Crypto Exchanges are Building Financial Super Apps for the Next Billion Users

The crypto exchange model is entering a new phase, as leading venues evolve from trading platforms into integrated financial ecosystems spanning trading, yield, payments, custody, and collateral. Built on digital-asset rails and onchain settlement, this shift reflects rising user demand for platforms that do more than match buyers and sellers. As liquidity feeds yield products, balances move through wallets and cards, and institutional collateral rails connect back to the same markets, competition is increasingly defined by how effectively each layer reinforces the next.

This report uses a four-layer framework to examine how the model is developing across the industry, where integration is most advanced, and how exchanges are becoming broader financial platforms.

Part 1: Trading: Spot and Derivatives Dominance

Part 2: Earn: Staking and Yield

Part 3: The Spend and Self-Custody Layer

Part 4: Tokenization and Institutional Collateral

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