MEXC and Payward, Kraken’s parent company, used a TOKEN2049 panel in Singapore to outline how cryptocurrency trading platforms could work more closely with traditional finance and with each other, as demand grows for markets that operate beyond conventional business hours. MEXC CEO Vugar Usi Zade and Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi described potential cooperation around infrastructure, market access and distribution, though neither executive detailed a formal agreement.
Their discussion centred on a practical challenge facing large trading platforms: users increasingly expect to move between assets, regions and trading products without encountering the separate schedules and settlement systems that still shape traditional markets. The executives argued that retail demand could accelerate efforts to bring crypto, tokenized products and conventional financial instruments into more connected trading environments.
Platforms target round-the-clock market access
Usi Zade said blockchain-based financial systems are putting pressure on older market structures designed around fixed trading sessions. Crypto markets already trade around the clock, while many stock, derivatives and banking systems remain limited by regional opening hours, settlement cycles and weekend closures.
He predicted that the next five years could produce “a convergence toward a singular platform,” where different asset classes can move “quickly and smoothly.” In that model, a user would not need to navigate separate accounts or wait for multiple intermediaries to transfer collateral between products.
Sethi approached the issue from an operational perspective. Continuous trading requires platforms to manage the movement of assets and collateral across connected systems, particularly when users trade products with different settlement rules or underlying markets that close at different times.
That infrastructure question may prove harder than simply extending trading hours. A platform offering uninterrupted access to several asset types would need to manage liquidity, margin requirements, custody arrangements and price movements when traditional reference markets are shut. Crypto venues have long operated through weekends, but linking those markets more directly with conventional finance introduces additional dependencies.
Partnership discussions focus on local reach
The executives also presented partnerships as a route to broader international access. Sethi said a platform aiming to serve a large global user base would need partners with established positions in their core markets, naming MEXC as an example during the panel.
Usi Zade said exchanges do not necessarily need to treat every expansion effort as a direct contest. Firms can combine different strengths, including technology, distribution networks, local market knowledge and product access, rather than trying to build every capability internally.
The comments point toward a commercial logic increasingly visible across financial markets: the cost and complexity of launching products across multiple jurisdictions can make partnerships more attractive than standalone expansion. In crypto, that calculation also includes custody systems, compliance operations, fiat payment connections and the engineering required to support high-volume trading.
MEXC and Payward have previously indicated they were considering broader collaboration, with infrastructure, market access and distribution among the areas under review. The TOKEN2049 discussion gave a clearer sense of the strategic rationale behind those talks, particularly the possibility of connecting users to a wider range of products and markets through partner networks.
Retail demand shapes the product roadmap
Retail participation featured prominently in Usi Zade’s description of where markets are heading. His argument rests on the expectation that individual traders will increasingly seek the same speed and availability across financial products that they already encounter in cryptocurrency trading.
That expectation creates pressure on platforms to simplify the user experience. For retail traders, moving funds between a crypto venue, a brokerage account and a bank can involve separate logins, transfer delays and different rules for trading access. A more integrated platform could reduce some of that friction, provided it can handle the operational and regulatory demands of multiple products.
The panel’s emphasis on retail also suggests that competition may increasingly turn on usability rather than the simple number of listed tokens or markets. Platforms that can offer straightforward access to different products while maintaining transparent pricing, reliable execution and robust asset controls would have a stronger case for attracting active users.
Trust and transparency remain central to integration
Both executives identified trust, access and transparency as foundations for closer connections between crypto markets and traditional finance. Those themes reflect the practical barriers facing any effort to combine products that developed under very different market structures.
Traditional finance relies heavily on established intermediaries, regulatory frameworks and standardized settlement processes. Crypto platforms have generally moved faster in product delivery and continuous trading, but their integration with conventional financial infrastructure depends on reliable controls around customer assets, collateral and transaction flows.
A connected market structure could give traders more flexibility in how they deploy capital across products. It could also make risk management more complex when rapid price movements occur outside normal banking or market hours. Platforms offering such access would need clear rules on collateral, liquidations and product availability, especially where crypto volatility interacts with assets tied to conventional markets.
The MEXC-Payward panel did not present a completed blueprint for a unified financial marketplace. It did show that major crypto platform executives are treating cross-platform links, continuous access and multi-asset distribution as commercial priorities rather than distant concepts.
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