KuCoin's Nine-Year Evolution Reflects Shift from Trading to Trusted Infrastructure

The digital asset industry is shifting from trading to trusted infrastructure, and KuCoin's nine-year evolution reflects this transformation. According to CoinGecko Research, KuCoin has expanded beyond transaction execution, particularly across payments and broader crypto utility.

During the first half of 2026, KuCoin's off-chain payment volume increased by 300%, payment orders grew approximately 25-fold, and its network of service partners and merchants expanded by 60%. On-chain payment activity also recorded rapid growth, reflecting increasing demand for practical digital asset use cases beyond trading.

CoinGecko Research identifies three key trends shaping KuCoin's market activity during H1 2026: resilient derivatives participation, broader trading interest, and continued expansion into tokenized markets. Derivatives activity remained comparatively resilient despite a more cautious market environment, with average daily trading volumes of $1.99 billion in spot markets and $3.07 billion in perpetual futures.

The report also points to tokenized markets as an important area of product evolution, with 61% of newly launched perpetual contracts on KuCoin being tokenized stocks or equity indices. This reflects growing demand for round-the-clock access to traditional market themes through crypto-native infrastructure.