The crypto revolution remains half-built

Despite surging crypto adoption in emerging markets, the promise of financial sovereignty remains unfulfilled. Millions hold digital wealth they can’t easily use without seamless payment systems and practical off-ramps.

Opinion by: Timothy Chen, global head of strategy, Mantle 

While crypto adoption accelerates across Southeast Asia and Latin America, a deeper structural problem persists: Payments remain slow, error-prone and exclusionary. The premise of financial sovereignty through blockchain remains tantalizingly incomplete. 

Millions hold digital assets, yet they cannot seamlessly integrate them into daily life. This paradoxical disconnect — digital wealth without practical utility — represents a critical infrastructural gap where emerging markets suffer most. 

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