Pavel is both right and wrong. Let me add color to a few things his article has missed:
1- Where I disagree is in jumping from “this is not the endgame” to “this has no future.”
We don’t go from SWIFT → self-custodial ZK-payments overnight. We never have in any infra shift.
TCP/IP didn’t kill fax machines in one day.
Cloud didn’t start serverless.
Mobile payments didn’t start QR-native everywhere.
Crypto cards exist because the merchant side hasn’t moved yet. And pretending otherwise is wishful thinking or paid shillers.
2- Card-as-a-Service, @rain or @gnosispay, @wirex,, and “anyone can launch a card” is not a weakness
Yes, when infra is commoditized it becomes a base layer to build better, it’s not a bug it’s acceleration.
If cards are easy to launch, the differentiation moves up-stack:
• Custody model
• Yield routing
• Tax efficiency
• FX transparency
• UX for spending
• Regional compliance nuance
3- I agree on one thing: most crypto cards will die
Absolutely washed during bear market conditions.
It’s not because “crypto cards are doomed”, but it’s because most are trying to be THE ONE, and they end up being a mirror, shallow, wrapper of the rest. No innovation, just marketing budget burn.
The survivors won’t be:
• Best neobanks
• Cashback gimmicks
• Narrative-driven launches
They’ll be:
• Self-custodial by default
• MultiStablecoin-native
• Safer Yield Strategies
• FX close to zero.
• Target a niche
• User-first
@EtherFi team is one example. @Exa_App is another, @fluidkey as well, @itstuyo another, @oobit it’s coming too. I know these are just a few. Most still suck. But don’t disregard those trying to build different with composable infra.
1- Where I disagree is in jumping from “this is not the endgame” to “this has no future.”
We don’t go from SWIFT → self-custodial ZK-payments overnight. We never have in any infra shift.
TCP/IP didn’t kill fax machines in one day.
Cloud didn’t start serverless.
Mobile payments didn’t start QR-native everywhere.
Crypto cards exist because the merchant side hasn’t moved yet. And pretending otherwise is wishful thinking or paid shillers.
2- Card-as-a-Service, @rain or @gnosispay, @wirex,, and “anyone can launch a card” is not a weakness
Yes, when infra is commoditized it becomes a base layer to build better, it’s not a bug it’s acceleration.
If cards are easy to launch, the differentiation moves up-stack:
• Custody model
• Yield routing
• Tax efficiency
• FX transparency
• UX for spending
• Regional compliance nuance
3- I agree on one thing: most crypto cards will die
Absolutely washed during bear market conditions.
It’s not because “crypto cards are doomed”, but it’s because most are trying to be THE ONE, and they end up being a mirror, shallow, wrapper of the rest. No innovation, just marketing budget burn.
The survivors won’t be:
• Best neobanks
• Cashback gimmicks
• Narrative-driven launches
They’ll be:
• Self-custodial by default
• MultiStablecoin-native
• Safer Yield Strategies
• FX close to zero.
• Target a niche
• User-first
@EtherFi team is one example. @Exa_App is another, @fluidkey as well, @itstuyo another, @oobit it’s coming too. I know these are just a few. Most still suck. But don’t disregard those trying to build different with composable infra.
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