KuCoin marked its ninth anniversary by publishing its 2026 H1 Review, Beyond the Signal, revealing that the global crypto platform now serves over 45 million registered users. The report outlines significant advancements across artificial intelligence, payments, institutional services, and trust infrastructure during the first half of 2026.
User adoption accelerated in emerging markets, with new-user growth of 170% in Latin America and 30% in Africa. KuCoin now supports more than 1,600 digital assets and was ranked among the world's top three exchanges for spot market share and Bitcoin spot market depth by third-party research.
Trust remained a cornerstone of the expansion. The $2 billion Trust Project encompasses security infrastructure, compliance, transparency, user protection, and operational resilience. Independent validations include SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 27701:2019, and CCSS certifications, alongside Hacken-audited Proof of Reserves. The exchange published its 44th consecutive monthly Proof of Reserves report and expanded its regulatory footprint with AUSTRAC registration in Australia and MiCAR authorization in Europe.
AI integration became a major theme. KuCoin’s AI assistant, KIA, evolved from a support tool into an ecosystem-wide intelligence layer, recording 300% growth in daily active users and spanning trading, asset management, search, and content. The Skills Hub launched to let external AI agents tap modular crypto services.
On the payments front, KuCoin Pay saw off-chain payment volume more than triple, total orders surge 25-fold, and the number of merchants and service partners rise 60%. Multi-chain payment support, Payment Links, static merchant QR codes, and API-based crypto-to-stablecoin conversion were added. The KuCard expanded into Australia through Mastercard’s global network.
Institutional services also grew, with the Crypto-as-a-Service ecosystem now supporting more than 120 partners and the broker network exceeding 400 partners. Broker-driven trading accounts for 4%–7% of total platform volume. The Web3 Wallet gained native perpetual trading via Hyperliquid and access to over 260 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs through Ondo Global Markets.
“Nine years of market cycles have reinforced a simple belief: time rewards trust,” said BC Wong, CEO of KuCoin. “Beyond the Signal is our commitment to building an ecosystem that users and the industry can trust for the long term.”
