By Why Is Bitget Targeting Wall Street Partnerships?
Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget is in talks with several major financial institutions about expanding their digital asset reach across Asia, with BlackRock among the firms discussing potential distribution opportunities with the exchange.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said the company has been speaking with large Wall Street institutions to understand how their digital asset products could reach more investors in the region. She specifically pointed to BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, as one of the firms with which Bitget maintains close communication on Asian distribution.
“I’m talking to all the Wall Street giants to understand where they are coming from and how we could collaborate,” Chen said. “We have very close communication with BlackRock, for example, in terms of our distribution in the Asia market.”
BlackRock said its crypto exchange-traded products are already available in Asia and that it regularly engages with participants across the digital asset ecosystem. The firm declined to comment on specific expansion plans in the region.
The discussions point to a growing overlap between crypto exchanges and traditional asset managers. Rather than operating only as trading venues for digital tokens, exchanges with large user bases may increasingly act as distribution channels for tokenized funds, exchange-traded products and other investment products issued by established financial firms.
Why Does Asia Matter For Digital Asset Distribution?
Asia has become one of the fastest-growing regions for digital asset activity. Blockchain-based crypto transactions across the region increased 69% year over year as of June 2025, the highest growth rate among all regions, according to OECD data.
Bitget may offer asset managers direct access to a large share of that demand. The exchange has about 125 million registered users globally, with roughly half located in East and Southeast Asia, according to Chen.
The user base also appears increasingly comfortable holding traditional and digital assets in the same portfolio. Bitget’s first-quarter 2026 data showed that 52% of its users already held both crypto and traditional stocks.
That behavior could make crypto exchanges useful distribution partners for financial institutions seeking investors who no longer treat stocks, tokenized securities and cryptocurrencies as completely separate markets.
For asset managers, the attraction is not simply higher crypto trading activity. Asia also holds substantial household wealth that could move into regulated digital investment products as access improves.
Investor Takeaway
The bigger opportunity for crypto exchanges may be distribution rather than trading alone. If asset managers begin using exchanges to reach investors for tokenized funds and regulated crypto products, platforms with large Asian user bases could become part of traditional finance’s digital sales infrastructure.
How Large Could The Asian Opportunity Become?
BlackRock has been steadily increasing its digital asset activity while looking more closely at Asia. The firm manages about $15.3 trillion in client assets and has expanded its tokenized cash products through blockchain-based money market offerings.
During an industry conference in Hong Kong earlier this year, Nicholas Peach, head of BlackRock’s APAC iShares division, estimated that a 1% crypto allocation from Asian household wealth could generate close to $2 trillion in inflows. The calculation was based on roughly $108 trillion of household wealth across the region.
BlackRock also created a new digital assets role in Singapore in December, with responsibility for helping shape its Asian strategy and identifying early opportunities in the region.
The firm’s activity shows why exchanges such as Bitget may become more relevant to traditional institutions. Large asset managers can build regulated digital products, but they still need distribution networks capable of reaching investors already active in crypto markets.
Crypto exchanges provide established accounts, trading infrastructure and access to users who are already comfortable moving between digital assets and other investments. That could reduce the gap between product creation on Wall Street and adoption among retail and professional investors across Asia.
Can Crypto Exchanges Become Fund Distribution Platforms?
The relationship between traditional finance and crypto exchanges is already extending beyond simple trading access. Coinbase, for example, serves as custodian for the majority of BlackRock’s Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded products in the U.S., showing how crypto-native firms can provide infrastructure to some of the world’s largest asset managers.
Distribution could become another layer of that relationship. Tokenized ETFs, blockchain-based money market funds and similar products need venues where investors can discover, hold and trade them. Exchanges with large regional user bases could offer that access while traditional institutions supply regulated investment products.
For Bitget, such partnerships could diversify its business beyond crypto trading fees and strengthen its relevance as investors increasingly combine digital assets with stocks and other financial instruments.
For BlackRock and other asset managers, the benefit is access to investors that may be difficult to reach through conventional brokerage channels alone. The model could become particularly attractive in Asia, where crypto adoption is growing quickly and many users already hold traditional securities alongside digital assets.
The talks remain preliminary, and no specific distribution agreement has been announced. Still, the discussions show how the boundary between cryptocurrency exchanges and traditional investment platforms is becoming less distinct as both sides compete for the same pools of capital.