The overlap between traditional finance and cryptocurrencies has become more pronounced in the last few years, with some online crypto services offering Visa-backed cards supporting crypto payments. However, the infrastructure gap between traditional banking and crypto is barely narrowing.
Banks are generally much slower to adopt innovative technologies due to their complex and strict regulatory environment. Management consulting firm McKinsey found that bank IT applications are older than average across industries, indicating sluggish change.
When it comes to crypto adoption, banks are even more hesitant, as digital assets rely on decentralized infrastructure while many jurisdictions still cannot propose clear regulations.
Many banks stay away from crypto
Many traditional banks stay away from crypto either because they don’t want to be associated with risky and unregulated assets or because of the tight oversight from financial watchdogs.
In the U.S., the Federal Reserve warned member banks in February 2023 that it would ban a large portion of crypto banking activity, citing increasing fraud cases. Meanwhile, it denied crypto-focused Custodia Bank to become a Fed member.
In August, the Fed developed a new supervision program to oversee the banks engaging with crypto.
In the UK, JPMorgan’s British retail bank Chase announced in September that it would ban crypto transactions from clients, also citing an increase in fraud and scams.
The fact that traditional banks actively stay away from integrating crypto operations hinders adoption, making it more difficult for non-tech-savvy consumers to benefit from the power of Web3 and decentralization. Centralized (CEXs) and decentralized (DEXs) exchanges are an alternative, but they are too complex and have a limited reach.
Narrowing the gap between banks and crypto
As digital assets become more widely adopted, traditional banks that don’t consider integrating crypto are more at risk of being left behind. Meanwhile, some blockchain-based services are taking the lead in bridging the gap between banks and digital assets.
Renegade is a new platform that aims to bring traditional banking closer to crypto users. The platform aims to offer a single ecosystem, bringing users’ traditional finances and crypto holdings in one place.
Renegade’s all-in-one app acts as a crypto wallet with an integrated exchange option, enabling users to buy and sell digital currencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and its native RNG token. The app also integrates with a banking IBAN account thanks to the partnership with Intergiro, an electronic money institution (EMI) licensed by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. This integration allows users to easily convert and move funds from crypto to traditional banking and vice versa.
Source: Renegade
On top of that, Renegade offers a Visa card, which is also provided in collaboration with Intergiro. The card features cashback rewards of up to 8%, paid in RNG. The card is compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay, enabling users to pay with crypto and make purchases like with any other Visa card.
In addition, the Renegade app offers custodial and noncustodial wallet capabilities in partnership with DFNS, which provides wallet-as-a-service infrastructure. Crypto lending powered by ORKA Ventures, a holding company focusing on fintech, and staking pools allow users to apply for micro-loans and stake the native RNG to earn passive income.
Moreover, Renegade plans to launch v2 and go live with its full suite of features. Early adopters will benefit from two exclusive nonfungible tokens (NFTs) — Renegade Carbon Card NFT and Renegade Founder NFTs — offering cashback of up to 3-5%. These limited-edition NFTs are now available on the marketplace OpenSea and grant holders various rewards and permanent card perks without requiring additional RNG token staking.
The Renegade app is now available for download on the App Store and Google Play and is poised to transform the way users perceive and manage their finances. It offers a comprehensive suite of features tailored for the modern user and narrowing the gap with traditional banking.
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