Ramp unlocks the potential of crypto beyond exchanges and makes it increasingly useful and relevant for the masses. Previously, cryptocurrencies have largely been the preserve of enthusiasts and have centred around crypto exchanges such as Coinbase and eToro which let customers exchange fiat money (EUR, GBP, USD etc) to cryptocurrencies and other crypto assets. However, all of them are built for users who want to speculate on the prices of crypto assets and buy, hold and sell coins. This narrow remit fails to address the potential and power of crypto.
Ramp, instead, allows any brand or partner who wants to offer crypto-enabled services as part of their business model to do so easily and securely through the Ramp SDK. It can take mere hours to get up and running with Ramp, instead of months if a company were to set up their on-ramping stack, with the platform on hand to help with the infrastructure and licensing to facilitate transactions for end users. At the same time, this allows such users to move between all Ramp-powered services without having to jump through multiple verification hoops.
In the same way Stripe and PayPal revolutionised ecommerce and online payments by allowing any website, app or service to embed payment infrastructure into their existing systems, Ramp is having the same impact for crypto assets and payment platforms.
The company is now a partner to more than 400 developers, including Mozilla, Browser, Dapper Labs (the company behind NBA Top Shot), and top crypto and DeFi (decentralized finance) apps like Aave, Argent, Trust Wallet, and Zerion. It is also the exclusive on-ramping partner for Sorare, the blockchain-based, global sports video game and Flow, the blockchain which specialises in NFT marketplaces and digital assets.
Use cases for Ramp today range from enabling users of Opera browser to top-up crypto wallets from within the app, to players being able to play the Sorare NFT game and buy and sell virtual players via Ethereum. With Ramp, NFT-based game Axie Infinity was able to significantly shorten its onboarding process, reducing the time from two hours to just minutes for new customers without compromising on security.
In the future, Ramp could help facilitate crypto transactions for banks’ or other financial institutions’ end-users within their banking apps; it could also unlock completely new use cases that until recently were impossible to launch because Ramp’s seamless UX takes all friction out of the equation.
This considered approach is what saw Ramp partner with Balderton Capital – a VC renowned for its considered investments; it’s why previous institutional, as well as angel investors, participated in this latest round and is why a Ramp entity recently become the first crypto firm of its kind to be registered by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a cryptoasset business. Only companies that pass the FCA’s fit and proper assessment are placed on the list of registered cryptoasset firms and Ramp was the eighth company to make the register.
There is so much potential in unlocking cryptocurrency and digital assets beyond today’s narrow and restrictive use cases. We’re on a mission to provide instant access to cryptocurrencies through a provider they can trust. Our new partnership with Balderton and Rana, coupled with the continued support from our existing investors, is testament to the fact that what we’re doing is game-changing, and we will continue to do so for the benefit of all.
