A little over a decade ago, Bitcoin was just a niche experiment that few people knew about. Today, Crypto has become an industry that traditional finance and the global community can no longer ignore. These past ten years feel like a lifetime ago. Now, the founders of two crypto exchanges, CZ @cz_binance and Han Lin @han_gate, have been invited to speak at the Oxford Union in the UK. CZ will speak on November 3, and Han Lin on November 12—just nine days apart. CZ’s topic hasn’t been announced yet, but Han Lin will focus on how cryptocurrencies are entering mainstream finance, Gate’s business strategy, and the future of money. I checked the official website, and their bios are pretty interesting. CZ: Highlights include the U.S. Department of Justice settlement, time served, and a presidential pardon. Han Lin: Focuses on Gate’s global user base of over 61 million. This venue is definitely prestigious—founded in 1823, with over 200 years of history. Several U.S. presidents, Einstein, and Hawking have all spoken here. The crypto world has really made a name for itself. Back in the day, when people talked about crypto, the first things that came to mind were trading, speculation, scams, and wild price swings. Who would’ve thought that a decade later, BTC and ETH spot ETFs would be listed, and stablecoins, RWA, and TradFi would become hot topics in the industry? From being misunderstood to now becoming stock market traders ourselves. Exchanges are redefining themselves. At the recent Token2049 in Singapore, I spoke with several exchange executives and founders. One clear takeaway is that everyone is looking for new growth opportunities. RWA and TradFi are key focus areas. The boundaries of what exchanges do are becoming increasingly blurred. In the future, competition among exchanges may no longer be about who has the highest trading volume but about who can truly bridge Crypto and traditional finance. I have a strong feeling that more and more traditional finance professionals will enter the Crypto space, and the integration of the two industries will only deepen. In the past, many opportunities in crypto came from information asymmetry—getting in early and being willing to take risks could lead to profits. In the future, opportunities won’t decrease, but the bar for making money might get higher and higher.