Exclusive: Crypto Now a Daily Tool in Emerging Nations, Says Uphold’s Robin O’Connell

Crypto has become an essential daily tool in regions where local currencies are weaker, according to Robin O’Connell, the CEO of Uphold Enterprise.

O’Connell, who talked with Cryptonews correspondent Matt Zahab at the Consensus 2024 conference in Austin, Texas, discussed the company’s role in empowering individuals in weak currency nations through cryptocurrency adoption.

O’Connell began by introducing Uphold, an established player in the crypto space since 2014.

Known for their widely used wallet with millions of users worldwide, Uphold has now expanded its offerings through Uphold Enterprise.

Their latest product, Topper, serves as an on-ramp and off-ramp for self-custodial wallets, decentralized exchanges, and DeFi projects.

Topper provides a regulated entity that handles the necessary procedures like KYC and bank connectivity, simplifying the process of buying and selling crypto for users.

Crypto Adoption in Emerging Countries Soars

The conversation quickly turned to the impact of crypto adoption in emerging countries.

While North America sees limited crypto adoption outside of the dedicated crypto community, in regions like South America and Eastern Asia, where local currencies are weaker, crypto has become an essential daily tool.

Uphold Enterprise, in collaboration with Topper, aims to bridge the gap by providing access and onboarding solutions to empower individuals in these regions.

O’Connell highlighted that Topper operates as a B2B business, integrating with existing self-custodial wallets that have millions of users globally.

By partnering with these wallets, Uphold Enterprise extends its services to end-users in regions like Latin America, offering more payment options and facilitating crypto transactions.

“We’re integrating and integrated into a lot of major self-custodial wallets that already have millions of users all over the world. So the other part of the process though is we’re then also servicing the end user and if the end user is in Latin America for instance we can service those users.”

Uphold to Expand Services in New Regions

When asked about recent updates, O’Connell tantalizingly hinted at an upcoming announcement regarding a new region where Uphold will expand its services.

While he couldn’t disclose the specifics, he mentioned that the move would make it easier for users in that region to buy crypto directly through their bank’s payment rails.

These expansions align with Uphold’s mission to simplify the process and provide more options for individuals to participate in the Web3 economy.

“Playing off of what we just discussed, the more we can do to make it easy for people more options the more people will onboard into Web3.”

Looking ahead, O’Connell expressed his excitement about the future of digital finance.

He said that the Consensus conference itself showcased the energy and multitude of ideas driving the industry.

With increased real-world adoption of stablecoins and cross-border remittance, O’Connell acknowledged the importance of regulation.

Earlier this year, Uphold warned customers that phishing scam emails posing as the company was trying to fleece users of the keys to their Bitcoin wallets.

“An SMS phishing message was sent to a small number of Uphold customers yesterday encouraging them to link self-custody wallets to a fake Uphold website in return for a crypto loyalty payment,” the company wrote in an email to clients at the time.

Consensus 2024: From Dune Analytics to Politics

Cryptonews reporters Rachel Wolfson and Matt Zahab were on the ground at Consensus 2024. Taking interviews from industry leaders and pioneers, as well as prominent analysts, they bring you the latest updates from one of the biggest crypto events globally.