Gate has quietly become one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Founded in 2013 by Dr. Lin Han as a one-person project, the platform now serves over 49 million users, employs more than 2,000 people, and lists over 5,000 tokens alongside a growing suite of traditional financial products. 

In an interview with BeInCrypto, Dr. Han discussed what drove that growth, why he believes the line between crypto and traditional assets is disappearing, and how artificial intelligence is about to reshape the way people trade.

From Solo Developer to Global Platform

Dr. Han started Gate — originally launched as Bter.com — by himself. Thirteen years later, the exchange offers more than 50 products and services. But he is quick to downplay the numbers.

“The number is not quite important. The most important thing is that when you build a product, you need to polish it very well. A score of 80 percent is not enough. You need 90% to 95% quality. You need to always be number one in the product,” he said.

That product-first philosophy extended to asset coverage early on. In 2013, Gate was among the first exchanges to aggressively list altcoins, offering over 100 at a time when most platforms stuck to a handful. “At that time, we were the only exchange that could do that,” Dr. Han recalled.

The next phase of growth, he says, will come from regulated markets. Gate now holds licenses across 80 jurisdictions, including 44 US states and coverage across more than 20 European countries under MiCA. The platform also holds licenses in Dubai, Japan, and Australia.

“We launched our platform for regulated areas last year, but this year we want to grow the users there,” Dr. Han said, acknowledging that competing with established local players in Europe and other regions remains a challenge. “In some areas, they have their own local players who have operated there for many years. We are the new player. We need to let more people know about us.”

Breaking Down the Wall Between Crypto and Traditional Finance

Gate has been expanding beyond crypto-native assets into what the industry broadly calls TradFi integration. The exchange now offers tokenized equities, gold, silver, commodities, and stock indices — all tradeable 24/7 on the same platform where users manage their crypto portfolios.

Dr. Han described two limitations of traditional markets that drove this move: regional restrictions that prevent users in many countries from opening US brokerage accounts, and the limited trading hours of conventional stock exchanges.

“With crypto, we can provide a system with very high accessibility. They can trade 24/7, anywhere, in any country. They have all kinds of crypto plus traditional assets together, managed in the same way. It’s much easier for them,” he said.

He also pointed to a practical benefit for portfolio construction. Crypto assets tend to be highly correlated — when Bitcoin drops, most altcoins follow. Adding uncorrelated traditional assets like gold or US equities gives users meaningful diversification for the first time within a single platform.

“Before, people could only trade crypto, and most of the assets are correlated. With traditional assets, they have another option. Gold is definitely not related to Bitcoin. You can choose silver, commodities, US stocks. There are a lot of options to manage your portfolio and lower your risk,” Dr. Han explained.

Looking further ahead, he sees the distinction between crypto and traditional assets fading entirely. “In the future, you don’t need to recognize which is crypto and which is a traditional asset. You can view them all as your asset. It will change the mindset of how users manage their portfolio.”

AI: From Interface to Infrastructure

The conversation shifted to artificial intelligence, where Dr. Han laid out what he calls “Intelligent Web3” — a vision where AI agents replace the complex interfaces that currently define crypto trading.

The problem, as he sees it, is straightforward: crypto products have become too complicated, especially for newcomers. “You see so many numbers, buttons — spot trading, futures trading, options, earnings. Which one should you use? How do you start? It’s too hard for people,” he said. “And Web3 is even more difficult. There are more than 10,000 DApps. Millions of tokens are launched each year. You cannot recognize which token to choose.”

Gate’s approach unfolds in two stages. The first, already live, uses AI agents to help users navigate existing interfaces — checking token information, explaining platform features, and suggesting trading strategies. The second stage is more ambitious: replacing the traditional interface entirely.

“They don’t need to use the old interface, the old tools anymore. They just tell the AI agent what they want. The AI agent does all the other work,” Dr. Han said. “If they want to buy Bitcoin, just say ‘help me buy Bitcoin.’ If they want to earn interest, tell AI ‘I want to put my Bitcoin to get interest.’ AI finds the best yield for you, and it’s done.”

He expects this transition to be visible within a year, and broadly transformative within two — a timeline he considers more realistic than the five-year horizon often cited in the industry.

“I don’t think it’s five years. Two years, at most,” he said.

Beyond user experience, Dr. Han sees AI reshaping how capital moves through markets. He argued that human-driven capital allocation is inherently inefficient — people hold assets idle while promising projects go unfunded. AI agents, operating around the clock and processing information at scale, could improve that flow.

“For one person, we cannot guarantee they can make money from that. But for the whole ecosystem, it will benefit for sure,” he said. “AI can do the labor work for you. You can put your energy in other areas. Use your real intelligence.”Gate has already begun applying AI internally. According to Dr. Han, nearly all front-end coding at the company is now handled by AI, with back-end development expected to follow soon.