The changes in exchanges over the past two years are worth taking a good look at.

Wallets, wealth management products, Alpha services, strategy copy trading, plaza communities... you'll find that exchanges are doing more and more everything. Tasks that were once handled by third-party applications are now fully taken over by the exchanges themselves. This actually reflects a harsh reality: the growth potential for pure spot and futures trading has been squeezed to the limit.

Think back to the early days—how simple the logic was—users come in, place orders, and the exchange earns transaction fees. Back then, the market was still expanding rapidly, and there was no need to bother with so many tricks; increasing trading volume was the only goal.

But now things have changed. Behind diversification, it's more about defensive measures rather than grand strategies. Why? External competition is intensifying. Since the approval of crypto ETFs, many investors no longer need the exchange as an intermediary; they can directly buy exposure to crypto assets in traditional financial markets. Crypto exchanges are no longer the only entry point, and this fact itself is quite sobering.

Faced with this situation, exchanges are starting to fight back—bringing traditional assets like stocks, gold, and commodities into the fold to create a comprehensive asset trading platform. This isn't because they suddenly favor traditional finance, but because their original users are being eroded, forcing them to proactively expand their boundaries to seek new growth opportunities.

Essentially, this change means that exchanges are evolving from purely matching platforms into ecosystem-based financial service providers. There are gains and losses—user stickiness has increased, but it also means that the era of industry growth might truly be over.