Crypto products

While digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum are often the first things that come to mind when people think of crypto, the crypto industry has evolved significantly beyond digital currencies. 

Today, there’s a wide range of products and services that are built on the blockchain. Let’s explore these together.

Payments and stability

Some crypto products are built to enhance the reliability of crypto and to make it practical for everyday use. Stablecoins are one example of assets with value pegged (identical) to the US dollar such as USDT or USDC. These stablecoins make it easy to trade, send money overseas, and grow your savings in crypto, while avoiding volatility. 

Investing and earning

There are a few crypto products that allow traders to grow their crypto holdings by earning rewards. For example, staking is a way for traders to lock up their coins (like Solana for example) to help secure and run the Solana network and earn rewards for doing so. Another method is through DeFi (Decentralized Finance), which allows traders to lend, borrow, and yield through decentralized platforms like Aave, Compound, or Curve. This gives traders the chance to earn interest and rewards in return.

NFTs (non-fungible tokens)

This method has gained popularity in recent years, as it gives traders an equal opportunity to invest in parts of big projects or own parts of unique pieces, all through the blockchain. NFTs are part of a wider crypto product of tokenization, which breaks down ownership into smaller “tokens” that can be owned and traded by multiple people at the same time. NFTs work as a digital certificate of any asset or item, confirming their authenticity, and working as proof of ownership.

DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations)

As the name suggests, DAOs describe community-led organizations, where governance and decisions happen through voting with tokens on the blockchain. DAOs are a testament to the decentralized nature of blockchain, as members (not a single company or leaders) vote on things like proposals, funding projects, or applying changes to projects. Examples include investment DAOs that pool funds for startups, or protocol DAOs like Uniswap’s, where token holders shape how the platform evolves collectively.

So as you can see, crypto has evolved beyond being only about digital currencies, and has created new and unique opportunities for an ever-growing industry.