The future belongs to platforms that can offer a full suite of services in a compliant environment, says Deng Chao, CEO of HashKey Capital and HashKey OTC Global.
Jul 3, 2025, 3: 12 p.m.
Stripe’s recent multi-billion dollar acquisitions of Privy and Bridge weren’t just another pair of tech deals. They were a declaration that the crypto infrastructure experiment is over. The results are in – and they’re compelling enough for one of the world’s most successful payment companies to bet big.
A clear picture emerges: the future of finance isn’t about choosing between traditional payments and crypto. It’s about building seamless infrastructure that gives users the benefits of both.
Acquisitions Expose Fundamental Problem
Stripe’s billion-dollar shopping spree reveals something critical about the current state of crypto infrastructure: it’s fragmented, and traditional companies are trying to bolt together solutions that were never designed to work as one.
Piecemeal solutions create friction. And payments are just one piece of a much larger puzzle. What happens when users want to trade those stablecoins? Tokenize real-world assets? Access decentralized applications? Deploy smart contracts?
Stripe’s approach – acquiring best-in-class point solutions – will smooth the kind of friction that has prevented crypto from achieving mainstream adoption. Users will hit seams between services, compliance gaps between providers, and the inevitable integration challenges that come with stitching together technologies built by different teams with different architectures.
Full-Stack Advantage
The companies that will truly capture the crypto opportunity aren’t those assembling acquired pieces, but those that have built integrated ecosystems from the ground up. This isn’t just about payments—it’s about reimagining the entire financial services stack.
Consider what comprehensive crypto infrastructure actually requires: compliant exchange capabilities for liquidity, tokenization services for asset digitization, cloud infrastructure for scalable applications, AI-powered tools for risk management and user experience, and custody solutions that work across all these services seamlessly.
Each component must be designed with the others in mind. Regulatory compliance can’t be an afterthought—it must be baked into the architecture. User experience can’t be optimized for one service at the expense of another. Technical standards must be consistent across the platform.
Full-Stack Era Demands Native Solutions
Ultimately, the future belongs to platforms that understand crypto isn’t just better payments—it’s a fundamentally different approach to financial services. The transformations emerge
