Crypto is not boring — you finally understand how it really works

In recent months, the cryptocurrency industry appears to be accelerating. This is evident not only in the growing numbers but primarily in a shift in approach to fundamental issues. The key difference? The handbrake of regulation has just been released.

For years, stablecoins were treated like dangerous children in the sandbox — a potential threat that needed to be monitored. Now, with clear rules of the game established, projects can finally focus on building real products for ordinary people, not just crypto enthusiasts. This changes everything.

From Revolution to Practice

Satoshi Nakamoto elegantly solved one problem: how to create digital money that cannot be copied. But he overlooked an important aspect — identity verification. And here lies the entire unnoticed gap.

Modern money is not just a number. It also involves intent, which must be verified. If the financial system cannot determine who is making a transaction, it will never gain society’s trust. Banks need to know whether the payer is on the sanctions list. This is not paranoia — it’s a condition for legality.

Why is this important? Because current solutions are laughable. You take a stablecoin, send it through the blockchain, convert it back to fiat currency — something the industry jokingly calls a “stablecoin sandwich.” Sounds advanced? Not at all. It’s old and new techniques combined in the most boring way possible. And — ironically — a developer has to hire a coordinator to handle legality instead of connecting directly to the blockchain.

Where is the solution?

An international tech event in San Francisco revealed something interesting. Alex Blania and Sam Altman discussed a future where artificial intelligence will be ubiquitous. One key problem emerged: how to distinguish humans from bots?

This question led to the concept of “Proof of Personhood” — confirming that you are indeed a person. Scanning the iris of everyone in the world, which initially seemed like an absurd sci-fi fantasy, is gradually becoming a practical tool. Paul Buchheit summarized it perfectly: “The future might need two currencies — one for machines and one for humans.”

It turns out, this is not marketing. It’s infrastructure for the AI era.

Wallet for Ordinary People

A new wallet app demonstrates what this looks like in practice. It integrates virtual bank accounts from 18 countries, Visa cards, and local payment systems. Users deposit their salary and pay with a card — nothing revolutionary, but it works.

Why isn’t this free? Because banks need to charge fees to make a profit. But when blockchain handles settlements? The cost approaches zero. For traditional banks, an international transfer requires a “diplomatic mission” through several institutions and a fax. For blockchain, it’s just an update to a ledger entry.

This is a seven-billion-dollar market waiting for a solution.

Mini Apps as a Hidden Breakthrough

In 2024, the industry reconsidered something that seemed trivial — mini applications embedded directly into apps. Sounds boring? Indeed. But it has a subversive impact on market structure.

The main trick: developers can distribute software without the approval of the App Store and without paying a 30% commission. This changes the economics of the entire industry. Add strong identity verification, and developers gain entirely new business opportunities.

The world shifted its strategy from “scan or get out” to something more flexible — verified identity has become a premium feature. It turns out users are reluctant to share biometric data for abstract future benefits, but are willing to do so when they can gain tangible, material advantages.

Privacy-Preserving Communication

The last piece of the puzzle is private communication. A new tool tests a decentralized messaging protocol integrated directly into the app. Compared to Signal, WhatsApp, or Telegram, it offers an extraordinary advantage — it operates without registration, phone number, or tracking.

The main innovation? Conversations truly disappear. They are not stored anywhere, not indexed anywhere. In a world where every Slack and email lives forever, this is a luxury.

The first users will be investigative journalists. But the very idea of restoring privacy as the default mode of human communication — instead of a suspicious exception — is a paradigm shift.

Why Now?

All these experiments were possible earlier, but no one combined them. Cryptocurrency infrastructure has finally matured enough to do exactly what it promised ten years ago — but now it does it “boringly.” Practical enough to have value. Useful enough to work.

And it’s happening at the perfect moment. Artificial intelligence will accelerate, and the ability to cryptographically verify the truth — whether something was created by a human — is transitioning from a cypherpunk passion to an essential infrastructure of the entire economy.

This is not a revolution. It’s evolution.