycle judgment, product evolution to global compliance layout.

To present clearly, Odaily Planet Daily has summarized the interview question and answer as follows, enjoy~

All in Web3 and Intelligent Web3

Odaily Planet Daily: In 2025, Bitcoin's annual increase fell behind major assets such as gold and silver; at the same time, technology industries such as AI and robots are gaining attention from capital and the market, with fresh events happening every day. In contrast, the crypto industry feels like innovation has slowed down. How do you perceive the phenomenon of "a lively outside world, but a quiet crypto industry"?

Dr. Han: The past year has seen gold in a bull market cycle, repeatedly hitting new highs, while the crypto space has been relatively in a bear market cycle. However, every industry has its cyclical nature, and I believe this is quite normal. The crypto sector should not overly despair because of it.

The excitement in the tech field is still mainly centered around AI. The boom in AI has driven many industries like energy, chips, software, and even communication bandwidth and infrastructure construction. On the surface, it appears that everyone is chasing AI, and the crypto industry has become deserted, but in fact, the development of AI is not a bad thing for the crypto industry; it will be quite helpful.

Odaily Planet Daily: So, how is Gate integrating its business domain with AI?

Dr. Han: For us, it mainly has two aspects. One aspect is that AI can help us provide services externally faster, including frontend development, design, etc., much of which is now aided by AI, enhancing the company's efficiency significantly. Although there are still many core logics at the backend that require human intervention, I believe these will also be replaced soon.

This is from the perspective of helping our company. Another aspect is assisting users, for example in customer service systems where AI can handle users' diverse inquiries very effectively, providing good answers and even helping users calculate positions with exceptionally high efficiency.

Now, AI's role is not limited to customer service; we can also see its shadow at the product level. Perhaps in the next step, we might even not need product interfaces anymore, just an AI dialogue box where all questions are resolved by AI.

Odaily Planet Daily: Gate proposed the "All in Web3" strategic development framework in 2025. What achievements have been made based on this strategy?

Dr. Han: We proposed the "All in Web3" strategy last year, mainly based on observations of user behavior trends: more and more users are migrating from centralized trading platforms to the Web3 space.

However, we have actually been planning Web3-related business since 2020. But when promoting Web3 at that time, we found that users still struggled to genuinely integrate with and use decentralized platforms. Many users quickly exited after participating in mining, failing to form a real user base. Furthermore, the underlying infrastructure was not yet mature, limiting enhancements to the user experience.

Until last year, we reassessed the market environment and found that Web3 infrastructure had become relatively mature. The experience of Web3 wallets in asset protection, mnemonic backup mechanisms, etc., has significantly improved, and on-chain liquidity has become increasingly abundant, with more diverse asset types in the ecosystem. Therefore, we believed it was the right time to re-advocate for Web3 platforms.

The biggest achievement Gate has made in the past year is building a friendly and user-friendly Web3 infrastructure for users, with Gate Wallet being an important manifestation of this achievement.

Odaily Planet Daily: Can you elaborate on the Intelligent Web3 concept previously proposed by Gate? How can ordinary users understand Intelligent Web3?

Dr. Han: We proposed the concept of "Intelligent Web3" primarily based on a significant change in the current industry.

The entire crypto industry is currently in a phase of information explosion, with countless new tokens and products emerging daily. New users find it challenging to understand each project, and even experienced users can feel overwhelmed by the massive amount of information. For example, trading Memecoin in Web3, there may be thousands of new tokens created each day, along with tracking Twitter discussions, analyzing popularity, observing holding data, etc., which is practically impossible to manage manually.

Thus, we considered that AI could help users address this issue. Intelligent Web3 means allowing AI agents to handle complex transactions on the blockchain for users—users inform AI what they want to do using natural language, and AI will understand and execute various strategies and intentions of the users.

While it sounds simple, implementing it is far more complicated than imagined. The most challenging aspect is trust authorization. AI acts as the users' agent, but there is no inherent trust relationship between AI and the user. Thus, it's crucial to ensure that entrusting assets to AI for handling does not result in unwarranted asset damage, necessitating a complete set of supporting protocols.

The core logic of Intelligent Web3 is that users need to confirm the intentions expressed to AI through a signature, but the authorization needs to have clear limits on its scope, and after AI completes tasks, there must be a verification mechanism to ensure the trustworthiness of the execution results.

Observations on the Crypto Industry in 2026

Odaily Planet Daily: The prediction market is one of the few sectors in the crypto industry that is "capital-friendly + breaking out" from 2025 to 2026. What is your view on the booming prediction market?

