Crypto apps are changing how people use and think about money, with a growing focus on control, everyday use, and trust. We spoke with Nik Mayers, Programmatic Senior Strategist at Smadex, to share key insights on what users expect today, how advertisers can build credibility, and what it takes to drive performance in a fast-changing market.

“Crypto apps are fundamentally reshaping asset management by offering users more control, easier access, and a wider range of investment opportunities, often bypassing traditional financial structures. This transformation is driven by improved autonomy and accessibility, especially through digital wallet-based solutions. These apps allow users to hold their own private keys, giving them direct, non-custodial ownership of their assets, a major shift from traditional banking.

They also expand the range of investment opportunities available to users by providing easy access to high-growth, tokenised financial products. This includes Decentralised Finance (DeFi) services such as lending, borrowing, and staking, as well as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), which enable ownership of digital media and in-game assets.”

“Creatives play a critical role in building user trust in a market often marked by complexity and scepticism. They help achieve this by shifting the focus from speculative trading to the app’s real-world use, highlighting practical use cases and everyday value.

At the same time, creatives help establish credibility and validity by reinforcing a sense of legitimacy and reliability. This is achieved through clear messaging, consistent branding, and professional visual communication that helps users feel more confident in the product and the platform behind it.”

“One key Smadex capability that gives crypto advertisers a real edge is our proprietary algorithms for User Acquisition and Retargeting. These algorithms help identify and reach high-quality users more efficiently, improving both acquisition and conversion performance in highly competitive markets.

By combining user acquisition and retargeting in a single system, we enable advertisers to scale growth while also re-engaging high-intent users, ensuring more consistent performance across the full funnel.“

“The toughest part of running performance campaigns for crypto apps in a fast-moving regulatory space is navigating constantly shifting and fragmented compliance and advertising restrictions imposed by publishers and regional regulators. These rules can vary significantly by market and often change with little notice, making it difficult to maintain consistent campaign setups and scaling strategies.

As a result, advertisers must continuously adapt their messaging, targeting, and activation approaches to ensure compliance while still maintaining performance efficiency.”

“User demand for crypto services is increasingly shifting toward real-world use cases and currency stability, particularly in APAC and other emerging markets. Several key trends are driving this evolution:

• Focus on Stability and Payments: Demand is growing strongly for services that offer a hedge against local-currency inflation, such as stablecoins. Crypto moves from being an investment to an essential financial utility in these regions.
• Faster Growth in APAC: The Asia-Pacific region is projected to have the fastest growth rate in the crypto market, signalling a significant increase in users seeking to trade, invest, and use digital assets for everyday transactions.
• Institutional Integration: While retail growth is high, greater regulatory clarity in some regions is paving the way for more traditional financial institutions (such as asset managers in Japan) to launch crypto-based investment products, further legitimising the asset class and driving new waves of retail demand.”