The rise of crypto payments: Easier, faster and more fun than you think –  The Clear Crypto Podcast | Episode 5

In the following post, we’ll summarize the key insights from Episode 5 of The Clear Crypto Podcast. This episode tackles one of the most fundamental and anticipated use cases for blockchain technology: day-to-day payments. Can crypto ever truly replace the convenience of tapping a card or using a payment app? The hosts, journalist Nathan Jeffay from StarkWare and Gareth Jenkinson, Managing Editor of Coin Telegraph, are joined by a pioneer who believes it can—and that it can even be more intuitive and fun. We dive deep into the conversation with Stefana Banciu, co-founder of Pulsar Money, to explore the future of how we exchange value.

 

The State of Play: Why Aren’t We Buying Coffee with Crypto?

The podcast kicks off with a dose of reality from Gareth, who, from his vantage point on the front lines of crypto media, confirms a hard truth: we’re not quite there yet. “I wish that I could say yes,” he admits, “but that would probably not be a true reflection of the state of affairs.” While some users leverage crypto-linked Visa or MasterCard services, the dream of tapping a native crypto wallet to pay for your morning coffee or groceries remains largely on the horizon.

Why is this? Nathan points to a major hurdle: convenience. The perception—and often, the reality—is that traditional payment systems are simple and frictionless, while crypto is complicated, stressful, and unintuitive.

Gareth adds another layer of perspective, drawing a parallel to a technology we now take for granted. “I even just look at how long it took people to begin using tap services with conventional cards and mobile devices,” he reflects. He recalls his own initial reluctance to adopt “tap-and-go” services, a sentiment shared by many who were wary of the new technology. “Now I can’t even imagine life where I wasn’t just tapping my mobile phone at every service point.”

This analogy is powerful. It reminds us that user adoption is a gradual process built on overcoming fear and demonstrating clear benefits. The journey from swiping to tapping wasn’t instantaneous, and the shift to crypto payments will likely follow a similar path of innovation and trust-building. The key is for developers and builders in the space to create products that are so compellingly simple and useful that the transition becomes inevitable.

 

A New Vision for Payments: Making Crypto Fun and Social

This is where Stefana Banciu and her work at Pulsar Money enter the conversation. Stefana isn’t just trying to replicate the existing payment experience on the blockchain; she’s reimagining it. Pulsar Money’s mission is to spearhead the “future payments narrative” within crypto, and their strategy is refreshingly unconventional.

“What we are trying to do with Pulsar… is to run this future payments narrative within crypto,” Stefana explains. The core of their approach is to blend utility with enjoyment, onboarding users through fun, social interactions that seamlessly introduce them to the power of crypto payments.

The Twitter Tipping Point

The flagship example of this philosophy is Pulsar’s social payments module. Stefana describes a feature that feels like magic to many crypto veterans and newcomers alike: the ability to send money directly within a social media platform like X (formerly Twitter).

“You can actually send funds directly on Twitter,” she says. “I can just tag your Twitter handle and I can directly send you funds through it.”

This isn’t just a gimmick. It’s a brilliant strategy to lower the barrier to entry. Instead of navigating complex wallet addresses and QR codes, a user can perform a familiar action—tagging someone—to initiate a real financial transaction. The process is seamless, public, and engaging.

“We said, ‘Okay, why not? We think of a way on how we can onboard the users, make them do payments, you know, in a fun way.’ And this was the strategy for us from the beginning,” Stefana adds.

This approach resonates deeply with Gareth, who recognizes the power of community in the crypto space. “A lot of our industry is driven by communities and engagement,” he notes. “You need to think of innovative ways to get people involved in order to use your product or service.”

Pulsar’s model is a masterclass in user-centric design. It takes a potentially “boring” topic like payments and injects it with the social dynamics that already drive massive engagement online. By doing so, it educates users about the possibilities of crypto without them even realizing they’re learning.

 

Under the Hood: The Technology Making It Possible

How can Pulsar Money offer instant, low-cost transactions that are suitable for social “micro-payments”? The answer lies in advanced blockchain infrastructure, specifically layer 2 scaling solutions.

