There is no denying the fact that the global crypto ecosystem has been evolving at a rapid pace over the course of the last 12 odd months.
From the ever-increasing market capitalizations of various major digital assets to the unfathomable growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) market, this yet nascent space has undoubtedly been on the receiving end of a lot of financial and technological maturation.
In this sense, gone of the days of market speculation when currency values would surge by insane proportions only to plummet the very next day.
This time around, the hype seems to be backed by real progress, as is made evident by the fact that an increasing number of mainstream financial players have been entering this space.
For example, since October 2020, Bitcoin has been increasingly lapped up by a host of prominent companies such as Square, MicroStrategy, 3iQ, and most recently, Tesla.
If that wasn’t enough, recently America’s oldest banking institution BNY Mellon too announced its intention to provide its clients with a range of crypto-centric services, further solidifying the asset’s prominence within the global financial landscape.
Crypto companies are helping adoption grow at a rapid pace
It is no secret that just a few years ago, crypto users all over the world had to be routinely confronted with a number of functional and operational issues related to low Liquidity , massive spreads, and poor order executions.
However, things have changed quite drastically recently, with companies like Binance, Crypto.com, Huobi, Bybit now offering their clients with product suites that can help them meet all of their digital asset needs in one place, thus helping spur the faster and more sustainable adoption of crypto worldwide.
Also, with DeFi innovations such as liquidity mining, yield farming, and crypto lending providing users with new ways to explore all that this industry has to offer, more and more crypto enthusiasts are looking for integrated crypto platforms that enable them to not only dabble in crypto trading but also other things like lending, staking, token swaps, etc.
In this regard, Crypto.com, an all-in-one digital asset Trading Platform , enables its users to actively deal with a number of unique offerings such as in DeFi, credit acquisition means, payment avenues, wallet services, etc.
For example, Crypto.com Pay enables individual users as well as merchants to facilitate their digital asset transactions with the touch of a button as well as to spend their DeFi tokens.
Not only that, the service is compatible with a whole host of major e-commerce platforms, including WooCommerce, Ecwid, OpenCart, NopCommerce, Oveit, and Prestashop, thus making online shopping available to anyone looking to spend their crypto.
Lastly, Crypto.com has also partnered with digital travel agency Booking.com, allowing users to get a flat 25% discount on all of their reservations for all in-app purchases.
Similarly, Binance too is leading the roost in this context, with the crypto exchange offering users with a holistic dApp development ecosystem - much like Ethereum - called the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). In fact, in light of Ethereum’s growing gas fee pains, a number of prominent DeFi platforms such as yield aggregator Harvest Finance and multi-service platform Value DeFi – two platforms sharing a total volume locked (TVL) of a billion dollars amongst themselves - have recently expanded their operations to BSC.
The crypto space is evolving FAST
As pointed out earlier, a growing list of crypto companies have been adding to their list of offerings at a rapid pace. For example, Simplex, a leading fiat-crypto service provider, recently announced the launch of ‘Simplex Banking’, a platform that enables a vast array of crypto wallets providers, exchanges, and other similar outlets to offer popular local and global payment methods to their users.
Similarly, for those individuals who may be looking to spend their crypto using traditional credit/debit card-based means, companies like Crypto.com and CoinZoom are affording their users with such opportunities, ala cards that come backed by solid rewards program like free Netflix/Spotify/Amazon Prime subscriptions, Airbnb and Expedia discounts, as well as a host of other added benefits.
Lastly, platforms like Bity allow their users to not only buy, sell, trade digital assets but also offer instant crypto-to-fiat conversions via avenues such as BATMs which are basically cryptocurrency ATMs that work in a manner quite similar to traditional cash dispensers.
The company also offers its customers the option of paying their bills online using various cryptos as well as an over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk that can allow for seamless P2P swaps.
The future looks good for the industry
Much like in the traditional tech space, where companies like Apple, Google, Samsung are providing their customers with solutions that can meet all of their digital needs — from payment platforms to online services to actual physical devices — a number of crypto firms too are actively trying to do the same, albeit in a smaller yet equally tangible fashion.
Thus, it stands to reason that crypto is gearing itself for increased mainstream traction in the months and years to come, as is highlighted by the fact that Ether future options recently went live on the world’s largest derivatives exchange the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), amongst several other such announcements. That being said, only time will tell what the future has in store for this fledgling industry.
