Building Trust Behind Seamless Crypto Transactions: Ben Zhou's Vision for Mainstream Adoption

At Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2025, industry leaders gathered at Fintech Abu Dhabi to discuss a critical intersection: how digital assets transition from specialized markets into everyday commerce. Ben Zhou, a prominent figure in the crypto industry, shared compelling insights on what this transformation demands.

The core theme he explored—seamless payment experiences backed by robust infrastructure—touches on three interconnected challenges: real-time settlement, operational security, and cross-industry coordination. These aren’t abstract concerns; they’re the technical and governance bottlenecks preventing mainstream adoption.

The Settlement Revolution: Why Speed Changes Everything

Zhou began by reframing how the industry should think about payments. Traditional financial systems reconcile transactions at fixed intervals, creating inefficiencies that merchants and consumers have tolerated for decades. Crypto introduces an alternative: 24/7 settlement with transparent, immutable records.

For merchants evaluating payment processors, this shift is compelling. Real-time clearing reduces counterparty risk and operational complexity. Tokenized models eliminate middlemen layers that add cost and opacity. On-chain transparency means users excluded by legacy banking systems—those in underbanked regions or facing identity barriers—suddenly gain access.

But this vision only works if the underlying infrastructure is secure and trustworthy. Zhou emphasized this paradox: faster doesn’t mean weaker. Modern payment rails must be both rapid and reliable, designed to earn user confidence rather than demand blind faith.

Security as a Competitive Pressure, Not an Afterthought

Zhou didn’t shy away from discussing operational risks. He referenced a significant security incident in the industry earlier this year, using it to illustrate a systemic vulnerability: hackers operate faster than defenders.

The math is unforgiving. Investigators face a two-day lag in decoding transactions—precisely the window attackers exploit to route funds across multiple chains and through obfuscation tools. By the time a breach is detected and analyzed, capital has often dispersed beyond recovery.

This isn’t a technical problem alone; it’s an information problem. Individual exchanges responding in isolation can’t match the speed of coordinated attackers. Zhou advocated for industry-level mechanisms to accelerate incident response—shared intelligence frameworks where platforms, over-the-counter desks, and market participants act as a unified defense system.

His proposed approach treats security as collaborative infrastructure, not competitive advantage. When the next breach occurs, the entire ecosystem responds faster because information flows immediately and decisions are coordinated.

From Individual Resilience to Collective Standards

The broader conversation Zhou helped shape centered on a transition many industries undergo: moving from reactive firefighting to proactive governance.

For digital asset markets to handle mainstream transaction volumes, security can’t depend on individual firms building superior firewalls. Instead, the industry needs standardized protocols for threat detection, shared databases of compromised addresses, and agreed-upon escalation procedures.

This mirrors how payment card networks, aviation, and telecommunications evolved—through collectively developed standards that raised floors rather than creating winners through secrecy.

Why This Moment Matters

Abu Dhabi Finance Week’s theme—“Engineering the Capital Network”—reflects a shift in how regional financial hubs view crypto. It’s no longer framed as a speculative asset class but as infrastructure for capital flows and settlement.

For merchants and consumers, the practical implication is straightforward: if the technical and governance layers mature, crypto payments become invisible because they “just work.” Settlement happens instantly, security incidents trigger coordinated industry response, and users experience speed without sacrifice.

Zhou’s argument rests on a simple observation: the path to mainstream adoption isn’t about building flashier products. It’s about solving the boring, essential problems—speed, trust, coordination—that allow everyday transactions to function.

The work ahead is twofold: continuing technological innovation in settlement and scalability while simultaneously investing in the operational frameworks and information-sharing systems that regulators and consumers demand. If 2025 proves anything, it’s that the fastest-growing exchanges won’t be those with the best marketing, but those committed to building reliable, trustworthy infrastructure alongside their peers.