The iPhone Moment: Project Crypto Kicks Off The Era of Crypto Super Apps

By Techflow David

Translator: Naetitia

On July 31, the new chairman of the U.S. SEC, Paul Atkins, delivered a speech titled "American Leadership in the Digital Finance Revolution", where he announced a groundbreaking initiative called "Project Crypto."

Although this news has yet to make headlines in mainstream media, it could become one of the most influential events for the crypto industry in 2025.

Earlier this year in January, when Donald Trump returned to the White House, he boldly declared his ambition to make the United States the "world's cryptocurrency capital." At the time, many dismissed this as mere campaign rhetoric, and the entire industry waited to see whether Trump's promise would turn out to be an empty pledge.

Yesterday, the answer was revealed.

Project Crypto appears to be the first major implementation of Trump's crypto-friendly policies.

Currently, social media is flooded with detailed analyses of the plan, so we won't delve into those specifics here. However, one of the most valuable aspects, in the author's opinion, is its provision for financial institutions to create "super apps." These apps would allow users to access all financial services—including traditional stock trading, cryptocurrency transactions, and DeFi services—on a single platform.

Imagine if JPMorgan Chase's app could not only trade stocks but also buy Bitcoin and participate in DeFi mining. What would that mean for the industry?

From campaign promises to regulatory actions, from "regulation through enforcement" to "embracing on-chain finance"—this transformation has taken merely six months. When the world's largest capital market decides to pivot entirely, the competitive landscape of the industry may be reshaped.

The All-in-One Super App

The concept of a super app mentioned in Atkins' speech might immediately remind you of WeChat. Messaging, payments, wealth management, insurance purchases, and even loan applications—all needs met within a single app.

This kind of experience, commonplace in China, has long been considered impossible in the United States, a country that prides itself on its free market.

The reason is simple: regulatory barriers.

In the U.S., offering payment services requires a payment license, securities trading requires a brokerage license, and providing loans requires a banking license. Additionally, each state imposes its own unique requirements.

The SEC's "Project Crypto," introduced by Chairman Paul S. Atkins, is poised to break this stalemate for the first time.

Under the new regulations proposed in Project Crypto, a platform holding a brokerage license can simultaneously offer traditional stock trading, cryptocurrency transactions, DeFi lending services, NFT marketplaces, stablecoin payment functionality—all of these under a unified licensing framework.

In the crypto industry, this unified framework provides an additional advantage by aligning with the composability of various products.

For instance, users can automatically use stock profits to purchase Bitcoin, use NFTs as collateral to borrow stablecoins, and then invest those stablecoins into DeFi protocols to earn yields—all operations completed within a single interface, with assets freely flowing on-chain.

When users can seamlessly navigate across a single platform, the vision of a Web3 super financial platform no longer seems so far-fetched.

With this decision and initiative by the SEC, it’s as if the starting gun for an arms race has been fired.

Three Types of Players, Diverging Fates

As the starting gun for Project Crypto fires, the players on the track face vastly different situations.

For existing crypto giants, the shift from dominance to competition begins.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong may be experiencing a mix of emotions. On one hand, the relief from SEC lawsuits is significant; on the other, the days of market monopoly may be coming to an end.

In recent years, under Gary Gensler's stringent regulatory environment, Coinbase's compliance advantage made it the default choice for U.S. users.

Now, with the gates wide open, this "regulatory moat" is disappearing. More critically, Coinbase must quickly transform itself—from a simple exchange into a comprehensive financial platform. This means developing stock trading (competing with Robinhood), banking services (competing with traditional banks), and DeFi integration (competing with decentralized protocols). Each area is filled with formidable incumbents.

Kraken and Gemini face similar challenges but under tougher circumstances.

They lack Coinbase's scale advantage and the resources needed for rapid expansion. Their most likely outcomes? Either acquisition or focusing on niche markets.