A layer 2 network is a protocol built on top of a main blockchain (like Ethereum), which is known as layer 1. Its purpose is to handle transactions off the main chain, allowing it to process them much faster and at a fraction of the cost. It then bundles these transactions together and records a compressed summary back to the secure layer 1. This process, often utilizing technology like ZK-Rollups, allows a platform to achieve massive scale without sacrificing the security and decentralization of the underlying blockchain.

Pulsar Money leverages Starknet, a leading layer 2 ZK-Rollup, to power its services. By building on Starknet, Pulsar can ensure that sending a small tip on Twitter doesn’t get bogged down by high network fees or long confirmation times, which would make such a use case impractical on layer 1. This technological foundation is what enables the seamless, fun, and scalable user experience that Stefana and her team have envisioned.

 

Beyond Convenience: Why We Need Crypto Payments

The conversation then pivots to a more fundamental question: with services like PayPal and Venmo already offering instant digital payments, why do we need a crypto-based alternative? Stefana and Gareth lay out the core value proposition of blockchain payments, which goes far beyond just moving money from A to B.

Stefana begins by revisiting the original promises of crypto: “low money fees and borderless payments.” But the list of advantages runs much deeper:

• Permissionless Transfers: You don’t need approval from a bank or third party to send or receive funds.
• Speed and Low Cost: Especially on layer 2 solutions, transactions can be nearly instantaneous and cost pennies.
• Censorship Resistance: No central authority—be it a bank or a government—can block your transaction or freeze your funds.
• Financial Sovereignty: You have ultimate control over your own money. This is the principle of self-custody.

Gareth powerfully emphasizes this last point. For him, the “why” of crypto payments boils down to ownership. “Cryptocurrency payments are important because you have control of your money, you have control of your keys,” he states. “You don’t have to ask permission to use or send that money, and no one can stop you from doing it if it’s a truly decentralized network… It comes down to these ideals of freedom and censorship resistance.”

The Case for Self-Custody: Lessons from Recent History

The hosts agree that in a world that can be turbulent and unpredictable, relying on traditional intermediaries carries inherent risks. They discuss real-world events that underscore the importance of financial self-sovereignty:

1. The Cyprus Banking Crisis (2013): During a severe financial crisis, the government of Cyprus closed banks and imposed capital controls, limiting citizens’ access to their own savings. This event served as a stark reminder that money in a bank isn’t always fully under your control.
2. The Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) Collapse (2023): This more recent example hit closer to home for the crypto industry. When SVB failed, it was revealed that Circle, the issuer of the major stablecoin USDC, held around $3.3 billion of its cash reserves at the bank.

A stablecoin like USDC is a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, typically by being pegged 1:1 to a real-world asset like the US dollar. For every USDC token in circulation, Circle is supposed to hold one US dollar (or equivalent cash asset) in reserve.

When SVB collapsed, that $3.3 billion was suddenly at risk, meaning a significant portion of the reserves backing USDC was inaccessible. This triggered a panic, causing USDC to temporarily lose its 1:1 peg to the dollar. As Gareth puts it, “If that’s not a great example of why you need to have self custody of your money… I don’t know what is. If a bank can fail or a government can stop you from spending your money, do you really have control of that money? I don’t think so.”

These examples illustrate that crypto payments aren’t just about a new way to pay; they represent a fundamental shift in our relationship with money, moving from a model of trusted third parties to one of verifiable self-ownership.

 

The Power of Transparency: A Crypto Solution to an Old Problem

Building on the theme of verification, Stefana explains another tangible benefit of Pulsar’s social payment system: transparency. She uses the common example of social media giveaways.

We’ve all seen them: posts promising a huge prize to a lucky follower who likes, shares, and comments. But there’s always a lingering suspicion. Was the prize ever really given away? Was the winner a real, random person, or a friend of the organizer?

With a blockchain-based system, this ambiguity disappears.

