Ask anyone in technology and without question 2018 should be renamed the “year of cryptocurrencies and blockchain.” Since 2017, there has been a surge in entrepreneurs, investors, start-ups towards starting an innovative cryptocurrency business. Now, projects and companies have become so developed i.e. “BitExchange”, you can get ready-made blockchain projects to commence start your business in 2019 straight away. With this technology available, what opportunities are there now to start a specific cryptocurrency or blockchain business?
A cryptocurrency crowdfunding service
Small but mass participation of investing from the “average” investors I definitely one of the hot growth areas of finance in the last 5 years. Budding entrepreneurs often face rejection from investors who fail to see the value in the product and invest. Their secondary medium of choice to raise funds? Crowdfunding. How does it work? Crowdfunding is a concept that allows a large pool of general public to see what the idea is and then, if they believe in the idea, can choose to contribute anything from £10 to unlimited until the desired target price of revenue has been reached. All this in return for proportionate equity.
Cryptocurrency is not judgemental about age, gender or geography. A blockchain powered crowdfunding business would enable investors of all backgrounds across different countries to back good ideas, without any limitations with almost any viable cryptocurrency (no need to change fiat) from anywhere in the world, instantly thanks to blockchain transaction technology. A “plug and play” crowdfunding script would help to start a crowdfunding business immediately and every transaction is done through the platform, whether people buy a token, sell a token or when creators want to withdraw the sum in a fiat currency raised would be subject to a small commission in percentage form.
A crypto style bank for lending
As the world of finance changes, the way capital is lent will change and what actually is defined as capital will too. It is predicted that millennials are looking for avenues to make wise investments with fewer risks and high returns as they themselves have less money than their baby boomer parents. This is a pre-built, educated and ambitious market to go after. Giving them a guaranteed return for a fixed period of time would woo investors who would want to lend their cryptocurrency assets.
Alternatively, it could be as simple as lending a stable or most dominant cryptocurrency. Bitcoin borrowing and lending script, you can start a lending business, manage the customer’s, keep track of the transactions, automatically remind borrowers to payback on time across channels, etc. Revenue into the business would be partially through the investments you make with these cryptocurrencies and also via interest paid back by the borrower.
Cryptocurrency exchange business
Image credit: Travis / Adobe Stock
A cryptocurrency exchange is critical for an investor to seamlessly trade (buy or sell) their cryptocurrencies for other cryptocurrencies or various fiat currency (USD, AUD, EUR, GBP). Volatility and volume have been drastically reduced as the year has gone on however due to the recent increase in awareness on mainstream media on crypto, more private investors attempting to diversify their portfolios, the scale of demand cannot be handled by the existing exchanges. Hence, there’s scope for more exchanges.
In the recent times, it is even easier for an entrepreneur to start a cryptocurrency exchange business by using a ready-made cryptocurrency exchange script that efficiently matches all the orders on the platform and safely executes the transactions. Things have moved on since then with SEC/FCA regulation pending, you would need to invest in securing the exchange as it is a prerequisite for starting an exchange. If the exchange is the perfect blend of user experience, security and broad options for users to trade then it’s very much a case of “build it and people will come.”
Blockchain powered cross-border payments applications
Payments and fintech is the hot commodity for top finance companies to acquire this year. You can wire money on almost any messaging app these days as well as banks, brokerages and standard payment apps. Still, making cross-border payments when corporate or private is expensive and settlement can take days owing to middlemen e.g. Banks, exchange agencies, etc and settlement systems that were built to make money at every stage of a transaction. A cost for the privilege is applied too. A blockchain powered app that uses Stellar Lumen’s token, XLM would enable faster transactions by cutting off additional middlemen that slow down the process. Read more about how cryptocurrencies are changing the future of payments.
Payments made in the sender’s fiat currency e.g. $ would be converted to XLM tokens and the XLM tokens are sent to the recipient. The recipient can then request for withdrawal in their fiat currency. In the background, XLM is converted to their region’s fiat currency and deposited to recipient’s bank account. This could also work for Ripple’s XRP, for example, is already on trial. All this at a fraction of the cost and less than a day’s time and now you probably know why it’s among the list of trending cryptocurrency business ideas.
Cryptocurrency wallets
It’s no secret that cryptocurrency exchanges are extremely vulnerable to attacks and safety and security, certainly to the older generation, is paramount. When crypto is purchased, the next stage should be to move the various tokens to a tried and tested cryptocurrency wallet. Seasoned traders often shift the cryptocurrencies to a secure wallet that is not operated by the exchange itself to add another layer of security but differing between providers. You should also diverse platforms and where you store crypto in case one platform gets hacked. Starting a Wallet-as-a-service platform would require you to securely store the cryptocurrencies on behalf of the users.
Additionally, if you can build the capability to send and receive cryptocurrencies, it makes people’s lives easier. Regulation is coming so compliance and KYC would be a hefty expense of time and money but a good revenue stream would still be integrating wallets in the corporate market to aid their future cryptocurrency payments. You would make money on every transaction executed through the wallet or charge them a subscription fee for constantly, predicted income.
