Starting Your Own Crypto Business: Here’s What To Know

The crypto market has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 2009. Now, 21% of American adults have owned a cryptocurrency. If you’re an entrepreneur, starting a venture in the crypto industry is great business sense. 

There are several ways to enter the crypto market with a viable business venture, but successful crypto businesses require a significant investment in security, compliance, and technology. For many entrepreneurs looking to build a business from scratch, these costs become prohibitive. 

White-label platforms can cut costs and get your crypto business to market faster. In this guide, we’ll explain how to use white-label options.

What Is a Crypto Business?

Crypto businesses typically operate in the financial technology (FinTech) sector, and they usually allow investors and traders to buy and sell crypto, though they may also focus on a particular type of transaction, currency, or service. 

The most well-known crypto businesses are crypto exchanges. Crypto exchanges, like Binance and Coinbase, make it possible for crypto investors to buy and sell a wide range of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum across blockchain technology. 

Different Crypto Ventures: Where Should You Start?

The diverse crypto market gives entrepreneurs several options for building a viable crypto startup. The most common crypto businesses are:

Cryptocurrency Exchanges

A crypto exchange is a platform that facilitates crypto transactions. If you own cryptocurrency, you can sign up for a crypto exchange account to buy, sell, and manage your crypto transactions. Cryptocurrency exchanges deal with dozens of different coins on the market in order to appeal to worldwide audiences, and this mass appeal is why crypto exchanges are the most common startup option. 

Successful crypto exchanges have the following qualities:

• Liquidity: The best crypto exchanges have high liquidity pools, meaning they have the capital to back all incoming and outgoing transactions. Exchanges with low liquidity are vulnerable to rapid market fluctuations and slippage. 
• Security: Cryptocurrency exchanges should utilize world-class encryption technology, such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and two-factor authentication (2FA) to facilitate purchases from credit cards, bank accounts, fiat, and digital currencies. 
• Regulatory compliance: Different countries have their own regulations and laws concerning cryptocurrency. Whether you’re serving a local or global audience, your exchange needs to comply with these regulations to avoid legal issues. 

Crypto Wallets

Crypto wallets allow users to store, send, and receive digital assets. A crypto wallet uses cold or hot storage to keep crypto assets securely in place. Since crypto wallets deal directly with people’s money, they need air-tight security. 

Everyone buying or selling crypto needs a wallet, so this business model has a large addressable market. Wallets can also be built alongside crypto exchanges to create a more robust product offering.

Cryptocurrency Payment Processors

Cryptocurrency payment processors enable small businesses to accept digital currencies as payment. While cryptocurrency isn’t widely accepted as fiat money, it’s being adopted as a payment method for online and physical purchases.

Fast conversion rates and transaction speeds set cryptocurrency payment processors apart. The faster you can process crypto payments, the better your business will perform in the market. 

Crypto-Specific Lending Platforms

Crypto lending platforms aim to lend money to individuals and businesses via cryptocurrency. These companies work similarly to traditional lenders, giving money to applicants based on their credit profiles. 

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Platforms

DeFi platforms use peer-to-peer transactions instead of a centralized authority managing transactions, adding security at the cost of speed. Users sign up for these platforms to buy and sell crypto without any intermediaries involved. Crypto investors can use DeFi platforms for lending, borrowing, and yield farming.

Why White-Label Solutions Are the Way To Go

Whether you intend to build a business that specializes in one of the use cases outlined above or a more robust solution combining several crypto services, building from scratch is costly. Using a white-label partner will reduce your technical investment and allow you to focus on branding, user experience, and growth.

Here are some more reasons to consider investing in a white-label partner:

• Using a white-label partner means you don’t have to develop a technology solution from the ground up, saving you thousands of dollars in development costs and significant time and resources. 
• White-label technology solutions make it possible to go to market in weeks instead of years since you don’t have to focus on development. 
• Business owners can customize their white-label product with their own branding information and make it their own. 
• You gain access to the best security and compliance measures, ensuring your business adheres to local laws and has robust anti-fraud measures.

8 Foundational Steps To Start a Crypto Business

Choosing a crypto venture is only half the battle of starting a successful business. To get started, below are eight steps to building your crypto venture.

1. Build Your Business Model

The first step in creating a crypto business is developing a business model. Your business model should include a customer value proposition, a profit formula, key resources, and key processes.

Some white-label partners offer support for strategizing and positioning to help refine your business model, but the biggest advantage of white-label platforms is that they allow you to focus on your business model rather than on app development, regulatory compliance, or security factors.

The best platforms will give your business room to scale by offering a large ecosystem of support services.

2. Learn About Costs and Business Necessities

After creating a business model, you should develop a deep understanding of the costs necessary to run your business. Since most crypto-businesses operate over the Internet, you will have to cover overhead expenses, such as:

• Servers
• Website development and maintenance
• Regular security audits and technology

Overhead costs are essential to your business operation. Thus, covering these expenses is non-negotiable. 

3. Understand Regulatory and Legal Frameworks

The crypto industry has stringent regulations in countries across the world. Before launching your business, you’ll need to consult with an attorney to ensure compliance with local and international crypto regulations. 

Software you use to help build your business, including white-label platforms, will also need to be compliant with local laws. The best partners will include support for updating your business to match changing regulations.

4. Discover Your Technology and Security Requirements

Access to state-of-the-art technology is essential to running a successful crypto business. The technology you need will depend on your business model and the venture you’re pursuing. For example, you may need tighter security for developing a crypto wallet than a crypto lending platform.

Technology and security requirements will grow rapidly as your business scales, which will add development costs if you’re building from scratch.

5. Conduct Market Research

Understanding market trends in the cryptocurrency industry is vital to figuring out your target audience. There are several ways you can conduct market research:

• Studying the overall economy for large-scale performance indicators that might indicate market opportunities
• Reviewing key trends in the crypto market to discover future areas of growth, commonly traded currencies, and potential market needs.
• Performing competitor analysis in your particular sector of crypto.

Each of these areas will help you discover critical insights about your target audience. 

6. Create a User-Friendly Experience

Having a high-quality user interface (UI) makes it possible for people to navigate your platform and get things done. A complicated UI causes churn and customer frustration. 

That said, you should invest heavily in creating a user-friendly experience for your audience. White-label solutions shine here, allowing you to customize your UI, brand, and customer experience. 

7. Offer Customer Support

Providing around-the-clock support for your customers is key to keeping them satisfied and informed about your products and services. If you serve a global audience, you should invest heavily in creating a 24/7 customer support team.

8. Provide Educational Materials, Resources, and Other Tools

As people visit your platform and create accounts, it becomes important to provide educational materials and resources to keep them engaged. 

For example, if you’re running a crypto exchange, providing access to educational resources explaining exchange functions will help users take advantage of your platform’s full capabilities. Doing so will go a long way toward building a loyal community. 

You can also expand your reputation into thought leadership with the creation of helpful resources that are popular online and on social media. 

Let AlphaPoint Lead the Way With Your New Crypto Business

Overall, starting a crypto business is a great way to increase your earning potential, make a difference, and take advantage of a rapidly expanding market. 

With AlphaPoint, you don’t have to create your infrastructure solutions from scratch. Instead, you can use our white-label solutions to bring your business to market faster and focus on running your business. 

AlphaPoint has built a stellar reputation for delivering exceptional white-label crypto services. Ready to get started? Request a demo today to speak with our team!