Embedded finance has expanded from payments to lending, and trading is the next logical step. Therefore, platforms that force users to switch providers to access different types of assets are losing market share. Patrick Murphy, Managing Director of the UK and EU at Eightcap, emphasized that access to a variety of assets must be designed as part of the experience from the start if platforms want to maintain user engagement.
However, responding to those expectations is not simply a matter of adding new tools, as it raises profound questions about infrastructure, such as how to embed regulated derivatives alongside crypto, or whether stablecoins will play a role in cross-border payments when banks continue to use old systems. Furthermore, what happens when tokenized assets begin to serve as collateral in both traditional finance and DeFi?
In this conversation with BeInCrypto, Mr. Murphy will share Eightcap's approach to tackling those challenges, from embedding compliance standards into the company's API architecture to preparing for a world where Bitcoin, stocks, and gold increasingly move onto the blockchain.
BeInCrypto: Eightcap Embedded allows brokers, trading platforms, and wallets to integrate multi-asset trading systems through a single API. What market demand or customer feedback leads you to believe that access to diverse embedded assets will be the new frontier of engagement on the platform?
Patrick Murphy: “When we analyze market directions, we find several striking points, whether it be brokers, trading platforms, or other fintechs. We all see that user demands are starting to converge. Everyone expects to be able to move seamlessly between crypto, forex, and commodities. Platforms that require users to log out to trade other types of assets are starting to lose engagement, which is a customer retention challenge. If you cannot provide trading of multiple asset types within your own system, customers will trade elsewhere.
Embedded finance is changing market expectation standards. As payments and lending become embedded mechanisms within non-financial ecosystems, trading is the next step as well. We see an opportunity to apply the same model to trading, making partners an all-in-one investment hub, not just a single asset service provider.
We are also finding that currently, traders prioritize user experience as much as performance. They want access to real-time, frictionless markets. Eightcap Embedded's ability to trade diverse assets creates an ecosystem where users are not just buying or selling crypto on an exchange but can also diversify into derivatives. This increases both engagement and revenue potential for customers simultaneously. Eightcap Embedded is not designed to meet a single need but emerges from observing the evolution of embedded finance and traders' behavior who expect a one-stop service.
BeInCrypto: Based on your experience in compliance and payment systems, what approach do you take to embed regulated trading features into partners' platforms while maintaining speed and scalability?
Patrick Murphy: “My experience in both payments and compliance helps me integrate regulatory principles with product agility. In the payments business, I've learned that scalability capabilities can stumble immediately if compliance is seen merely as a step in the verification process.”
At Eightcap, our API for embedded trading is designed with KYC, AML, and licensing logic in mind, integrated into the onboarding processes and various transactions. This means partners do not need to build parallel systems because compliance capabilities are built in from the start, not just retrofitted later.
By maintaining a core compliance structure, partners can open markets faster as they do not have to retroactively audit or confirm control systems.
We position Eightcap Embedded as a ‘compliant-by-design’ infrastructure, allowing brokers, exchanges, and wallets to expand their businesses with confidence while maintaining trust from both customers and regulators at the same time.
BeInCrypto: The integration of derivatives and crypto products under embedded finance brings challenges in both technical and risk management aspects. What are the most challenging trade-offs in balancing usability, regulatory compliance, and market volatility support?
Patrick Murphy: One of our challenges is creating an experience that feels native within partners' platforms while still complying with regulatory requirements, such as classifying customers under TMD, leverage restrictions, and margin requirements.
However, everything has been managed easily and successfully, with our trading team, legal team, and regulatory department working together to develop integrations that comply with requirements for our partners.
BeInCrypto: Eightcap Tradesim rewards users for simulated trading. What have you learned about trader behavior or education from this experiment, and how does this impact your approach to acquiring new customers and retaining existing users?
Patrick Murphy: Tradesim shows that traders learn best when the environment feels realistic, but the outcomes are not real. By simulating real market conditions and rewarding performance in practice, we see a significant increase in trading confidence. Many traders develop discipline in real trading, such as tracking positions, understanding the market, and analyzing data. The key takeaway is that learning through games helps bridge the gap between curiosity and confidence.
We find that engagement in education is directly related to trading duration. Users who spend over five days on simulated trading are more likely to become active traders.
BeInCrypto: How is Eightcap utilizing stablecoins to improve the fiat-crypto cash flow on its embedded platform, and what regulatory or cross-border transfer barriers still exist?
Patrick Murphy: Stablecoins are considered one of the most significant financial innovations in the past decade. Stablecoins have expanded access to digital dollars like USD₮, enabling fast, instant, and low-cost money transfers and filling the gaps left by fragmented banking and payment systems, especially in emerging markets and countries outside the UK, EU, and Australia.
At Eightcap, we can use stablecoins to enable faster and more reliable customer deposits and withdrawals, reducing friction in areas where traditional structures underperform. However, considering this version of the dollar as customer money under the license granted to regulated companies, there are still regulatory hurdles since existing frameworks were not designed for blockchain payments. Therefore, requirements related to custody and reconciliation processes remain tied to traditional banking money models.
Connecting to USD bank accounts still has limitations. Stablecoins can facilitate payments on the blockchain network 24/7, while banks still operate under business hours and separate payment networks. Until regulations and infrastructure modernize, stablecoins will still serve as a highly efficient parallel system but will not be fully integrated with the cash management of regulated financial institutions.
BeInCrypto: What regulatory or technological changes do you expect to shape the trading of diverse embedded assets in the next two years, and how does Eightcap position itself to lead this change?
Patrick Murphy: In the next two years, most assets will begin to move on-chain, not just crypto but also tokenized gold, stocks, and cash-equivalent assets. This change will fundamentally alter how capital is utilized. Once assets are truly on-chain, investors will use those assets as increasingly efficient collateral for payments or new investments without needing to sell or close positions. Investors will be able to use Bitcoin, tokenized gold, or stocks as dynamic collateral to trade other assets, hedge with derivatives, or reinvest instantly.
At Eightcap, we are cooperating with leading crypto technology companies that seek a global licensing structure to open up on-chain and hybrid financial product markets that blend DeFi with traditional finance. By combining regulated multi-asset infrastructure with tokenized assets and stablecoin payments, we enable partners to offer a seamless trading experience that is compliant with regulations and uses capital efficiently.
As regulations around crypto and tokenization grow, Eightcap is stepping towards becoming a bridge between traditional capital markets and the emerging on-chain economy.