Dr. Han: The prediction market has been developing significantly in the past two years; it can price a large number of uncertain events and predict the likelihood of certain outcomes. Additionally, its settlement efficiency is very high, which further incentivizes more people to participate. I believe the prediction market is not a zero-sum game and should not be equated with the gambling industry. It has great positive value to society; for uncertain future events, if we use the prediction market to know the probabilities of various outcomes in advance, we can prepare for them more effectively.

Odaily Planet Daily: So, what sub-sectors and directions in the crypto field do you think are worth paying attention to in 2026?

Dr. Han: The first is payment; this sector has also grown rapidly over the past year because blockchain can indeed solve the pain points of the traditional payment industry, such as transfer costs and time, so based on these advantages, the scale of crypto payments will continue to grow. The second is RWA; currently, traditional assets such as gold, crude oil, and U.S. stocks are entering the crypto industry through tokenization. The crypto sphere does not reject quality assets, and once the RWA trading channels are opened, many investors will come to participate in trading. The third is DEX, and our data shows that an increasing number of users prefer to trade using DEX instead of centralized exchanges. Therefore, this direction will also be a focus for Gate moving forward.

Creating a "Two-way Integration" Ecosystem of TradFi and Crypto Business

Odaily Planet Daily: Traditional exchanges like the NYSE and NASDAQ have announced their plans to launch stock tokenization and crypto token trading. Will they eat into the business of crypto exchanges in the future? How will Gate respond to such competitive impacts?

Dr. Han: I do not think there will be an impact; instead, this is the best promotion for the crypto industry. Once they bridge traditional finance and the crypto industry, it will bring more users to us. For example, when the Bitcoin spot ETF was approved, the market believed that users would prefer to buy ETFs rather than trade actual Bitcoin at exchanges, but clearly, this did not happen, as exchange trading volumes have still been growing in recent years.

As for stock tokenization, it will not bring much incremental user growth for traditional exchanges like NYSE and NASDAQ, but once this channel opens, we will have the opportunity to expand this trading variety, allowing crypto users better trading access to traditional assets, which is a significant benefit for us.

We also hope to introduce tokenized stocks into the crypto market. Currently, in the crypto market, Bitcoin drives the altcoin market to rise and fall together. Therefore, when market conditions are poor, there is no enthusiasm for trading—and no options. However, once tokenized gold and stocks enter the crypto market, it will provide users with more asset allocation choices.

Odaily Planet Daily: Gate is also developing TradFi business. How does Gate position this business? Is it intended to form a synergy with the core crypto business, creating a "two-way integration" ecosystem to transform into a more comprehensive moat for itself? How has its performance been so far?

Dr. Han: When pursuing TradFi, our idea is quite simple—we do not aim to compete with traditional finance for resources, but rather hope to integrate it with our crypto business, forming a mutually supportive ecosystem. For us, the TradFi business is an extension and a supplement; it helps us establish better connections with traditional finance, while also allowing crypto users to access more traditional financial tools. Through this two-way integration, we hope to gradually eliminate the gap between traditional and crypto finance.

We officially launched our TradFi business in mid-January this year, and now just over a month later, the total trading volume has surpassed 9.5 billion USD. Currently, the platform supports 144 categories of trading, covering metals, stocks, indices, foreign exchange, commodities, and more. Honestly, this growth rate has exceeded our expectations, indicating that users indeed demand more diversified investment portfolios.

Challenges Faced by Gate

Odaily Planet Daily: In 2025, Gate experienced rapid growth in both spot and contract trading, with users exceeding 50 million. In this fast-paced growth, what challenges have you and your team encountered?

Dr. Han: In my view, the biggest challenge we currently face is the transition and adaptation of employee work modes. Gate has always adopted a completely online work model, which brings significant flexibility advantages: talent recruitment is not geographically limited, and management is no longer constrained by fixed time and space, allowing employees to arrange work according to their own pace.

However, online work also places new demands on both organizations and individuals. A reality is that not everyone can quickly adapt to this highly autonomous work style. New employees often require time to integrate and transition from traditional office modes to remote collaboration concepts. Accordingly, the company needs to explore management systems suited to this new type of organization.

In the current social context, enterprises need individuals who are more independent and self-managing. This trend is observed not only in the blockchain industry but is also prominent in the AI field. As AI technology evolves, many repetitive and process-driven jobs are gradually being replaced, and human value will increasingly be reflected in proactive thinking and independent planning.

We are in this critical phase of organizational transformation, and how to help teams adapt to these changes and build a more efficient remote collaboration culture is a challenge we will continuously face in the future.

Odaily Planet Daily: Last year, Gate faced widespread discussion due to personnel adjustments. What are your thoughts and ideas on internal management?

Dr. Han: From our perspective, this is a normal internal personnel adjustment, but due to information asymmetry, there has been some overinterpretation.