While crypto-native companies are on the defensive, traditional financial giants are preparing for a full-scale assault.

JPMorgan Chase is no longer a skeptic of cryptocurrencies. Their JPM Coin processes billions of dollars in transactions daily, and the Onyx blockchain platform has been operational for years. Now, they can legitimately roll out crypto services for retail customers.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America—every one of them is gearing up. They possess what crypto firms dream of: massive user bases, deep financial resources, mature risk management systems, and most importantly—customer trust.

When an American grandmother wants to buy Bitcoin with her retirement fund, will she trust the banking app she's used for 30 years or an unfamiliar crypto exchange?

However, turning these financial giants around is no easy feat. Bureaucratic systems, outdated technical architectures, and conservative corporate cultures could become fatal weaknesses. For them, policy changes represent both opportunities and challenges.

Finally, the situation for DeFi protocols like Uniswap, Aave, and Compound is the most delicate.

Project Crypto explicitly protects "pure code publishers," theoretically benefiting DeFi.

But what happens when Coinbase can directly integrate Uniswap's functionality, or when JPMorgan launches its own on-chain lending product? What then is the value proposition of decentralized protocols?

One possibility is a clearer separation between the "protocol layer" and the "application layer." Uniswap could continue as a foundational liquidity protocol, while various "super apps" provide user interfaces and value-added services on top. This would resemble the role of TCP/IP in the internet—important but invisible, content to play a supporting role.

Another, more radical possibility is that some DeFi protocols might choose to "centralize." By forming companies, applying for licenses, and accepting regulation, they could gain broader market access.

Aave is already exploring institutional versions, and Uniswap Labs itself is a company. The ideal of decentralization is compelling, but when competitors can legally reach billions of users, that ideal may become just a slogan.

In the end, DeFi may split into two camps: "protocol purists" who stick to the decentralized ideal, and "pragmatists" who embrace regulation to seek growth. Both will have space to survive, but the user groups they serve will be vastly different.

Three types of players, three distinct fates. But one thing is common: comfort zones are no longer an option.

Under the new policies, everyone must redefine their position in the new ecosystem.

Four Dimensions of Competition Among Rivals

When everyone rushes onto the same track, what determines victory?

First and foremost: Licenses.

In the past, compliance was a money-burning black hole. Now, it might become the most critical moat.

Project Crypto appears to lower the entry barriers but actually raises the standards. A "super app" license means you must simultaneously meet regulatory requirements across securities, banking, payments, and crypto sectors. This is not a game small companies can afford to play.

The true value of a license lies in its network effects. When users can fulfill all their financial needs on a single platform, switching costs skyrocket. It's akin to banking licenses in earlier times—seemingly available to everyone, but only a few players ultimately built empires.

Second: Technical architecture.

The user experience standard for on-chain finance is: Web2-level smoothness combined with Web3-level sovereignty. This sets an extremely high technological threshold.

Traditional financial institutions need to build crypto infrastructure from scratch, while crypto firms must achieve bank-grade stability.

Adding complexity is cross-chain interoperability. Can your system securely transfer assets from Ethereum to Solana for DeFi participation in under three seconds? Can your risk management system respond within milliseconds during market volatility?

Technical debt could be a fatal flaw.

Coinbase spent 10 years optimizing its system for single-function operations, and transforming it into a multi-functional platform is no easy task. Banks face an even bigger nightmare—some core systems still run on COBOL programming languages. How can they integrate with blockchain technology?

Third: Liquidity—the age-old cornerstone.

In the financial world, liquidity is everything. In the era of super apps, this truth is magnified several times over.

Users expect: any asset, any time, any scale of transaction to be completed instantly. This requires connecting to all major trading venues, aggregating global liquidity, and offering the best prices. More importantly, it demands capital efficiency—how can the same funds flow seamlessly among stocks, crypto, and DeFi?

Finally: User experience.

This might be the most underestimated competitive dimension. When functionalities converge and fees align, experience becomes the decisive factor.

