What was once considered a speculative fringe movement is quickly becoming part of the world’s financial plumbing, according to executives from Binance, Revolut and Circle (CRCL), who spoke at Consensus Miami on Wednesday.
“We were in the prohibition era,” said Rachel Conlan, Chief Marketing Officer at Binance. “Now we are in the infrastructure phase.”
Conlan said crypto is evolving beyond commerce to functional everyday uses and is “on the way to becoming the fabric of everyday society.”
That shift is increasingly visible in consumer finance. Mazen ElJundi, global business head of investments at Revolut, said crypto’s narrative has moved from speculation toward “real utility and scaling.”
Operating in more than 40 countries and serving over 75 million customers, Revolut is now integrating crypto into a wider suite of banking services, including money transfers and stablecoin usage. “Crypto is about banking without borders,” he said.
At Circle, SVP of marketing Tim Queenan said institutions are increasingly exploring how to move core financial infrastructure onchain. “The infrastructure should be boring,” he said. “What you build on top of that is the interesting part.” Queenan pointed out that stablecoins are becoming so embedded in payments that many users no longer think of themselves as crypto users.
The panelists said institutional momentum, from exchange-traded fund (ETF) approvals to large asset managers putting money on the chain, is boosting retail adoption globally.
But there are still challenges. Conlan said the industry still needs to reduce friction and make onboarding easier.
Read more: Crypto ETFs go mainstream as traditional finance locks in
