Can you imagine it? Globally, out of every fewer than 30 people, one is using a certain crypto exchange.

At the beginning of December, this number quietly surpassed 300 million—the number of registered users on a leading trading platform has once again set a new industry benchmark. From a small platform in 2017 that only listed a dozen or so coins and supported just Chinese and English, to now becoming a digital finance giant covering more than 180 countries, its growth has left established internet companies like Amazon and PayPal far behind.

But to call it just an “exchange”? That’s selling it short.

In 8 years, this platform has already become a super gateway to the crypto world. Want to trade coins? They offer everything from spot to derivatives in one place. Want to earn interest on savings? Pick from a variety of yield farming and investment products. They’ve even bundled Web3 wallets, NFT marketplaces, and on-chain tools—all in one, like a “family bucket” of digital finance.

What’s truly impressive is how it has penetrated places traditional finance can’t reach.

Filipino workers overseas use it to send remittances home, with fees far lower than Western Union; in countries like Argentina and Turkey, where inflation is rampant, people use it as a “digital safe deposit box,” storing USDT to preserve value; in Kenya, Africa, even those without bank accounts have accessed the global financial system directly through crypto.

From speculation tool to survival tool, the role of cryptocurrency has transformed over the years—and to some extent, that transformation is hidden in the stories of these 300 million users. Whether it’s technological inclusion or wild growth, at the very least this number proves one thing: when the problems that traditional finance can’t solve pile up, something new will always emerge to fill the gap.

And that, perhaps, is the most fascinating thing about this industry.