Crypto trading volumes down, interest in crypto up, says Revolut's crypto product owner

The ongoing crypto market turbulence has not dampened retail-investor spirits, according to Revolut's crypto product owner, Ed Cooper, who says interest in digital assets is soaring.

Despite trading volumes in crypto falling amid the crypto winter,  Cooper says the bear market has "forced" firms focus on their platform efficiency and adding value for users. 

Speaking at Bloomberg's Technology Summit yesterday, Cooper said the number of "new active people on the Revolut platform is much higher than in 2020", attributing the growth of new customers to crypto becoming a "mainstream asset" and one users are eager to "learn about".  

In July Revolut launched its "Learn & Earn" crypto educational courses, which have been taken by more than 1 million customers across 32 countries. Users are given DOT, the native crypto to the Polkadot ecosystem for completing the courses. 

"We are believers in this being a trend that is here to stay," said Cooper, noting that maturing technology and growing use cases were "most relevant" for the crypto industries longevity. 

(Ed Cooper and Irina Halvas, Bloomberg Technology Summit) 

This echoes a study conducted by the Bank of International Settlements, that found the maturing crypto infrastructure in the past four years to have been quintessential to mainstream accessibility and retail adoption. 

Critically, the study suggests that 40 per cent of respondents used neo-banks like PayPal to purchase cryptocurrencies, with 25.4 per cent using mobile phones. Digitisation has facilitated crypto-purchasing opportunities, with neo-banks and fintech firms spearheading the procilivity for retail adoption, the study suggests. 

However, Cooper notes that there are still "a lot of things that need to happen". Particularly as the industry shifts to web3, there are still too many instances in crypto trading, NFT purchasing and wallet technology that could give users a "heart attack", Cooper said. 

Security is certainly a core issue for mass adoption. Last month, cryptoasset riskfirm Elliptic reported that more than $100m worth of NFTs were stolen between July 2021 and July 2022. 

"The technology is still in its infancy" and crypto projects and currencies must develop before becoming "an asset you could trade on Revolut," Cooper said. 

On Tuesday, Revolut won the right to operate crypto exchange and custody services in the UK, afer meeting the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA)  money laundering standards.