Crypto and NFTs are changing the way money is moved across the globe, says the COO of Crypto.com

Although less than a decade old, digital innovations such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs are transforming industries across the globe at a breakneck speed.

In an indication of the industrys rapid growth, the payment and cryptocurrency platform has 10 million users at the latest count in February, said Eric Anziani, chief operating officer at Crypto.com.

We are in a space thats changing the way money is moved across the globe, there are application and opportunities that are being created for brands, individuals, creators, developers said Anziani.

It’s going to be massive, and you have to aim high to grow the pie. We’re not in a game of gaining market share here and there; we’re here to grow the pie and that’s why we have so many people joining us. The industry is massive and it is changing our lives, he continued, speaking during his interview on the Spencer Lodge Podcast.

Such growth has inevitably brought on increased regulations with some countries feel safer using their traditional frameworks and trying to put crypto inside it, while others have created a completely new framework, explained Anziani listing Dubai and Singapore as examples of the latter.

My views is that creating a new framework is probably the right way to go. This technology is very different, it moves at a very different pace and it does need some new rules, he said.

If the regulators and the different stakeholders in the government are taking a proactive stance and embracing the technology to a certain extent, people are coming. We have seen it happen Dubai and Singapore, continued Anziani.

It is within this context that crypto.com is setting up its regional hub, from which it will serve the Middle East and Africa, in Dubai.

Eric Anziani (L), chief operating officer at Crypto.com spoke during his interview on the Spencer Lodge Podcast

For crypto.com, were investing in Dubai, we’re a founding partner of Investopedia, this great platform to share knowledge around FinTech and crypto, and we can see people coming here, building companies, getting licenses, and trying to create the next wave of opportunities. It’s quite impressive, he added.

I think Dubai is a place where we see the government and the different stakeholders pushing for innovation to happen, embracing Web3, decentralised finance, and all this blockchain technology, said Anziani.

It’s very clear that there’s a strong willingness from the top to invest and create opportunities in the UAE and for the world. We recognise that and are building offices here, recruiting talent and thinking of how we can contribute in terms of training and education in the space and we’re investing also in building that knowledge base, he continued.

NFTs and gaming as the future of crypto.com

From its inception in 2016, crypto.com has evolved to include the option to purchase NFTs directly from the platform.

Describing community creation as the first layer of NFTs, Anziani said the second layer is more about the ability to share the value of whatever that NFT represents, whether it is art, access to community, music or tokenisation of a business.

Crypto.com is now looking to establish a regional hub in Dubai

You can sell it everywhere in the world, it’s liquid, you don’t need to ship it and the creator can get royalty out of it through its lifecycle. That liquidity and the fact that the value is shared throughout that journey is breakthrough and that’s why I think it’s going to take up a huge space and bring so much value, he continued.

The next step for the digital currency exchange giant is the introduction of gaming, explained Anziani.

Gaming is the next wave in terms of use case and we’ve started to make some progress on this through investment and building infrastructure to support developers, he said.

Our community hasn’t seen too much yet on this, but they will definitely see more in the coming years where our platform will include both crypto and NFTs which you can earn through gaming and sell for crypto, he continued.

Because creators and developers can be part of the value created versus Web2.0, Anziani said Web.3 it’s a lot fairer and a lot more equitable across the value chain of the participants. That’s the big difference and you see it in gaming where people actually can earn cryptocurrency and use the value they’ve created within the game through NFT.

As the cryptocurrency ecosystem continues to develop, Anziani foresees two main risks.

Although it’s only five years that the company was created, it is super critical for us to remain relevant and to continue to invest in new initiatives and bold ideas, whether directly or through investments where we [with our partners] together grow the industry, he said.

So that part, you know, keeping the innovation pace as high as possible, is something that is top of mind for us all the time, he added.

Regulation is another topic: Were becoming more mainstream as an industry so there is less worry on that than in the early days but you still need to be quite flexible. Some countries are still changing their regulatory framework so you need to be able to adjust rapidly and build a business that is resilient even if those changes happen, continued Anziani.

The Spencer Lodge Podcast focuses on entrepreneurship, personal and professional development, commercial confidence, leadership, and motivation.

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