In recent years, Gate's staff has continually increased, thanks to a favorable overall market environment and the rapid development of Gate's business. As the platform's user base grows, so do the demand and requirements for both product experience and service response; we must accelerate our pace to meet these user needs. Hence, teams like marketing, BD, and branding have essentially maintained highly efficient operational states.

Fast-paced operations, like those in crypto exchanges, are not uncommon in the financial industry. The work pace on Wall Street and at major brokerage firms around the world is similar. The blockchain industry essentially still falls under the financial industry, making it difficult to achieve a slow pace like some physical industries.

Moreover, AI is reconstructing the entire enterprise production function, improving overall efficiency. From Block to Musk's companies and traditional tech giants, the essence of the layoff wave is that: one person + AI is replacing the work efficiency of 5–10 people in the past. This represents an irreversible industrial upgrade, not just cyclical fluctuations.

Odaily Planet Daily: In 2025, Gate launched 447 tokens in the spot market, of which 318 were launched for the first time in the network. Is the number of tokens being launched too high and too frequent?

Dr. Han: Gate has been proactive about launching tokens since 2013. Back then, we not only had Bitcoin but also launched Litecoin and DOGE for the first time, with DOGE accounting for 90% of trading volume on Gate at the time. As we entered the Ethereum ICO era, discussions on what tokens exchanges should launch became more serious, but Gate has always remained open. Today, looking at the actions of all exchanges, the trend of openness is unstoppable; Gate just recognized it a few decades earlier.

Centralized exchanges are essentially just tools for user trading, functionally indistinguishable from decentralized exchanges. DEXs are quite open and even have no specific standards for token listings, and centralized exchanges should also adapt to this trend. What we need to do is provide users with protections and tools, such as through data analysis and contract checks to identify specific tokens, but we cannot decide what tokens users should trade; we must respect DYOR.

Odaily Planet Daily: In 2025, Gate is vigorously developing content squares, while other exchanges are also focusing on social features, such as Binance Square, OKX Planet, etc. Why are exchanges starting to develop social functions? Will this become the next major battlefield for exchanges?

Dr. Han: Gate started social functions very early, launching a chat feature in 2013, which I developed. Trading generates a desire to share; regardless of gains or losses, investors want to communicate with each other. To help users better exchange ideas and information, we also launched content squares and Gate Live. Several competitors have indeed been engaged in this, and social features are indeed an important segment. However, for exchanges, it's not a core business, just a channel for investors to synchronize information and communicate.

Gate's Compliance Progress and Future Plans

Odaily Planet Daily: Compliance has always been a top priority for exchange development. What achievements has Gate made in compliance construction in 2025? What plans are there for 2026?

Dr. Han: Gate began advancing the compliance process in 2018, submitting a compliance license application in Malta that year. By 2022, Gate obtained compliance custody and trading licenses from Malta, and since then, we have been promoting compliance processes globally. Indeed, 2025 has been our year of obtaining the most compliance licenses; we have already acquired compliance licenses in 35 states in the U.S., covering 46 jurisdictions, enabling us to provide legal services in most areas of the U.S. In Europe, we can operate legally in over 20 countries; we also have acquired compliance licenses in regions like Australia and Japan.

After seven to eight years of effort, Gate can now conduct business in most compliant areas worldwide. Next, we will also focus on emerging areas; if new opportunities arise, we will actively pursue them. Additionally, we are exploring new domains, and besides licenses for blockchain custody and trading, we will also strive to acquire more compliance licenses in payment and derivatives.

Odaily Planet Daily: Previously in December, you mentioned in an interview that Gate has a "vision" for going public. What are the specifics of this plan?

Dr. Han: Going public is a long-term plan for Gate, and the compliance processes we have promoted globally over these years also facilitate this plan. On one hand, compliance deepens users' trust in the platform; on the other, it positively impacts Gate's valuation. Our overall strategy is to establish relatively independent entities in various global locations and gradually achieve public listing in each region.

Conclusion

Recently, "raising lobsters" has become a buzzword sweeping the tech circle, referring to the process of users deploying and training the open-source AI agent OpenClaw—named for its icon that resembles a red lobster.

Just two weeks after the interview, Gate launched the AI Agent platform GateClaw (Gate Blue Lobster). This AI assistant, tailored for the crypto scene, is built on the OpenClaw framework but does not require users to buy hardware or deploy maintenance; it can be used right away. Users can check market prices, find functions, and integrate information with it, and it is currently free to access.

Looking back at our interview with Gate CEO Dr. Han two weeks ago, he stated: "In the future, perhaps even product interfaces will not be needed; all we need is an AI dialogue box to resolve all user questions." The launch of GateClaw (Gate Blue Lobster) is the first step in that direction. It eliminates the cost of users "raising lobsters," truly opening up the imaginative space of AI + Web3 to everyone.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。