CONSUMER APPETITE GROWS
PAYMENT SOLUTIONS
44
“[ CRYPTO ] LEADERS ARE GOING UPSTREAM — GAINING ACCESS TO FEDERAL BANKING INFRASTRUCTURE AND BUILDING OUT NEW PAYMENTS AND ACCOUNTS PRODUCTS ”
— Sophie Guibaud , Chief Growth Officer , OpenPayd
tokenised finance , and incumbent banks and institutes are beginning to blur .
CONSUMER APPETITE GROWS
Cryptocurrency has proved fertile ground for fintech startups , inspiring competition in everything from wallets for storing digital assets , and exchanges for trading and swapping coin pairs , to new channels for consumers and enterprises to realise value from their virtual coins in the ‘ real world ’. It ’ s here , creating meaningful utility and streamlined processes to ‘ cash out ’ from the enclosed ecosystems , where the biggest future developments lie – and where crypto collides with the big players of world finance .
Take Estonia : the Baltic nation once welcomed foreign crypto startups with open arms , offering easily accessible operating licences and the ability to legally headquarter a business within its borders through a ‘ digital license ’. Last year , however , it stripped more than 1,000 crypto firms of their licenses over growing concerns surround money laundering . Around 400 crypto firms remain after the cull , but they face a tough year ahead . Veiko Tali , Secretary General of the Estonian Ministry of Finance , and Deputy Head of the government ’ s Anti-Money Laundering Commission , said : “ A number of important regulatory changes are planned for the services of virtual currencies in order to further regulate the field .”
FEBRUARY 2021