“With the social pay, you can actually do this directly on Twitter in a super transparent way,” Stefana explains. “It’s super visible for everyone. You could check it on-chain… where the funds or the prize is really distributed. There’s no need to ask for wallets to transfer this manually. Everything is on-chain and then everything is transparent on social media.”

This creates a powerful bond of trust between a brand or influencer and their community. The community knows that the giveaway is legitimate because the proof of the prize distribution is public, immutable, and easily verifiable on the blockchain.

Gareth, whose Coin Telegraph X show runs its own giveaways, immediately sees the value. “I find it fantastic that I’m now hearing about this,” he exclaims. “I think it is something that social media really needs… the one thing that’s missing in that ecosystem is the ability to make payments.” This use case, while seemingly small, perfectly demonstrates how blockchain’s core properties can solve everyday problems of trust and verification.

 

Banking the Unbanked: Moving Beyond the Buzzword

The conversation broadens to one of crypto’s most touted, and sometimes criticized, promises: “banking the unbanked.” Is this a genuine goal or just a tired cliche?

Gareth, who grew up in South Africa, offers a grounded perspective. “I don’t think it’s a cliche,” he asserts. “If you look at where I come from… being unbanked is a huge problem.”

He explains the very real barriers that prevent billions of people from accessing traditional financial services:

• Lack of a formal ID.
• No fixed address or proof of residence.
• No title deeds to the land they live on.

Without these documents, opening a bank account is impossible. This is where crypto offers a revolutionary alternative. “You can do it with a phone that’s not a smartphone, just a very simple mobile phone and an SMS service,” Gareth explains. “You can get people onto the Bitcoin network and send them some sats.”

A crypto wallet doesn’t require permission, an ID, or a credit check. It gives anyone, anywhere, the ability to receive, store, and send value, granting them a foothold in the global economy. Nathan adds that StarkWare itself is actively investing in this vision, with a dedicated team working on projects in Africa. The realization is that the most profound crypto breakthroughs may not happen in developed nations, where people have viable alternatives, but in regions where there is a pressing, day-to-day need for a new financial system.

 

News Spotlight: The Solo Miner Who Hit the Jackpot

To cap off the episode, Gareth shares one of his favorite recent news stories—a tale that perfectly captures the spirit of crypto’s decentralization. Twice in the span of six weeks, a solo Bitcoin miner managed to solve a block and claim the entire block reward.

To understand the significance, here’s a quick primer on Bitcoin mining:

• Mining: The process by which transactions are verified and added to the Bitcoin blockchain. It involves computers (miners) solving complex mathematical problems.
• Mining Pools: Because the problems are so difficult to solve, most miners pool their computational power together. When the pool solves a block, they share the reward proportionally. This is like a lottery pool—you have a much higher chance of winning a small piece of the prize.
• Solo Mining: A solo miner competes against the entire network, including the massive pools, using only their own hardware. Their chance of solving a block is infinitesimally small, akin to buying a single lottery ticket for a massive jackpot.

Incredibly, one of these solo miners, using a tiny, low-power piece of hardware, beat the odds. They successfully solved a block and walked away with the full reward of 3.125 Bitcoin, worth approximately $300,000 at the time. “The odds of this are like a million to one,” Gareth marvels.

This story is more than just a lucky break. It’s a beautiful demonstration of the Bitcoin network’s incentive structure and its core ethos. It proves that even today, with mining dominated by large operations, the network is still open. Anyone can participate, and anyone has a chance—however small—to win. It’s a powerful reminder that at its heart, crypto is for everyone.

 

Conclusion: The Path Forward for Payments

This episode leaves us with a sense of optimism and excitement. The road to mass adoption of crypto payments is still being paved, but innovators like Stefana Banciu are laying the groundwork with solutions that are not just technologically sound but also human-centric.

By focusing on user experience, blending payments with social engagement, and leveraging the power of layer 2 technology like Starknet, companies like Pulsar Money are showing that crypto payments can be more than just a niche alternative. They can be easier, more transparent, and fundamentally more empowering than the systems we use today. From securing our financial sovereignty to bringing billions into the global economy, the future of payments is being built on the blockchain, one fun, transparent, and revolutionary transaction at a time.