Crypto Built the Tools — Now It Must Convince People to Use Them

Crypto firms spent years building financial products. The new challenge: getting everyday users and big companies to actually use and stick with them.

For years, crypto companies focused on building new financial products using blockchain (the digital technology that records transactions across many computers at once). Now they face a harder problem: getting real people and big institutions to actually use those products — and keep using them.

Why this matters: Crypto is getting closer to everyday finance. Companies have created things like tokenized funds and crypto-based lending, but building a product isn't enough. People need a reason to choose it.

At Coinbase (COIN), a major U.S. crypto exchange, executive Ben Shen says the industry used to be too focused on technology and too full of confusing jargon. His view: most customers simply want to grow, hold, send, spend, or borrow money — they don't care whether a blockchain powers it behind the scenes.

Coinbase describes keeping users as a cycle:

Money comes in — a paycheck or deposit
A reason to hold it — such as earning rewards
Ways to use it — trading, spending, or payments

They offer rewards (bonuses or extra earnings) to get people started, hoping users will stay even after a promotion ends.

Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary sees a similar problem for blockchain networks chasing big business. His message to them: "Show me adoption." He says it's not enough to run tests — networks need real deals and real companies using them. He added that word of mouth between competitors is the most powerful marketing tool.

Trust matters too. Shen notes that in finance, people are handing over savings and paychecks, so "social proof" — hearing others found a service reliable — is key.

Some firms are also taking products directly to where customers already are. WisdomTree, a $150 billion asset manager, is spreading its tokenized funds (traditional investment funds represented digitally on a blockchain) across more platforms. It teamed up with MoonPay so U.S. customers can buy its $1.2 billion tokenized money market fund (WTGXX) using stablecoins (crypto tied to a steady value like the dollar).

Bottom line: The crypto industry has finished building. The next battle is winning users' trust and habits — making these products genuinely useful in daily life.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/04/crypto-poured-years-into-new-products-the-next-challenge-is-keeping-users