Crypto exchange Bitget is once again setting its sights on the United States, with CEO Gracy Chen saying the company plans to enter the market regardless of whether Congress passes the proposed CLARITY Act.
Chen said on a recent podcast that the decision to expand into the U.S. has already been made after years of avoiding the market.
“With or without the CLARITY Act, Bitget has already made a decision to enter the U.S. market,” Chen said. “We’ve stayed away from the U.S. market pretty much since day one.”
The Seychelles-based exchange had previously explored launching a U.S. business in 2022. However, those plans were put on hold after the collapse of FTX and the tighter regulatory environment that followed, which Chen described as unfavorable for crypto companies.
Now, Bitget believes the landscape has changed enough to revisit those ambitions.
Bitget eyes fully licensed U.S. launch
Rather than rushing into the market, the company plans to build a regulated business from the ground up. Chen said Bitget intends to secure money-transmitter, broker-dealer and derivatives licenses before launching its services, while also establishing an independent U.S.-based entity to oversee its operations.
“I want to enter the U.S. market in the proper way by getting all these licenses and setting up an individual, independent U.S.-based entity,” she said.
The exchange is also looking beyond crypto trading.
Chen revealed that Bitget has been in discussions with the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq about distributing tokenized versions of traditional financial assets. Instead of competing with established exchanges, she said Bitget sees them as partners in helping bring tokenized securities to a wider market.
“At least at this point, we are more collaborators,” Chen said. “We need to do this together with NYSE, Nasdaq, together with a lot of RWA issuance providers, as well as broker-dealer license providers in the U.S.”
Tokenized assets gain momentum
Interest in tokenized real-world assets has grown rapidly over the past year, with banks, asset managers and crypto firms increasingly exploring blockchain-based versions of stocks, bonds and other financial products.
Chen said that trend is already visible on Bitget’s platform. According to her, traditional assets accounted for between 20 percent and 30 percent of Bitget’s spot trading volume during the previous quarter.
She also said that more than half of the exchange’s users, 52 percent, now own both cryptocurrencies and stocks, highlighting growing demand for products that combine traditional and digital finance.
Bitget’s tokenized stock offering, which launched just last month, has already attracted more than $100 million in assets, Chen added.
The renewed U.S. push comes as global crypto firms are taking another look at the American market amid a more supportive policy environment and increasing institutional interest in digital assets.
For Bitget, the expansion would mark a significant shift after years of keeping its distance from the U.S. market. By prioritizing licensing and regulatory approvals before launch, the exchange is aiming to build a compliant presence while positioning itself for the next phase of growth in both crypto trading and tokenized assets.
