Bessie Liu

Crypto companies are looking to improve their user experiences and interfaces in hopes of onboarding new customers.



Centralized crypto exchange Coinbase recently enabled users of its Wallet app to link directly to crypto payments through messaging apps, including WhatsApp, iMessage and Telegram.



“With this launch, users can now send money across borders for free using the most commonly accessible identifier &#8211; a phone number or email address &#8211; as opposed to needing to know the recipient&#8217;s wallet address,” Chintan Turakhia, Coinbase senior director of engineering told Blockworks.



“By reducing complexity while expanding global access, we hope to enable millions of new people to engage with the crypto economy.&#8221;



Sending crypto is free and settled instantly, Coinbase said. Recipients will have up to two weeks to claim the money sent to them before they are returned to the sender. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Sending money has never been easier. Now you can send <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24USDC&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">$USDC</a> in just a few taps. Across borders. Without fees. Here&#39;s how ↓<a href="https://t.co/71V6dBA6i5">https://t.co/71V6dBA6i5</a>&mdash; Coinbase Wallet 🛡️📞 (@CoinbaseWallet) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoinbaseWallet/status/1732098052335260117?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Turakhia said Coinbase believes the best way to increase economic freedom is by simplifying the payment experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Decentralized crypto trading platform Matcha meanwhile recently enabled cross-chain swaps across seven blockchains, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, BSC and Avalanche.



This means that Matcha users will be able to swap tokens across various blockchains without having to leave the Matcha interface or visit a separate bridging site.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Safety remains a barrier to crypto adoption</h2>



With improvements like these, the crypto space may find it easier to introduce users to their products. 



But lacking trust in crypto is still a chief concern. Ido Ben-Natan, the co-founder and CEO of Blockaid, notes that a crucial part of the UX narrative will be improved user security.



“Survey after survey shows that one of the key barriers to entry for web3 users is the perception that it’s easy to get scammed,” Ben-Natan told Blockworks.



In fact, according to a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/10/majority-of-americans-arent-confident-in-the-safety-and-reliability-of-cryptocurrency/">study</a> by the Pew Research Center, over 75% of Americans in the US who have heard of crypto remain skeptical of its safety and reliability. 



Of the Americans who do hold cryptocurrencies, the majority of them (74%) first purchased crypto between one and five years ago, with only a handful (16%) having decided to purchase crypto over the past year.



An estimated 31% of traders who have previously purchased or traded crypto no longer own any.



“For peer-to-peer payments to flourish globally, we need to make it easy for users to stay safe. This is why we’re laser-focused on working with the largest wallet providers to protect users globally from malicious actors,” Ben-Natan said.



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Coinbase and other crypto companies hope to boost adoption with UX

Sebastian Sinclair

San Francisco-based peer-to-peer startup Utopia Labs said Monday it would wind down all services beginning next month in a move that’s being canvased as a pivot away from its current business model.



“For the supporters of Utopia — we&#8217;re not shutting down the company, rather, moving away from our existing product and our existing direction,” Kaito Cunningham, Utopia’s CEO said in a statement.



All services will be suspended on Nov. 6, though provisions have been put in place for users to export financial data, a company banner on its website reads.



Having secured significant funding of $23 million in June 2022 from prominent investors, including Paradigm, Circle and Coinbase, the decision to discontinue its product offerings raises questions about Utopia&#8217;s future endeavors.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/utopia-labs-crypto-payments">Cunningham told Blockworks</a> in August it could be a decade before crypto payments gain significant momentum. He labeled the current state as far from reality, pointing to regulatory ambiguity as one of the challenges.



Initially developed in secret in 2013 and formally released in November 2019, Utopia touts itself as a crypto payment and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/stablecoins">stablecoin</a> offramp/onramp. Its main value proposition centers around facilitating on-chain funds to off-chain counterparties.



Use cases include everything from companies seeking to pay their employees in digital assets by attempting to reduce friction among middlemen to venture capital funds sending USD Coin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/usdc">USDC</a>) to portfolio companies.



