German online bank N26 has teamed up with BitPanda to launch a new cryptocurrency trading product called N26 Crypto following strong local demand for cryptocurrency products. Chief Product Officer at N26, Gilles BianRosa, said: “The N26 banking experience has always been built around the customers’ needs, with features that make money management easy.”

N26 crypto has created a simple, easy-to-use cryptocurrency product that integrates seamlessly into N26’s existing banking platform, where customers’ bank balance, savings, and investment portfolios can be managed in one app.

Seamless Crypto Trade Platforms are Necessary for Mass Adoption

N26 has joined the list of financial institutions integrating and launching cryptocurrency-related services. N26 launched a trading service allowing eligible customers in Austria to trade cryptocurrencies. N26 plans to expand its cryptocurrency trading service to customers in other countries in the coming months; it also plans to integrate about 200 cryptocurrencies into its newly-launched trading platform.

According to the N26 press release, a new “Finance” tab would be integrated into the N26 app where eligible customers would be able to access N26 Crypto from the trading section. The eligibility criteria to access the crypto trading service in countries where the service is available include successful identity verification and other eligibility checks.

N26 focuses on a smooth user experience and an easy-to-use user interface. The trading service will also offer clear visualisation tools, in the form of charts and graphs, for customers to easily keep track of their crypto portfolio development over time. In the press release, N26 states that the sign-up, trading, and portfolio management processes are built to be seamless and easy to navigate. This is to encourage non-tech-savvy customers to explore modern financial assets. Typically, cryptocurrency exchanges are known to have very complex and intimidating user interfaces – candlestick charts, order books, and some visually-fussy elements. 

Accessing crypto with fiat money is also not very easy for newbies. To access cryptocurrency a buyer often needs to sign up on a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace, look for an order that meets their trade criteria, send fiat to an “unknown” user’s bank account, and then wait for the user to release the asset. The P2P platform holds the cryptocurrency of the seller in an escrow account; this way, problems with transactions are resolved without any party losing assets. However, most of the peer-to-peer exchanges have been infiltrated by malicious actors who sometimes receive buyers’ funds but end up refusing to release the crypto asset. Some newbie buyers without prior experience of how things work on these P2P platforms have been conned out of their hard-earned money. These types of incidents have been a deterrent to new users who would like to explore and invest in cryptocurrencies.

In the press release, N26 outlined the process of trading (buying and selling) cryptocurrencies on the app: To open a position (to buy cryptocurrency), customers simply need to select the coin and the amount they intend to trade; the cash equivalent of the trade will be deducted from the customer’s N26 bank balance, and the purchased coin will appear in their in-app crypto portfolio instantly. The same seamless process is applied when a customer chooses to close a position (to sell cryptocurrency). On closing a position, the fiat funds are made available instantly in the customer’s bank account. To make the process of trading even more seamless, N26 says there is also a drag-and-drop functionality for both transaction types. 

N26 has joined the list of neobanks offering crypto-to-fiat and fiat-to-crypto services. The ease of exchanging crypto for fiat and vice versa is essential for the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. In June, one of the largest online payment service providers PayPal announced (PYPL ) that its users can now transfer, send, and receive Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin between PayPal and other wallets and exchanges. Revolut, founded in the UK in 2015 to offer money transfer and exchange services, has recently received full registration for its crypto business in the UK according to a recent Bloomberg report. These payment platforms’ and banking service providers’ adoption and integration of cryptocurrencies is one sure-fire way for cryptocurrencies to reach mass adoption.

Crypto Demand Soars Despite Bear Market

Despite the bear market, crypto adoption has not slowed down. There has been a steady increase in on-chain cryptocurrency value received at exchanges, peer-to-peer exchange trade volume, and on-chain cryptocurrency value received from DeFi protocols since the last bull run in 2021, according to Chainanalysis 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index report. Generally, adoption slows in a bear market but remains above pre-bull market levels.

The new wave of crypto adoption is spreading rapidly across the globe despite the crypto ban in some jurisdictions (China ban), regulations, the collapse of entire ecosystems, and the general market downturn. Institutional investors, neo-banks and financial service providers are exploring ways to adopt and integrate cryptocurrency services to get their customers on board this new and promising asset class; private and government institutions are exploring ways to leverage blockchain technology to solve current problems and provide more efficient solutions.