TLDR

  • Gate prioritized expanding infrastructure for both retail and institutional clients in 2025.
  • Gate rolled out its CrossEx platform to enhance multi-exchange trading for professional users.
  • The 2025 shift toward decentralized platforms did not leave out centralized exchanges like Gate.
  • Gate’s vault accounts in 2025 provide users with enhanced control and security over their assets.

The 2025 crypto market underwent a significant shift, with institutional players fueling most of the liquidity. Gate—one of the longest-standing centralized exchanges—leveraged this change by expanding its services and embracing new market trends. Dr. Han, Gate’s CEO and founder, discussed these shifts and the exchange’s future strategy, focusing on perpetual trading, the growth of CeDeFi, and the rising popularity of decentralized platforms.

A Shift from Retail to Institutional Capital

In prior bull cycles (such as 2021), retail traders were the main driver of growth. By 2025, however, large institutional investors—including asset managers and banks—had become more dominant. This change meant the crypto market was no longer powered by speculative retail traders. Institutional players, seeking dependable execution and system efficiency, are increasingly using professional trading tools.

Gate, which historically had a retail-focused interface, modified its infrastructure to serve this new group of traders. “Professional traders and institutional clients require a more specialized interface, such as an API,” Dr. Han explained. He noted that institutional clients value high-speed, low-latency connections and improved trading execution. In response, Gate launched its CrossEx platform in October 2025, designed to enhance cross-exchange trading and let users manage their capital and trades seamlessly.

CrossEx was built specifically for institutional and professional traders, who often have scattered balances across multiple exchanges. “We offer a unified interface that lets users deploy assets across platforms effortlessly,” Dr. Han stated. This innovation aimed to address the growing need among professional traders for greater efficiency and streamlined workflows.

The Rise of Decentralized Finance and CeDeFi

While institutional capital grew more prominent, retail activity stayed robust—especially in decentralized finance (DeFi). Dr. Han noted that decentralized platforms had increasingly attracted retail traders by offering quick access to new tokens and markets. This shift has led to a rising preference for decentralized platforms, particularly for trading meme coins and perpetual contracts.

As trading shifted to decentralized platforms, Gate also worked to bridge the gap between centralized and decentralized finance (CeDeFi). In 2025, the company expanded its offerings with Gate Layer—a Layer 2 network built on the Optimism Stack. This network is EVM-compatible and forms a core part of Gate’s on-chain strategy. Gate Layer supports decentralized apps like Gate Perp DEX (an on-chain perpetual trading platform) and Gate Fun (a zero-code token launchpad).

Dr. Han emphasized that Gate’s goal is to provide decentralized options without compromising the performance and security of centralized exchanges. “For Gate, we need to create a robust platform for both CEX and DEX users. They want decentralized access but with the reliability they’re accustomed to from CEXs,” he said. Gate’s approach was to let users interact with both ecosystems smoothly while maintaining access to top-tier execution speeds and efficiency.

Security and Transparency as a Core Focus

As security worries in the crypto market escalated following high-profile exchange hacks, Gate’s focus on trust and transparency grew even more crucial. In 2020, the exchange introduced proof of reserves—combining Merkle tree verification with zero-knowledge proofs—to assure users their assets were fully backed. Dr. Han pointed out that Gate was ahead of the trend in implementing this system. “We released the open-source code and collaborated with auditors to validate our system,” he noted.

Alongside proof of reserves, Gate launched vault accounts in 2025. These accounts use multi-party computation (MPC) technology to ensure assets can’t be moved without explicit user consent. This feature boosts security and gives users greater control over their assets. Vault accounts also include extra protections, like withdrawal time delays, which give users a window to act if unauthorized access is attempted.

Gate’s Vision for 2026

Looking ahead to 2026, Dr. Han shared Gate’s plans to simplify the user experience—especially as crypto trading tools become more complex. Gate aims to make accessing both CEX and DEX platforms easier by reducing friction. One potential improvement is integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the platform.

According to Dr. Han, AI could enable users to express their trading goals (like buying one Bitcoin) without needing to navigate complicated interfaces or grasp underlying technical details. “We find the best price and execute the task at the lowest cost,” he explained.

Gate’s 2026 strategy centers on ongoing innovation, ensuring the exchange can meet the needs of both retail and institutional traders while remaining a leader in the changing crypto market.