Lately, I’ve been researching how traditional financial apps handle changing user demand. Across several payment reports and fintech conversations, one consistent pattern kept popping up: nearly 88% of merchants say they receive regular inquiries about digital asset payments, yet only 39% can actually process them.

That gap is massive. Hundreds of thousands of active accounts use their primary payment provider for daily fiat transfers, but millions of dollars end up quietly flowing out to external exchanges the moment users want to touch crypto.

The Infrastructure Trap

The obvious reaction might be: “Why not just build native crypto features in-house?”

But looking closely at the engineering and compliance side reveals why so few teams pull it off.

Adding digital asset capabilities isn’t just about setting up a few APIs.

It requires building multi-chain security, designing vault-grade custody architectures, and spending months navigating strict regulatory frameworks like MiCA.

For a typical Electronic Money Institution (EMI), attempting to build all of this from scratch takes years, costs millions, and steals resources away from the core roadmap.

How Crypto-as-a-Service Bridges the Gap

Looking at how the industry is adapting, the most efficient workaround isn’t building a second company — it’s integration.

Through Crypto-as-a-Service, institutions plug into existing liquidity, custody, and licensing frameworks to roll out white-label crypto features under their own brand.

Here is how three notable players approach this infrastructure model:

• WhiteBIT CaaS strikes a clean balance between extensive asset coverage and straightforward integration. By connecting to WhiteBIT’s CaaS infrastructure, institutions can gain access to 340+ digital assets across 80+ networks while offloading the backend VASP licensing and automated KYC/AML checks.
• Coinbase CaaS focuses on high-touch institutional execution, deep liquidity, and subcustody tailored for banks and enterprise brokers. Their infrastructure covers everything from USDC settlement rails to Base L2 integration for higher-throughput applications.
• BitGo emphasizes federal oversight, multi-signature wallet security, and institutional insurance. Through plug-and-play APIs, fintechs can embed trading, staking, and wallet transfers directly into their app while leveraging BitGo’s licensing posture.

What This Could Mean for a Business

• Faster time-to-market: integrating an existing framework could cut deployment timelines from years down to weeks, allowing teams to test new offerings without scaling up engineering headcount.
• Simplified compliance overhead: partnering with specialized infrastructure providers might help offload complex licensing, custody management, and AML/KYC obligations to an external entity.
• Better capital retention: offering native digital asset functionality could help keep user balances and daily transaction volume within your own ecosystem instead of watching funds flow out to third-party exchanges.
• New potential monetization channels: unlocking crypto capabilities opens up potential new revenue streams through trading spreads, custody fees, or integrated yield products.

From what I can see,

the financial platforms that scale fastest over the next few years won’t be the ones trying to build every complex piece of tech in-house. They’ll be the ones that double down on their core user experience and integrate for everything else.

If your customers are already moving funds out to interact with crypto, the real question isn’t whether to follow them — it’s how fast you can bridge that gap without taking on overwhelming operational overhead.

Why 88% of merchants want crypto payments, but only 39% actually accept them was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Every Web3 writer knows the feeling: you spend 2 hours researching market dynamics, perfecting your data charts, and polishing your prose, only to hit “Publish” and get… 12 claps.

So, how do you break the Medium algorithm and get people clapping like you’re handing out free Bitcoin?

The honest answer: I actually have no idea.

But at the very least, I had the audacity to write an entire article pretending I do. And if we are being serious, the crypto niche on Medium doesn’t follow standard blogging rules. It operates on a brutal mix of narrative timing, structural scanning, and raw institutional insights. If you give the community exactly what they are looking for in the right wrapper, the claps will follow.

Let’s break down the exact playbook of what actually works, based on the pieces that resonated most with my own audience.

1. What to Write About: The Topics That Actually Scale

Crypto changes faster than AI can generate market memes. If you’re writing about what was trending last month, you’re already irrelevant. Based on my top-performing articles, the Medium algorithm rewards deep-dives into macroeconomic realities and market friction over generic “top altcoin” lists.

Take a look at what actually cuts through the noise:

• Macro realities vs. local trends:

Articles like my piece “Crypto’s Global Divide in 2026: Who Really Leads the Digital Asset Economy?” kill it because they tackle the bigger picture. People want to understand how regional regulations, institutional adoption, and shifting global liquidity are drawing new battle lines in Web3.

• Infrastructure friction:

The B2B and institutional crowd on Medium is massive. When I published “P2P is a Crowded Street. SEPA is a Private Jet” it took off because I broke down how a strategic profit take of €50,000 via traditional P2P turns into an operational nightmare of fragmented transfers and AML red flags, and how we could solve this by pivoting the funds to the WhiteBIT On/Off-Ramp to achieve unified settlement, predictable costs, and full compliance.

• Forward-looking narrative shifts:

Generic Bitcoin analysis is a red ocean. On the other hand, my article “Forget Bitcoin: These 5 Crypto Trends Will Dominate 2026” (published in DataDrivenInvestor) performed incredibly well because it gave readers a specific, actionable thesis on what comes next — whether that’s RWA tokenization, corporate capital allocation, or advanced crypto backends for fintechs.

2. Hooking the Reader: The Art of the Narrative Headline

Your title is 80% of the battle. If it’s boring, no one will ever find out how brilliant your analysis is. However, crypto readers have a high filter for absolute garbage. If you use cheap clickbait like “This Token Will 100x Tomorrow,” they will mute you.

Instead, frame your headlines around contrasts, scaling issues, or high-stakes analysis:

• The contrast frame: “P2P is a Crowded Street. SEPA is a Private Jet.” (Creates immediate visual contrast and curiosity).
• The macro frame: “Crypto’s Global Divide in 2026: Who Really Leads the Digital Asset Economy?” (Promises a global, high-level perspective).
• The contrarian frame: “Forget [X]: Why [Y] Will Dominate the Next Quarter.” (Challenges the current consensus).

