On December 8, OKX CEO Star was invited to attend Abu Dhabi Finance Week and delivered a keynote speech titled "Project 50% – How Economies Powered by Blockchain Level the Playing Field".
The full text of Star's speech (edited):
I am deeply honored to be invited to participate in Abu Dhabi Finance Week, a highly forward-looking global financial event. Today, I would like to share with you a concise yet bold judgment: the internet generation, which grew up with the internet, is creating a new on-chain economy; in the coming decades, approximately 50% of global economic activity will run on the blockchain. This is not a speculative prediction but an inevitable demand of the new generation for financial infrastructure that aligns with their lifestyle in an era of deep integration of digitalization, mobility, and artificial intelligence.
To understand this trend, let us look back at history and explore the paradigm shift in infrastructure that iterates every decade: the 1990s were the internet era, the 2000s were the mobile era, and the 2010s were the cloud computing era. Today, we are ushering in a grander new narrative—a programmable global financial infrastructure. This is the "financial internet" tailored for the internet generation, with the core vision of enabling value to flow instantly, globally, and 24/7, just like information. Blockchain technology is making this vision a reality.
Behind this transformation is the comprehensive upgrade of economic systems driven by the global digital population. The reason blockchain stands out lies in its ability to break through the limitations of legacy systems from the internet era: it builds a trustless, programmable storage infrastructure that supports round-the-clock instant global value transfer; it reduces systemic risks by continuously enhancing transparency and creates an open, interconnected network ecosystem, breaking the "silo effect" of traditional global finance. Throughout every technological iteration cycle, more open, transparent, and efficient systems ultimately prevail, and the new generation is always the first to embrace change. Today, this transformation is no longer a conceptual hype but has entered a phase of large-scale development and implementation: the settlement volume of stablecoins has surpassed Visa, on-chain asset scale is approaching $3 trillion, and the number of global cryptocurrency wallets has exceeded 500 million; meanwhile, regulatory agencies in countries such as the United States and Singapore are actively establishing corresponding regulatory frameworks to promote orderly industry development. The world is accelerating toward a unified global on-chain financial operating system, and the internet generation is the core driving force behind this process.
It is worth noting that the current on-chain financial infrastructure has matured and is capable of large-scale applications, meeting institutional-level demands and handling hundreds of millions of transactions, with security standards comparable to bank accounts. On the OKX platform, users can already experience the convenience brought by this technological innovation: we support the Apple ecosystem account system, provide gas-free premium services, and offer performance comparable to Web2 applications; at the same time, OKX has deployed numerous emerging blockchain networks, achieving millions of transactions per second processing capacity, and combined with on-chain identity authentication, on-chain analysis, and auditability features, we are setting new industry standards for transparency. It can be said that the maturity of technology, the improvement of compliance systems, and the readiness of the internet generation's demands are resonating in sync.
A clear signal has emerged: Bitcoin has become the "digital gold" for the internet generation. As the first mainstream crypto asset in history, it possesses core characteristics such as transparency, decentralization, and independence from the control of any single country, with its primary holders being people under the age of 40. This generation grew up in the era of globalized internet and mobile connectivity, and for them, digital value is far more meaningful than physical gold. Today, an increasing number of global financial institutions are incorporating Bitcoin into their balance sheets, rapidly transforming it from a marginal asset to a mainstream asset—this shift precisely indicates that the world is ready to embrace the programmable digital financial era.
Let us focus on currency itself: stablecoins are emerging as a new global payment channel, particularly favored by young users and emerging markets. The circulation of USD stablecoins has reached trillions within months, and regional stablecoins such as the Australian dollar and euro have also become mainstream financial tools. Through programmability, they enable real-time settlement and compliant transactions, gradually replacing traditional inefficient cross-border settlement models. For the internet generation, cross-temporal and cross-spatial fund transfers should be as instant and convenient as sending an email.
The impact of this transformation extends beyond the payment field, with its scale and depth breaking through the boundaries of traditional financial systems. Today, banks, sovereign wealth funds, and various asset management institutions are entering the on-chain ecosystem, and traditional assets such as funds and government bonds are gradually entering on-chain trading scenarios. These assets operate 24/7 on-chain, with liquidity and pricing transparency, while being equipped with robust compliance mechanisms. Thus, asset tokenization is no longer an experimental endeavor but is gradually becoming the default infrastructure of modern financial markets.
Looking ahead to the next decade, this is not only a decade of large-scale adoption of crypto assets but also a decade of generational migration in the global economic operating model. For the internet generation, currency, markets, and identity will all be on-chain, and all financial activities will be completed within a unified underlying system. When these elements are organically integrated, a complete internet-native economic architecture will officially take shape. Blockchain will become the true global financial internet, where everyone will have a universal on-chain identity and self-custody wallet, enabling autonomous control of funds and efficient cross-jurisdictional asset interactions, while兼具 real-time transparency and auditability. This global financial system, tailored for the fully online population, will lead the future not because it is "trendy" but because of its inherently superior systemic advantages.
Thank you.