The challenge lies in the vast differences among target audiences. You need to satisfy crypto veterans (who demand self-custody and on-chain data visibility) while reassuring traditional users (who may not even know what a seed phrase is). One app, two languages—this tests the product managers' balancing skills.

In summary, Project Crypto poses a multi-dimensional challenge to industry players. Licenses determine what you can do, technology determines how well you can do it, liquidity determines how big you can grow, and user experience determines how far you can go. In this multi-dimensional chessboard of competition, every move could reshape the game entirely.

Potential Winners and Losers

Under the new Project Crypto policies, I know you’re eager to find out which companies and assets have the upper hand.

But predicting the future is a dangerous game. Nothing is set in stone, and we can only see a few hints for now. The winners of the crypto super-app era won’t come in just one form. Instead, we might witness three distinctly different yet equally successful models.

The first model: The "Alliance Army."

The smartest players have already realized that going solo is less effective than forming strategic partnerships.

Take Fidelity as an example. This asset management giant, overseeing $11 trillion, launched its digital assets division back in 2018 but has remained tepid in retail crypto trading.

What happens if Fidelity deeply integrates with a technologically advanced crypto firm like Fireblocks? Fidelity’s 200 million customers gain seamless crypto experiences, while the partner acquires the most valuable resources in traditional finance—trust and users. It may not necessarily be these two companies joining forces, but such "1+1>2" combinations will emerge frequently in the future.

The second model: The "Arms Dealer."

When a gold rush occurs, the most stable business is selling shovels.

In the super-app era, the "shovels" are critical infrastructure. Take Chainalysis as an example. No matter who wins the super-app war, everyone will need its compliance tools. What’s remarkable about these companies is that the more diverse their clients are, the more stable their position becomes. They don’t need to pick sides because every party relies on them.

The third model: The "Specialist."

Not everyone needs a Swiss Army knife. Imagine a financial platform dedicated to serving DAOs or a vertical application focused on NFT financialization. While giants are busy building comprehensive platforms, these specialized players might capture long-tail value in niche markets.

The winners will likely follow one of these paths. As for the losers, they will likely fall into two categories: mid-tier institutions and opportunists.

Take some regional banks in the U.S. as an example. They lack the resources of JPMorgan Chase to make large-scale technological investments, and they also lack the agility of small fintech firms. When customers can access a full suite of crypto services at major banks, these mid-sized institutions will see their survival space shrink dramatically.

As for opportunists, many projects in recent years have used complex legal structures to evade regulations—registering in the Cayman Islands, operating through DAOs, claiming "full decentralization."

Project Crypto’s clear rules mean these gray areas will disappear. Either truly decentralize (accepting limitations in liquidity and user experience) or fully comply (accepting regulatory costs). Fence-sitters will have nowhere to go.

From a business competition perspective, the time window is closing rapidly.

First-mover advantage could be decisive in the winner-takes-all platform economy. Whoever can establish a complete ecosystem within the next few months may become the next crypto finance giant.

The iPhone Moment?

In 2007, when Steve Jobs unveiled the first-generation iPhone, Nokia executives scoffed—how could a phone without a keyboard possibly succeed? Eighteen months later, the entire mobile phone industry’s rules were rewritten.

Project Crypto might just be the "iPhone launch event" for crypto finance.

Not because it’s perfect, but because it’s the first time mainstream financial institutions have seen the possibilities: Financial services can be delivered in this way, traditional assets and crypto assets can be integrated like this, compliance and innovation can be balanced in this manner.

But remember, the iPhone didn’t truly change the world in 2007—it did so when the App Store emerged. Project Crypto is merely the beginning; the real revolution will explode when the ecosystem is fully formed.

When millions of developers start innovating on the new platform, when billions of users become accustomed to on-chain finance—that’s when the good days will truly arrive.

For now, it’s too early to draw conclusions.