3. How to Structure: Writing for the Short Attention Span

Crypto native readers have notoriously short attention spans. If they open your article and see a massive, unbroken wall of text, they will bounce immediately.

• Make it scannable:

Use clear H2/H3 headers, bullet points, and bold text for your core thesis. A reader should be able to scroll through your piece in 5 seconds and perfectly understand the core argument.

• Use real-world case studies:

Instead of speaking in abstract terms, anchor your points with a story. For instance, when analyzing why P2P doesn’t scale for five- or six-figure sums, walk them through the operational nightmare: the fragmentation of a €50,000 payout into dozens of tiny unverified transfers, the spread volatility, and the inevitable banking red flags.

• Bring the visuals:

Ditch the generic, uninspiring stock photos of physical gold Bitcoins resting on a laptop. Instead, embed real data charts, clean infographics, or well-placed industry memes. Visual breaks give the reader’s brain a chance to process your data.

4. The Secret Sauce: Real Distribution

Writing the article is only half the battle. Even the best content will die in absolute silence if you don’t feed the algorithm its initial momentum.

• Cross-pollinate your ecosystem:

The moment your Medium article goes live, break it down into a highly readable, 3-bullet summary. Drop that summary into your Telegram channel, your CoinMarketCap community profile, or an X thread, with a direct link to read the full breakdown on Medium. Bringing external, highly-engaged traffic tells Medium’s internal curation system that your article is “hot.”

• Be opinionated:

Don’t write like a neutral Wikipedia page. Have a strong, data-backed stance. If you think a specific crypto infrastructure trend is completely overhyped, say it clearly. The resulting debate in the comments section is pure fuel for the platform’s visibility algorithms.

• The power of the CTA:

Never forget that Medium users can clap up to 50 times per article. Don’t be afraid to explicitly remind them at the very end — most readers simply forget that it’s a sliding scale, not a single ‘like’ button.

So, if you appreciated this guide — or if you simply respected the hustle of writing a meta-analysis on claps — you know exactly what to do with that button below. 50 claps don’t click themselves!

What topics are currently bringing you the highest engagement in the Web3 space? Let’s talk in the comments.

How to Get 50,000 Claps on Medium as a Crypto Writer was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF) industry is shaking up, but this time, it’s for all the right reasons. Brian Daly, Director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, made a striking admission: the regulator “did a poor job” handling cryptocurrency ETFs and announced a major shift in how it will approach complex financial products moving forward.

What does this mean for the market, investors, and upcoming innovations like private asset ETFs (e.g., SpaceX shares) or prediction markets? Let’s break down the key takeaways.

📌 Admitting Mistakes: Moving from Defense to Transparency

For the past few years, the relationship between the SEC and the crypto industry felt like a battlefield — marked by endless lawsuits, prolonged delays, and regulatory uncertainty that eroded market trust.

Now, the Commission is officially pivoting:

• Self-criticism: Brian Daly candidly admitted the SEC mishandled crypto ETFs, damaged its relationship with the industry, and is now actively trying to rebuild that trust.
• A new philosophy: instead of playing defense, the regulator aims to be more predictable and open.
• The meaning of “approval”: Daly highlighted a crucial nuance — the phrase “the SEC approved this ETF” is technically inaccurate. The Commission’s role is to ensure proper disclosure, assess legal risks, and prevent fraud, not to “bless” or endorse the investment asset itself.

🚀 The ETF Market Boom: The Numbers Don’t Lie

The ETF market is experiencing unprecedented exponential growth, putting immense pressure on regulatory capacity:

• 2019: only 332 new ETFs entered the market.
• Last year: The SEC received roughly 2,600 filings, with over 1,000 products actually launching.
• Current year: the pace has accelerated by 50% year-over-year, with about 1,800 applications already submitted.

🔮 The Main Challenge: Prediction Markets and Application “Spam”

A hot-button topic in the interview was event-contract (prediction market) ETFs, such as those tied to election outcomes.

The SEC’s primary fear isn’t the underlying asset itself, but a bureaucratic avalanche. Theoretically, a single sponsor could file up to 5,000 applications to cover every single Senate, House, or political event. Because the SEC doesn’t want to play arbiter on which prediction markets are “good” or “bad,” the industry has agreed to pause. The regulator is preparing a formal Request for Comment to gather feedback from exchanges, issuers, and financial advisors to build a proper framework

🔄 An Asset-Neutral Approach: One Framework to Rule Them All

Instead of reacting piecemeal by creating a “special rule for crypto” or a “special rule for prediction markets,” the SEC wants to implement an asset-neutral framework. This will provide a uniform, predictable standard for all complex products.

This new framework will cover several major areas:

1. Leveraged ETFs: these will remain under a specific legal framework that limits leverage ratios to protect retail investors.
2. Private asset ETFs: The SEC wants to responsibly open access to high-profile private companies (like SpaceX) for retail investors. Daly emphasized that having a ticker symbol fundamentally changes the game, making alternative assets dramatically more accessible to everyday investors.

💡 The Bottom Line

Even though spot Bitcoin ETFs previously faced local headwinds — experiencing their worst month on record for outflows in June — the macro trend remains clear.

The SEC views the ETF structure as one of the most successful financial innovations in history. By transitioning to transparent, asset-neutral rules, the regulator might just unleash a wave of brand-new investment instruments that retail investors could previously only dream of.

What are your thoughts on the SEC’s new approach?

A New Era for ETFs: SEC Admits Mistakes with Crypto and Announces a New Approach was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.