Opening the doors to crypto for a broader audience — Interview with Nino Chanev

Navigating the complex terrain of decentralized finance (DeFi) toward mass adoption involves balancing technological innovation, user experience and market trust. With the ongoing evolution of Web3 technologies, the importance of developing effective onboarding strategies is more apparent than ever.

Changex , an all-in-one personal finance management app, aims to simplify the onboarding process. In this interview, Nino Chanev, head of marketing and business development at Changex, details the challenges faced by industry stakeholders and explains how Changex is innovating crypto adoption, ensuring it’s not just a realm for the tech-savvy but an inclusive space for all.

Cointelegraph: What has changed with Changex, and what can the users expect from the platform?

Nino Chanev: Changex has gone through a transformative journey during the last few months, and I am happy to share that in March of this year, we will officially announce Changex 2.0!

The most notable difference between Changex and Changex 2.0. is that instead of limiting users to our noncustodial wallet, we are adding the possibility of connecting multiple wallets to Changex and enabling virtually all crypto users to benefit from our on-and-off ramp, earn and banking functionalities. This feature, topped with our banking functionality, provides users with a unique experience where they can monitor all their crypto and fiat assets from one dashboard —a single point of control.

Changex launched an all-in-one dashboard to show fiat and crypto holdings on the same screen

But that’s far from all! We are also bringing an awesome web app due for our upcoming advanced trading options, a plethora of new assets that users can buy and sell and a multi-currency IBAN to move funds across the globe!

CT: How do you see the current state of Web3 and DeFi regarding the progress for mass adoption?

NC: The last two years were very rough for crypto. The collapses of Luna and FTX , combined with a heavy bear market, turned many people away. Despite this turnaround, we are witnessing the emergence of some great new products. Many of these aim to simplify the crypto experience for the masses, making me hopeful that the path toward mass adoption is steering in the right direction.

Changex is certainly one of the platforms that will play a major role in this, as it has been our vision since day one to become the platform that will be the vessel for mass crypto adoption.

CT: What technological barriers exist for crypto and Web3, especially for people from traditional finance and Web2?

NC: The biggest barrier for most people outside of crypto is that crypto moves very fast. Lighting speed! While virtually a dozen new tokens are being minted daily, nonfungible token (NFT) collections, apps, platforms and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are popping up left and right, and people simply can’t catch up. So, at some point, they just give up.

Another problem is poor user experience (UX). Most products within the industry are built for crypto natives, which makes navigating through them a nightmare for non-crypto-native users.

CT: How does Changex address those challenges?

NC: Changex solves these problems by streamlining the entire crypto end-to-end cycle in a single platform built with the Web2 investor in mind, meaning super simple UX. Changex enables investors to connect multiple wallets of their choosing, buy, sell, swap, earn and cash out with multi-currency IBAN and the Crypto Debit Card. It’s hassle-free, and everything happens on the same platform without the need to use any other software whatsoever.

CT: Do you think the fragmented nature of DeFi protocols and services poses a challenge for users?

NC: Absolutely, it does. This relates very much to what I mentioned earlier about people having problems catching up. There are many great protocols and strategies for people to take advantage of, but they are so fragmented that people simply don’t know where to start. There are also trust issues connected to that as well.

CT: What is your game plan to tackle this and provide a seamless experience?

NC: Changex is great at solving this, as next to our trading feature where users can buy crypto, we have our Earn page where, within five taps, users can stake the crypto they bought and start earning. There is no need to go anywhere else it is all within the same app.

In order to bring top-notch service, we are working with the industry’s top staking providers , and we plan on onboarding new and more sophisticated strategies so our users can benefit from the most advanced DeFi opportunities in a user-friendly interface.

CT: Can you explain how the Crypto Debit Card and multi-currency IBAN features work?

NC: The Crypto Debit Card and multi-currency IBAN are here to save the day when it comes to cashing out. Both of them are connected to users' accounts, and in order to use them, investors simply need to enable the feature through the platform.

While users can fund their Debit Card and IBAN with crypto that they have traded or earned by staking, they can also use fiat balances within their IBANs to buy crypto on the platform. This enables Changex users to manage both crypto and fiat from the same place and have the freedom to move funds and use them any way they like.

CT: How do you overcome the regulatory barriers while bridging crypto to traditional finance?

NC: Compliance and regulation have been hot topics in crypto lately and from our perspective, a clear and fair regulatory framework is a great step toward mass crypto adoption. One of the biggest advantages of Changex is the connected banking functionality, so compliance is something we are extremely thoughtful about. Hence, we have partnered with a fully regulated, crypto-friendly bank that follows all AML CTF guidelines and regulatory frameworks.

CT: Could you elaborate on how Changex intends to educate and onboard new users who may be less familiar with crypto?

NC: Providing well-structured and easy-to-understand content to users outside of crypto is crucial if we want to achieve mass adoption as an industry. With that in mind, we have built the Changex Academy , where we teach users about the essentials of blockchain and crypto.

However, the most powerful tool we can use in order to ensure smooth onboarding is impeccable UX and this is where Changex shines. We have put a lot of effort into simplifying every aspect of the app, and we are looking forward to onboarding the first users of our new platform as early as March.

CT: Changex will be attending Davos Crypto Week from Jan. 14th until 20th, what are your expectations, and what is Changex bringing to Davos?

NC: Davos Crypto Week is always great. I am looking forward to meeting friends, attending superb panels and selling some ongoing partnerships. I am also excited to expand on our B2B vertical, as we are bringing with us a custom-tailored opportunity for up-and-coming crypto projects to get their token listed and staking pool integrated into Changex under a special promo that lasts until the end of Q1.

Most importantly, we will use Davos Blockchain Week to kick-start our Seed Round fundraising efforts, and I am bringing “extra alpha” to share with interested parties.