Crypto Industry Must Shift Focus to Payments for Real-World Growth

Cryptocurrency has been plagued by a cycle of hype and collapse for years, with proponents promising mass adoption just around the corner. However, WeFi Group CEO Maksym Sakharov believes that this obsession with speculation has distracted the industry from its true potential.

Sakharov argues that the next stage of cryptocurrency development will be driven by payments, not trading or institutional investment. He points to the $3 trillion market size for payments revenue by 2029 and the average cost of sending remittances globally at 6.49% as evidence that this is where the industry's focus should lie.

WeFi's pitch is built around making cross-border transactions faster, cheaper, and more secure using stablecoins and distributed custody. Sakharov believes that mainstream adoption will come not from crypto-native spending, but from everyday financial tasks such as bills, payroll, and subscriptions.