“Users No Longer Think About Their Financial Lives in Separate Boxes”: Bybit and Alpaca CEOs on the Convergence of Crypto and Equities

Bybit's move to offer U.S. equities through brokerage infrastructure provider Alpaca is the clearest illustration yet of a convergence both companies expect to accelerate, their chief executives said in a joint interview. Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou and Alpaca co-founder and CEO Yoshi Yokokawa argued that customers no longer organise their finances around the historical boundaries separating crypto, brokerage and banking.

Zhou said users increasingly hold bitcoin, use stablecoins for payments and invest in equities, but have had to spread those activities across separate platforms. Adding stocks lets eligible Bybit users buy supported U.S. stocks and ETFs using USDC and manage crypto and equity positions inside a single ecosystem. He described equities as a natural extension of Bybit's evolution from a crypto exchange into what the company calls The New Financial Platform — a venue for a wider range of products that already spans payments, cards and traditional markets.

Regulated plumbing behind the product

The arrangement rests on regulated infrastructure. Orders are routed through Infra Capital Limited, Bybit's introducing broker supervised by the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius, and executed by Alpaca, which also holds the underlying securities in custody. Zhou said entering U.S. equities is a different proposition from listing another trading product, and that licensing, compliance, custody and local regulatory relationships become more important as a platform widens its range.

Yokokawa said Alpaca's job is to absorb that complexity — execution, clearing, custody, middle- and back-office operations and APIs — into a single layer, so partners such as Bybit can concentrate on the customer experience. He compared financial infrastructure to a utility: users should not need to understand how it works, though they should always be able to see who executes their trades and who holds their assets. The opportunity, he added, is connecting the world's largest equity market with billions of people whose primary financial experience is already digital.

Both executives stressed that convergence at the customer level does not erase structural differences. Crypto trades around the clock and globally, while U.S. equities operate within fixed trading hours, settlement processes and corporate actions such as dividends and stock splits. Zhou framed the goal as making the experience simpler without simplifying away the rules governing each market.

Bybit is also investing in an intelligence layer, Bybit AI, intended to let users discover and interact with products conversationally rather than navigate menus. Looking five years ahead, Zhou predicted users will think in terms of financial goals rather than crypto, brokerage or bank accounts — but said trust, licences, security, local support, liquidity and technology will remain the foundation of any platform connecting them.