Aptos Labs CEO Unveils Three Potent Catalysts for Attracting a Billion New Crypto Enthusiasts

• Aptos Labs CEO Mo Shaikh says 3 Web3 applications could drive adoption among a billion new crypto users.
• He said that universal on-chain identity, stablecoins, or open finance tools could all be crypto’s “killer app.”
• Shaikh praised PayPal’s move into stablecoins.

Mass adoption has long been a goal for crypto advocates. But a decade-and-a-half on from the invention of Bitcoin, progress has been slow.

In a recent podcast , the CEO and co-founder of Aptos Mo Shaikh observed that no single Web3 application today has a billion users. Shaikh pinpointed three blockchain use cases with the potential to onboard the next billion crypto users while speculating on the elusive ‘killer app’ driving adoption.

1. Universal On-Chain Identity

Observing that every Web3 user requires a unique set of credentials for each blockchain network they interact with, Shaikh remarked that “if I had the same identity that I could take with me everywhere, that would be Amazing.”

He also acknowledged that the emphasis on blockchain interoperability has somewhat evolved in recent years.

He suggested that for the Web3 ecosystem to truly thrive, the protocols that power it must work together seamlessly. Ultimately, he said Aptos is working on the assumption that 1 to 3 protocols will come to dominate and attract the majority of all network activity in the future.

1. Stablecoins

When it comes to payment-based use cases, Shaikh observed that demand for dollar-based stablecoins has driven more adoption than pure-play cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

“Demand for the US dollar has been a phenomenal growth lever for the large stablecoin issuers that you see today,” he said.

Pointing to the launch of PayPal’s PUSD, Shaikh called the decision by one of the largest payment network operators in the world to embrace dollar-based stablecoins “a ray of light” for the crypto ecosystem.

With hundreds of millions of users, PayPal’s move into stablecoins represents exactly the kind of Web2 to Web3 migration that could drive the next wave of crypto adoption, he noted.

1. Open Finance

Discussing how he anticipates decentralized finance will evolve beyond its current state, Shaikh said that “open finance,” could be “the next permutation of DeFi.”

Speculating that the decentralized exchanges of today could extend to a wider variety of economic activity beyond swapping different crypto tokens, the Aptos CEO observed that “access to global economies through open protocols could really be empowering [to create] the next generation of wealth.”