- CoinGecko says KuCoin evolved from trading and asset discovery to trusted digital asset infrastructure in 9 years.
- The report suggests that security, transparency, regulatory readiness, and real-world utility will increasingly shape competition among exchanges.
- KuCoin Pay surged in H1 2026, with off-chain payment volume up 300% and orders up 25x.
Trading volume is no longer the sole measure of a crypto exchange’s competitiveness. As the industry matures, security, transparency, regulatory readiness, and real-world utility are becoming just as important. That is the central finding of a new report from CoinGecko Research, which looks back at KuCoin’s nine years in business and its performance in the first half of 2026.
Published alongside KuCoin’s ninth anniversary, the report traces the platform’s role in advancing the industry’s evolution, from broadening access to crypto to building an ecosystem spanning trading, payments, institutional-grade infrastructure, reserve transparency, and real-world utility. Through its independent research perspective, CoinGecko highlights how KuCoin has helped shape the industry’s move beyond token trading and discovery by supporting more trusted, accessible, and utility-driven digital asset infrastructure.
KuCoin says it now serves more than 45 million users in over 200 countries and regions, up from around 5 million users in its early years.
Payments Are Growing Fast
One of the report’s clearest signals is how much KuCoin’s expansion beyond trading is the growth of its payments ecosystem.
Off-chain payment volume, transactions processed outside the blockchain itself, similar to how a card network moves money, rose 300% in the first half of 2026.
The number of payment orders grew approximately 25-fold, and KuCoin’s network of service partners and merchants expanded by 60%. On-chain payment activity, meaning transactions settled directly on the blockchain, also expanded rapidly.
KuCoin Pay, the exchange’s payments solution arm, extended its reach through QR-code payment networks and local payment rails in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
KuCard, KuCoin’s crypto debit card, expanded into Australia through Mastercard’s global network. KuCoin also launched a limited-edition Tomorrowland KuCard as part of its role as Tomorrowland’s Official Exclusive Crypto Exchange and Crypto Payments Partner.
Together, these points to crypto utilities moving closer to everyday use rather than remaining an extension of trading activity.
Three Trends Defined H1 2026 Trading
CoinGecko Research highlights three trends in how people traded on KuCoin during the first half of 2026.
Derivatives held up well
Derivatives are contracts, such as futures, that let traders gain exposure to an asset’s price movements. KuCoin’s spot market, where assets are bought and sold for immediate delivery, averaged $1.99 billion in daily trading volume between January and June.
Its perpetual futures market, a type of derivative contract with no expiry date, averaged $3.07 billion a day. Weekday and weekend volumes in perpetuals differed by only 9.4%, which the report says points to consistent participation across a 24/7 market.
Trading became more spread out
Bitcoin and Ethereum’s combined share of trading among KuCoin’s top 18 spot pairs fell from 74.3% to 45.2% by the end of June. CoinGecko Research attributes this to traders rotating more quickly into altcoins and smaller cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin as new market narratives emerged. The report notes this pattern of fast rotation was more pronounced on KuCoin than on several other major exchanges.
Tokenized stocks took off
Between March 13 and July 29, KuCoin listed 198 new perpetual futures contracts, of which 121 (about 61%) were tied to tokenized stocks or stock indices. Before that, the category did not exist on the exchange.
It grew from an initial launch covering Tesla and MicroStrategy to, by late July, contracts covering most major US tech stocks (including Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta, Alphabet and Amazon), chip makers, financial firms, consumer brands, leveraged ETFs and even a contract linked to OpenAI ahead of any public listing.
Reserves Held Up Better Than Rivals
KuCoin’s Proof of Reserves report, a regular audit showing the exchange holds enough assets to cover user balances, marked its 44th consecutive month and was backed by 14 independent audits from blockchain security firm Hacken.
Despite a broader market downturn, KuCoin’s total reserves fell 21.8%, the second-smallest decrease among the eight exchanges assessed, versus an average decline of 24.7%. This value-based change should be distinguished from token quantities: Bitcoin holdings stayed nearly flat, while Ethereum holdings grew 22.1%.
Compliance Push
The report also points to compliance milestones reached over KuCoin’s history. The exchange registered as a Digital Currency Exchange with Australia’s financial intelligence agency, AUSTRAC, and its European arm obtained a license under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation in Austria.
KuCoin also says it became the first global crypto exchange to register with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit and to require mandatory identity verification for users there. The exchange holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 27701 and CCSS security certifications, among others.
CoinGecko Research sees KuCoin’s growth as part of a shift across the crypto industry away from exchanges competing purely on trading volume, and toward competition based on market depth, product relevance, security, transparency, and regulatory readiness.
The next phase of competition among exchanges will depend more on how well platforms support everyday participation in the digital asset economy.
Related: KuCoin Ranks Top Three for ETH Spot Execution in TokenInsight’s July 2026 Liquidity Report
Disclaimer: The information presented in this article is for informational and educational purposes only. The article does not constitute financial advice or advice of any kind. Coin Edition is not responsible for any losses incurred as a result of the utilization of content, products, or services mentioned. Readers are advised to exercise caution before taking any action related to the company.
