Unveiling the Hidden Crypto User Base: Insights from Joey Shin @IOSG

Summary of Key Findings in the Crypto Landscape

Payments and New Types of Banks: Users Beyond the Radar of VCs

E-Commerce: The Shadow Economy and Regulatory Challenges

Speculation: The End of the Perpetual War in Decentralized Markets

Stablecoin Infrastructure: Tron’s Dominance in Consumer-Grade Blockchain

Conclusion: The Lifecycle of Regulatory Arbitrage and DeFi Evolution

The Hidden Boom: How Emerging Markets Are Driving Crypto Adoption

By Joey Shin @IOSG

In a world where the crypto industry often laments its lack of users, a different narrative is emerging—one that highlights a thriving ecosystem just outside the gaze of Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Recent data reveals that consumer-grade crypto has already amassed tens of millions of active users in regions like Manila, Lagos, Buenos Aires, and Hanoi, challenging the prevailing notion of a stagnant market.

The Numbers Speak

Leading the charge is Coins.ph, boasting an impressive 18 million users in the Philippines, primarily utilizing the Tron USDT track. MiniPay, Opera’s mobile stablecoin wallet, has captured 4.2 million weekly active users, with a staggering monthly transaction volume of $153 million and a year-on-year growth rate of 506%. Meanwhile, Lemon Cash has surged to the top of Argentina’s app charts, with 5.4 million downloads and quadrupled monthly active users since 2021.

Despite these impressive figures, the English-language media largely overlooks these developments. The protocols that dominate discussions among Western venture capitalists often fail to generate the same level of user engagement as Tron’s shadow clearing network, which can process more transactions in an hour than some of these protocols do in an entire day.

The Geographic Divide

The crypto user problem is fundamentally geographic. While Western VCs focus on protocols that may not yield immediate returns, the real action is happening in emerging markets where crypto is being embraced as a viable alternative to traditional banking systems. For instance, Paga processes a staggering 17 trillion naira in transactions annually in Nigeria, although the percentage related to crypto remains unclear.

The consensus among experts is that the next billion users are already here, but the bottleneck lies not in customer acquisition but in monetization. The gap between MiniPay’s active users and its undisclosed revenue highlights a significant challenge—and opportunity—within the industry.

The E-Commerce Dilemma

While many believe that crypto payments are gradually being adopted by e-commerce companies, the data tells a different story. No on-chain e-commerce protocol tracked by DeFiLlama generates more than $10,000 in daily revenue. The absence of competitors in this space raises questions about the viability of crypto as a mainstream payment solution.

What exists instead is a shadow economy operating on the Tron USDT track, facilitating peer-to-peer transactions that are informal yet vital. From remittances in the Philippines to freelance payments in Vietnam, these transactions underscore the real economic activity that is often overlooked.

The Future of Payments

The landscape of crypto payments is evolving, with companies like RedotPay emerging as clear leaders. With 6 million users and $158 million in annualized revenue, RedotPay exemplifies how consumer-grade crypto can generate real, recurring revenue at scale. Its model as a crypto-to-fiat card processor is paving the way for a new era of financial services in the Asia-Pacific region.

Meanwhile, Exodus, a publicly listed crypto company, reported $121.6 million in revenue in 2025, showcasing that profitable consumer-grade crypto companies exist, even if they don’t fit the traditional DeFi mold.

Speculation and Market Dynamics

The perpetual DEX war appears to be over, with Hyperliquid emerging as the dominant player, controlling over 70% of the on-chain perpetual marketplace. Its success is attributed not just to better user experience but to liquidity depth and brand recognition, illustrating that in the crypto space, the winner-takes-all dynamic is very much alive.

In the realm of prediction markets, Kalshi has outperformed its on-chain counterpart, Polymarket, by a staggering margin, demonstrating that product category selection and distribution channels are critical to success.

Conclusion: A New Era of Crypto

As the crypto landscape continues to evolve, it is clear that the most promising opportunities lie in emerging markets and the structural advantages they offer. The narrative of a stagnant crypto industry is being rewritten by the millions of users who are already engaged in this space.

For investors and stakeholders, the key takeaway is that the future of crypto is not just about decentralization or user experience; it’s about understanding the unique dynamics of different markets and the regulatory landscapes that shape them. The next wave of crypto innovation will likely come from those who can navigate these complexities and build sustainable, compliant business models.

As we look ahead, it’s essential to recognize that the real growth in crypto is happening where it matters most—among the users who are redefining what it means to engage with digital currencies.