Crypto platforms are moving beyond trading tools to combine payments, lending and money management in so-called super apps. But the central test is not how many features they offer. It is whether users still have a reason to open the app when they are not planning a trade. Martin Masser, ChangeNOW's head of strategic partnerships, said during TOKEN2049 in Singapore that crypto products need to become part of everyday financial management, much like banking apps, rather than serving only as places to swap tokens.
Balance checks can build a daily habit
Masser said he regularly opens his banking app to check his balance, even when he has no bills to pay. For crypto platforms, this kind of non-transactional use could provide an important route to stronger user engagement.
Trading frequency varies widely. Some traders transact repeatedly, while other users may exchange tokens only once every few days or even once a week. If an app is useful only when a user is ready to trade, the number of times it is opened will naturally be limited. Checking returns, reviewing transaction history and confirming available balances can all give users a reason to come back.
A 2026 study by Kaiko noted that crypto trading platforms are expanding into broader financial services, linking trading balances with yield products and consumer services. Bringing these activities together in one interface may keep users engaged for longer and create closer connections between money management, spending and trading. ChangeNOW has not disclosed how much such features have improved retention across its user base.
Different users need different core services
Masser said a super app does not necessarily need one central feature that every user returns to repeatedly. People can develop very different habits around the same product. Some may mainly check their balance, while others care more about exchange fees, lending or other financial services.
He has worked on banking products and cautioned developers against assuming that their own usage patterns reflect those of customers. ChangeNOW Pro's anti-money-laundering risk checks for wallets, for example, are designed for a specific group of users and are not a feature that everyone would need to use frequently.
That suggests the goal of a super app should not be to force every customer into high-frequency activity. Instead, it should provide tools suited to different financial needs within one product. If an app covers several parts of a user's money-management routine, even customers who use it only occasionally may still have a reason to return.
Cross-chain transfers offer a practical use case
Moving funds between blockchains is one of the concrete problems these platforms are trying to solve. A user may receive USDT on one network but need to use it on another. For the recipient, this may look like a simple transfer. In practice, it can involve choosing a network, swapping the asset and moving funds between several platforms.
Masser recalled that he previously bought crypto on one platform and then transferred it to another for an exchange. If those steps could be handled within a single app, users would not need to switch repeatedly between services. They could also discover payment and other money-management functions more easily as their needs changed.
Integration, however, is not the same as simply adding more features. A platform is likely to improve the user experience only if it reduces the number of steps and makes cross-network activity easier to understand.
More features can make navigation harder
Masser identified another challenge for super apps: avoiding the feel of an unwieldy collection of unrelated services. If a feature has no connection to the product's core logic, he said, there is little reason to add it simply to expand the offering.
He cited ordering McDonald's delivery from within a crypto app as an example of a service that may not belong in the same interface. The relevant question is whether a feature connects naturally with existing financial tasks and allows users to move smoothly from one action to the next.
Every additional service requires users to understand new choices and processes. For crypto platforms that promise convenience, an excessive number of functions can instead make navigation more difficult. That product challenge will become more important as platforms expand into payments, lending and consumer services.
Telegram reach does not automatically create customers
During his time at the TON Foundation, Masser also saw that a large online community does not guarantee that a product will succeed. Some teams launched applications within Telegram in the hope of quickly reaching its vast user base, but still found that few people were actually using them after launch.
He recalled that the teams later complained they had “no users.” His response was to ask whether they had genuinely carried out marketing. In his view, a successful product must first understand what users need and then actively reach its target customers. Placing an app inside a platform with a large audience cannot replace product positioning or customer acquisition.
That experience also shapes how he assesses potential partnerships. Developers need to explain what problem their product solves, whom it serves and which measures will determine whether it is successful.
Partnerships need more than a press release
As ChangeNOW's strategic partnerships lead, Masser said the value of a partnership should not be limited to putting both companies' names in the same press release. Platforms need to understand a partner's customers and help the product find an appropriate position in the market.
A project may initially integrate token swaps and later add payment services in response to user demand. ChangeNOW provides an API that allows developers to connect these services to their own applications, reducing the development and ongoing maintenance costs of building exchange functions internally and supporting additional blockchains.
Masser said a product does not necessarily have to be complete at its first launch. A partnership can change as customer needs and product positioning evolve, while the first integrated feature may serve only as the starting point for a broader set of services.
Stablecoins put everyday payments to the test
Stablecoins provide a practical test of whether crypto super apps can become part of everyday financial activity. Estimates put stablecoin payment volume at least at $401 billion in the first eight months of 2026, up 42% year on year. Businesses accounted for roughly 58% to 64% of that volume, meaning the figure alone is not enough to show that consumer payments have achieved broad adoption.
Masser said stablecoins are already involved more frequently in day-to-day financial activity in some markets. That gives platforms a foundation for developing services beyond holding and swapping assets. Growth in stablecoin payment volume, however, does not automatically mean ordinary consumers will use a crypto app every day.
He said the measure of success five years from now will be whether people can use a crypto super app in daily life without thinking of it as a “crypto super app.” For platforms, the task is not simply to assemble more isolated features. It is to give users a reason to open the app when they have no trade planned—whether to check a balance, manage funds, make a payment or move assets across blockchains.