Dear users, partners, and members of the Binance community,
As we write these lines, the year 2025 is coming to an end. This year's letter feels different from all those we have written so far. Throughout this decade, we have often worked with our heads down, building tirelessly, under pressure, sometimes questioned, always determined to do things right. But this year, by looking up, we realized that behind us, the community has exploded: 300 million people are now with us.
Today, about 1 in 27 people worldwide trusts Binance to accompany their crypto journey. Digital assets are no longer the domain of geeks or a hidden corner of finance – they are now part of everyday life.
Through the fog: resilience put to the test
Looking back on 2025 is to remember a tumultuous year for the entire market. Between the tsunami of AI with 'Project Stargate', the 'DeepSeek Monday' shock, trade tensions, and even a U.S. suspension blocking key data, volatility and surprises were abundant.
But it is precisely in this 'fog', when everything seemed blurry, that our industry showed its vitality. We saw the beacons of regulation light up: the signing of the American GENIUS Act on July 18 marked a turning point. Regulation is no longer seen as a sword of Damocles, but as a protective rampart for innovators.
With 70% of major global jurisdictions deploying clear frameworks, and accounting standards moving towards greater transparency, the myth of the crypto Wild West belongs to the past. Welcome to a more stable and predictable era.
Two connected worlds: more bridges, fewer walls
For a long time, crypto pitted camps against each other: centralized or decentralized? Retail or institutional? In 2025, the answer is clear: it’s about convergence.
At Binance, we have seen this play out live. Our retail users remain our beating heart, with retail trading volume up 125% globally. At the same time, institutional adoption is gaining momentum: according to a recent study, 30% of global professional investors have already invested in digital assets and 40% plan to do so. This is also reflected in the numbers: on Binance, institutional volume increased by 21% in a year.
Whether it’s the $30 billion flowing into crypto ETFs, or heavyweights like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton moving nearly $10 billion in sovereign bonds onto the blockchain (on-chain), Wall Street is now talking about blockchain.
This retail-institutional synergy explodes where liquidity is strongest: at Binance. In 2025, nearly half of global volumes in BTC and ETH passed through our platform, and over 60% of public blockchain (on-chain) transactions go through Binance Wallet. When the wave comes, everyone finds themselves at the safest and smoothest port, allowing for a staggering $34 trillion in volume produced this year.
To smooth the transition between on-chain and off-chain, we integrated the complete Web3 experience directly into the exchange platform via Alpha 2.0. In 12 months, over $1000 billion flowed through the Binance Wallet, 17 million users explored projects, and claimed $782 million in airdrops. Here, the centralized-decentralized boundary fades away: we simply enjoy the pleasure of discovering value.
Trust: to the core, to the real
Gaining the trust of 300 million users is a huge challenge. It’s not just about managing volume, it’s also about protecting funds. Today, we can proudly state that Binance has become one of the leading custodians of digital wealth in the world: the balance of our users' assets, publicly verified through Proof of Reserves (POR), has reached $162.8 billion.
Obtaining full authorization from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the ADGM, Abu Dhabi's international financial center, is one of the most stringent regulatory reviews in the world, and this year we passed it. We also obtained 29 certifications globally (including ISO 27001, ISO 42001, PCI-DSS, SOC 1/2), introduced a Framework for Responsible AI aligned with new global standards, and implemented an enterprise-wide digital resilience strategy.
Based on industry data, we reduced our direct exposure to major categories of illicit flows by 96% between 2023 and 2025. Our AI models and risk controls intercepted $6.7 billion in potential losses due to fraud for 5.4 million users. Our Red Team, through countless attack simulations, has reduced the phishing failure rate from 3.2% to a hard-earned rate of 0.4%, significantly improving our organization’s resilience to psychological manipulation tactics (social engineering). We also helped over 50,000 users targeted by external scams recover $11.7 million they thought they had lost forever.
In crypto, as in all finance, risk will always exist. But we can promise you that behind every one of your trades, transfers, and logins on Binance is an organization that makes your security its primary mission, and that is ready to do the hard things, over and over again, to continue to earn your trust.
2026: When the wind rises
On the threshold of the year 2026, we are more optimistic than ever.
Where 2025 made us move forward tentatively in the fog, 2026 promises to be more intense: we feel the wind blowing stronger.
Look at the macroeconomic trends:
Despite ongoing trade disputes, the global economy experienced robust growth this year;
The technological revolution is about to drastically increase human productivity (AI, quantum, fusion);
Governments are injecting more fiat money into households and businesses (tax rebates, subsidies);
The liquidity valves of central banks are reopening (the Federal Reserve restarting the expansion of its balance sheet + continuing interest rate cuts);
And the upcoming 'RFIA/CLARITY Act' is expected to clarify the 'rules for assets on the blockchain (on-chain)' (just as the GENIUS Act clarified 'money on the blockchain').
These five powerful forces are pushing the market from 'uncertain expansion' to 'certain expansion'. This means the underlying forces are now pointing in a clear direction: more liquidity and more concrete uses. When favorable macroeconomic winds (growth, monetary easing, budget support) combine with regulatory clarity and real institutional and sovereign adoption, the long-term trajectory of on-chain assets and applications becomes much more predictable.
What excites us even more is that the next wave of crypto growth will not only rely on sentiment and hype. It will be driven by sovereign capital and enterprise applications.
When nations begin to discuss bitcoin as a strategic reserve, and on-chain assets go from billions to trillions, it can no longer be simply summed up as a 'bull market'. It will rather be a fundamental overhaul of the financial infrastructure.
To conclude
No matter how the world changes, Binance's original mission remains unchanged: the freedom of money.
We will continue to be the 'road builders'. Whether you are a beginner buying your first crypto with your savings, or an institutional trader managing billions; whether you are discovering the next big Web3 innovation through Alpha, or simply buying a cup of coffee with Binance Pay, we will always be there, by your side.
In the coming year, we will continue to increase our investments in security, compliance, and education. From AI-based security projects to next-generation financial education through Binance Junior, to Binance Charity's ongoing support for global financial inclusion, with over $43 million in donations benefiting 4 million people to date, including over 270,000 individuals assisted alone in 2025, we are committed to ensuring that, no matter where you are on your crypto journey, you can find a safe and trustworthy home at Binance.
Thank you for every click, every trade, and every ounce of trust in 2025. Let’s continue to move forward together on this path. Let’s witness how a more open and fair financial world becomes a reality, block by block, in our hands.
One last thing: if you think Binance could do even better, you are exactly the kind of person we are missing. Join us, let’s build together! (Let's BUIDL together!)
Happy New Year
Yi He and Richard Teng
Co-CEO of Binance
December 31, 2025