Beyond the Regulatory Pivot: Bybit BBU Head Maps ‘Trillion-Dollar’ Institutional Crypto Path

As the digital asset landscape undergoes a seismic shift following the 2025 U.S. regulatory pivot, Yoyee Wang—the newly appointed head of the Business-to-Business Unit (BBU) at Bybit—is signaling that “clear rules” are merely the foundation. In a recent discussion, the former Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) veteran argued that for institutional capital to truly scale, the industry must move beyond legal frameworks and adopt the rigorous operational and treasury standards of traditional finance (TradFi).

Indeed, the year 2025 marked a watershed moment for the industry. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. effectively dismantled long-standing barriers, such as the rescission of SAB 121, which previously hamstrung banks from custodying digital assets. While these moves have cleared the legal “fog,” Wang notes that a secondary challenge remains: the operational execution gap.

Beyond regulation, she asserts that institutions require operational frameworks that mirror traditional financial markets, citing standardized onboarding, credit assessment and counterparty risk controls as essential prerequisites rather than optional features for the world’s largest asset managers.

According to Wang, the next phase of the crypto-institutional evolution will be defined by three critical pillars consisting of governance transparency, treasury compatibility and central clearing structures. She believes these elements will collectively increase capital efficiency and trading capacities on a tremendous scale.

Under Wang’s leadership, the BBU is already championing off-exchange custody and tri-party settlement models. This allows institutions to hold their assets with regulated third-party banks while maintaining live trading credit on Bybit, effectively removing the exchange risk that has historically deterred large-scale participation.

Wang pointed out that it is currently impossible for major exchanges to recognize a user’s positions on competing platforms, meaning long exposure in one venue cannot offset short exposure in another. This fragmentation hinders institutional clients from taking larger positions, not only due to risk management constraints but also because of stress management concerns. During periods of on-chain congestion, these technical uncertainties make it difficult for firms to manage funds across various exchange positions effectively.

Despite the optimism, Wang remains candid about the hurdles that likely keep many projects in the pilot phase. She warned that while it is relatively simple to tokenize an asset, it is significantly more difficult to operate that asset and deliver actual value. She noted that many TradFi veterans approach tokenization with excitement but fail to ask if a tokenized version of an asset is actually more attractive to their existing buyers, or if a new buyer base even exists.