Utopia&#8217;s solution was developed using <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/safe">Safe</a>, a decentralized custody and asset management system based on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ethereum">Ethereum</a>. Utopia also collaborated with Bridge, a platform assisting developers in transitioning between dollar denominations, encompassing stablecoins, to facilitate its financial transfers.



As of this week, gasless transactions will be turned off while the platform endeavors to respond to support messages. No bugs are expected to be fixed by its engineering team, while its platform will remain “freely available for use until the end of the month.”



Further details on the company’s pivot are expected to be shared in the coming weeks and months, Cunningham said.



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Utopia Labs to sunset services next month, signaling business model shift

Michael Bodley

Wyre is reaffirming commitment to its interim chief executive, a compliance and risk specialist with a law degree who steered the crypto payments processor out of dire financial straits mere months ago. 



Stephen Cheng, tapped as Wyre’s interim CEO in January, was named by the private company’s board as permanent chief executive on Monday, he told Blockworks in an exclusive interview. Cheng said Wyre is “returning to its core competencies” under his leadership. 



His permanent appointment appears telling of how the house views Cheng’s internal turnaround set in motion around the start of 2023. The company, according to a statement, now has customers in more than 100 countries and has facilitated more than $12 billion in transactions since it commenced operations in 2013.&nbsp;



“I’m happy to say that now we’re in a position to really cement our foundation so that we could grow not just top line, but also bottom line,” Cheng said.&nbsp;



Wyre’s back-to-basics shift has been <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/in-about-turn-crypto-payments-platform-wyre-secures-funding" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fueled by a capital influx</a> that suddenly shored up the ailing state of its own finances in January. 



Cheng declined to comment on the identity of Wyre’s eleventh-hour backer, who came in seven days after he was elevated to interim CEO. The Wyre chief executive also declined to specify the amount in question, which he called “strategic financing of a potential transaction.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Cheng is a lawyer with a number of high-profile compliance and risk-oriented positions on his resume. He’s worked in senior roles for companies including American Express and Green Dot Corporation, and he served as Prime Trust’s chief compliance officer before joining Wyre in August 2021.&nbsp;



Wyre’s latest funding hit as the capital-starved company was forced to implement restrictions on customer withdrawals to protect its balance sheet. Those restrictions, which blocked withdrawals of excess of 90% of account value, turned out to be short-lived.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Crypto boom to bust to…</h2>



Founded in 2013, Wyre grew to prominence as a player in the crypto infrastructure sector — mainly via heavy trader adoption and usage of its on- and off-ramps that bridge digital assets and fiat currencies. The San Francisco-based startup ballooned to a purported $1.5 billion valuation last year in a planned acquisition by Bolt Financial that never happened.



Bolt called off the deal in September 2022 as financial markets fell. A flurry of subsequent funding attempts — save contributions here and there from exiting Wyre backers — didn’t pan out, Cheng said.&nbsp;



The company is tapping funds from a “strategic partner,” in part, to create a “robust risk management” system that puts compliance measures at the internal forefront, he said.&nbsp;


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-51705" width="197" height="197" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=2560 2560w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=150 150w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=257 257w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=261 261w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=219 219w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stephencheng-scaled.jpg?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Wyre CEO Stephen Cheng | Photo source: Wyre</figcaption></figure></div>


“A lot of times what I do is I go into a business where the growth has gone so fast, and the technology has exceeded the pace of the risk management system,” Cheng said. “So, I go in, and I help renovate or modernize that risk management program so that it not only catches up to the growth, but now it would be in a position to scale, as well.” 



The hope is that the approach begins to start “engendering or regaining” trust when it comes to both customers and counterparties, he said, adding that he was speaking in general terms.&nbsp;



On the counterparty front, crypto wallet solution MetaMask revoked its Wyre integration in early January as news of the company’s troubles started to bubble — including <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/from-1-5-billion-to-0-crypto-payments-platform-wyre-shuts-down" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">word reportedly spread by a couple of ex-employees</a> that the company’s <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/01/03/wyre-shutdown-crypto-winter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">closure</a> was likely imminent. Ioannis Giannaros was Wyre’s CEO at the time. 



