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If you ever bought cryptocurrency in 2018, you remember the friction. KYC Black holes, delayed bank transfers and any wallet address that you hoped was correct. It is now easier, but not much. Although the situation is certainly better nowadays, most friction and challenges remain – largely from the traditional banking system.
Summary
- The next chapter of Defi depends on integrating – not replacing – the traditional payment rails that it once wanted to disturb.
- While Defi and Tradfi work on fundamentally different models, identifying efforts such as Visa’s on -chain stablecoin -settlements and the crypto references of Mastercard a real momentum to bridge the gap.
- Most consumers and traders do not want a financial revolution – they want crypto “just works” such as Apple Pay, and virtual card solutions deliver quietly that simplicity.
- True crypto adoption does not arrive with hype or maximalism – it is due to frictionless payments that are driven by well -known systems, quietly reformed from within.
As a result, we are in a catch -22: Defi still depends on traditional infrastructure rails on a scale, even if the same rails are the adoption slow. Instead of resisting this reality, the next phase of progress of leaning in those systems and upgrading them from the inside comes.
Ironically, the future of Defi can depend on the players who once tried to disturb it (Visa and Mastercard). What initially seemed like a detour is to be an advantage. By building on existing rails, we find faster, more practical paths to Real-World adoption than starting zero ever allowed.
The incompatibility between old and new
Despite serving the same function, Defi and Tradfi could no longer be different. On the one hand you have a decentralized, 24/7, low-fee, user-oriented paradigm of cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, there is the centralized, often slow, high-fee and risky inheritance structure of the traditional banking system.
Merging the two results in a Frankenstein monster that depends on a centuries -old model to keep track of the requirements of the digital age. It does not work around the clock for near-instant and global transactions (regardless of how you finance your account), makes excessive and sometimes unreasonable reimbursements due to different costs and does not deliver a seamless user experience.
Despite Visa and Mastercard, however, they seem to be the cause, they are just a manifestation of a deeper problem – outdated policy imposed by bureaucratic structures. Fortunately, that policy shifts. We see early movements that the landscape can reform, such as Visa Settling Stablecoins directly on-chain, and Mastercard launches crypto-reference pilots. These are fundamental shifts that can unlock real crypto spending on scale.
Programming an outdated system
Despite the increasing acceptance of crypto as an active or investment, most users still have trouble using it as an exchange tool, something that you can actually spend daily. It does not help that most companies are confronted with obstacles when accepting crypto, not prepared or unable to assume it because of observed complexities, regulatory concerns and a lack of understanding.
Forcing traders to adapt to the convenience of a niche group of individuals is counterproductive, as well as the movement in the direction of crypto cards issued by Visa or Mastercard. If we want real adoption, we have to work with the system that we have. Not because we agree. But because it is already everywhere. And guess? There are web3 projects that fully understand this. They roll out revolutionary solutions that are not aimed at rebuilding from the ground, but just take what works and make it crypto-friendly.
The best example of such an approach is virtual maps that bridge the existing infrastructure and the crypto by using NFC to make seamless transactions related to Apple Pay without requiring a physical card. The concept is simple: users download an app, finance a special crypto wallet and then spend their digital assets in every store equipped with a standard Visa or Mastercard POS system. Traders receive fiat -currency while users pay with crypto and bypass the usual card network intermediaries and their reimbursements. All conversions are immediately in the background, so that crypto spending is effortlessly issued.
Real progress is quiet
The current status quo is personal. Years in Fintech have shown me that although crypto has a revolutionary promise, the average user does not want a revolution. They want to tap, pay and continue. That’s what wins. Visa and Mastercard are now the unlikely partners who make that possible.
This of course does not mean that everything is solved. Traditional banking still imposes restrictions. Regulatory slowness still slows innovation. On top of all there are 1.4 billion Not -people who earn better. But if crypto really needs to be used, it needs access to the rails that are already moving money today.
And in a space that is often defined by hype -cycles and tribalism, that the kind of quiet, powerful progress that we should pay attention to. The next jump from Crypto will not be a flashy head. It is a wipe, a tap or a transaction driven by the giants it once hoped to overthrow.