Wyre’s support of debit and credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies had positioned the company to capitalize on a boom of bull market digital asset interest. But the company’s lack of funding, according to industry participants and previous reporting, left it exposed to bearish conditions.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">&#8216;More with less’</h2>



Public pressure neared a boiling pot when the company restricted withdrawals. 



Wyre laid off employees to right the ship. The company had somewhere between 150 to 200 employees at its peak, Cheng said — and it now has about 50. 



The slimming down has come with Cheng and his team putting in place a series of internal and external safeguards designed to ensure what happened in January doesn’t happen again.&nbsp;



“In line with just global macroeconomics, everyone’s learning how to do more with less,” he said. 



“And our approach to it is to really be data-driven and technology-oriented, because we’re ultimately also a technology company, so that we [can] scale and be optimal with our resources.”



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Crypto Startup Wyre Cements CEO To Get Back to Growth

Jocelyn Yang

<div id="highlights-block_62b3866c0a6ba" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>While digital payments are being embraced, consumers want to see more flexibility in the use of crypto and traditional payments interchangeably</li>
 <li>Latin Americans are willing to use emerging payments methods such as biometrics, digital currencies and QR code</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Latin American consumers are looking for more crypto- and digital payments-related services,  according to a <a href="https://mastercardcontentexchange.com/news/latin-america/en/newsroom/press-releases/pr-en/2022/june/latin-america-s-crypto-conquest-is-driven-by-consumers-needs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">new survey</a> from Mastercard. 



Around 51% of survey respondents in the region have already made a transaction with crypto, and over one-third say they have made a payment for an everyday purchase with a stablecoin, according to the survey of new payment methods released this week. 



Latino consumers are also embracing emerging payment technologies — the survey found about 86% have used at least one emerging payment method in the past year. 



While 77% of Americans and 74% of Europeans prefer traditional payment methods to newer ones, Latin Americans are willing to use emerging methods such as biometrics, digital currencies and QR code — in addition to contactless payments.



“Increasingly Latin Americans are turning to technology to conduct their financial transactions, and this trend is expected to continue to rise, with an overwhelming 95% planning to use a digital payment method in the coming year and 29% acknowledging having used less cash in the past year,&#8221; Walter Pimenta, Mastercard Latin America and the Caribbean&#8217;s executive vice president of products and engineering, said in a statement.  



The findings are based on a survey conducted between March and April 2022 among more than 35,000 people around the world.



More than half of Latin American consumers are optimistic about the performance of digital assets as an investment, according to Mastercard. Two-thirds want greater flexibility to use crypto and traditional payment methods interchangeably in their day-to-day operations — a growing trend for both consumers and businesses. 



“We definitely see consumer interest, but even more so merchant interest in accepting crypto to earn crypto — not necessarily to convert it back to fiat,” Elion Chin, co-creator of peer-to-peer electronic cash system Nimiq, told Blockworks.&nbsp;



Meanwhile, Mastercard found financial institutions&#8217; support of crypto could also boost consumers&#8217; confidence in the space: About 69% of people in Latin America and the Caribbean would feel more confident investing — and 67% would feel comfortable in making or receiving payments in crypto — if “they were issued or backed by a trusted organization.”



Another 82% of respondents acknowledge they would like to have crypto-related functions available directly from their current financial institution.



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/el-salvador-buys-550-bitcoins-officially-adopts-the-crypto-as-legal-tender/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">El Salvador</a> became the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender last year. In other countries like Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, Brazil and Chile, more <a href="https://newsinamerica.com/en/business/2021/latin-american-countries-accept-payments-for-houses-in-bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">real estate companies</a> allow homebuyers to purchase or rent homes in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.



In April, Colombian delivery app <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/delivery-app-rappi-begins-accepting-cryptocurrency-mexico-2022-04-11/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rappi</a>, with operations in nine Latin American countries, partnered with Bitpay and Bitso to launch a crypto payment pilot program in Mexico as a first foray into crypto payment adoption.



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