The Rise of Neobanks: How Traditional Finance and Crypto Payments Are Moving Toward Integration?

Over the past two years, after a fierce cyclical shakeout in the crypto market, discussions about the “Crypto downturn” have been everywhere. However, what’s receding isn’t the wave of technology itself, but the speculative bubble that grew wildly in its early days. On the sands left behind after the bubble burst, a brand-new financial infrastructure is emerging—Neobanks. These are no longer just apps for traditional banks but have become a unified interface connecting the traditional fiat world with native crypto assets.

According to data from Fortune Business Insights, the global Neobanking market size exceeded $210 billion in 2025 and is expected to surge to $7.6 trillion by 2034, with a compound annual growth rate of 49.30%. In this paradigm shift in finance, the stability of traditional finance and the convenience of crypto payments are increasingly merging through Neobanks.

From “Rejection” to “Regulatory Coexistence”: The Changing Attitude of Traditional Finance

For a long time, traditional banks have systematically rejected crypto companies. Due to the lack of clear regulatory frameworks and concerns over anti-money laundering risks, traditional financial institutions often shut their doors to crypto firms, even disconnecting to “de-risk.” However, with the implementation of regulations like Europe’s MiCA, this deadlock is beginning to break.

Today, Neobanks like Revolut and N26 are actively embracing cryptocurrencies. They not only offer traditional multi-currency accounts, IBANs, and SEPA payments but also integrate crypto buying, storing, and earning features. For example, licensed Neobanks like SEBA allow users to securely trade digital assets directly within their apps. This shift marks a move from an “all or nothing” approach to “compliant coexistence”: leveraging blockchain technology for faster settlement while maintaining the user experience and compliance frameworks of traditional finance.

Reconstructing the Four Dimensions of Money: Save, Spend, Grow, Borrow

To understand how crypto payments are integrating into daily life, we can look at Neobanks’ reconstruction across four core financial behaviors:

Save: No longer just simple bank deposits, but a combination of self-custody wallets and fiat savings. Hardware wallets like Ledger provide security for assets, while Neobanks offer convenient access to convert fiat into stablecoins for storage.

Spend: The most deeply integrated area. With support from Visa and Mastercard for stablecoin payments—such as products like MetaMask Card and Etherfi Card—users can directly spend on-chain assets for everyday purchases.

Grow: In terms of asset appreciation, Neobanks are beginning to incorporate on-chain yield products. For example, Coinbase allows users to earn up to 4% rewards just by holding USDC, effectively packaging DeFi yields into a traditional banking experience.

Borrow: Blockchain-based lending protocols like Morpho are replacing cumbersome bank loan applications, enabling permissionless, efficient on-chain borrowing through smart contracts.

Gate’s Positioning: From Trading Platform to Smart Web3 Financial Gateway

In this wave of integration, exchanges are no longer just trading venues but are becoming core infrastructure for the Neobank ecosystem. As a leading global crypto exchange, Gate is leveraging its deep liquidity and traditional finance (TradFi) integrations to drive this trend.

At the Consensus HK conference in February 2026, Gate founder Dr. Han introduced the concept of “Intelligent Web3.” He pointed out that as user growth slows and asset complexity increases, the industry needs smarter financial architectures. Since its founding in 2013 as a simple trading platform, Gate has evolved into a comprehensive Web3 ecosystem with over 49 million users and assets under custody exceeding $10 billion.

Notably, Gate has begun integrating traditional financial assets into its trading products. The platform supports spot trading of over 4,400 cryptocurrencies (with an average daily trading volume of about $6 billion) and has introduced CFD trading, allowing users to trade stocks, metals, indices, and commodities. This combination of TradFi tools with crypto settlement (USDT) exemplifies the “hybrid finance” model that Neobanks aspire to.

Additionally, Gate’s recent upgrade of its contract points system now includes TradFi trading volume in its reward calculations. This means that users trading traditional financial assets on Gate can also earn ecosystem incentives. This blurs the line between crypto assets and traditional financial assets, enabling deep integration at the user experience level.

Regulatory Tightening: Compliance as a Core Competitiveness

As Neobanks rise, regulators are stepping in quickly. The Luxembourg Financial Supervisory Authority (CSSF) recently issued a notice prohibiting unlicensed payment institutions from using misleading terms like “Neobank” and imposing strict requirements on governance, fund segregation, and risk management.

This clarification benefits the industry in the long run. It forces crypto Neobanks to operate under licenses, properly safeguard customer funds, and establish comprehensive compliance frameworks. This aligns perfectly with Gate’s strategy—having established licenses and registrations across 79 jurisdictions worldwide, including Malta, Japan, and Dubai.

Conclusion

Looking ahead, the boundaries between traditional finance and crypto payments will become increasingly blurred. Users will no longer care whether their funds are processed via Swift or blockchain; they only want to complete savings, payments, investments, and loans within a single interface.

As Pantera Capital’s research indicates, the breakthrough for crypto Neobanks may first occur in high-turnover yield and lending scenarios, gradually extending to payments and storage. Leading players like Gate are laying the groundwork for this unified financial operating system by building “smart Web3” infrastructure.

In this post-crypto downturn world, the survivors won’t be just speculative tools but ecosystems that truly blend the stability of traditional finance with the efficiency of crypto payments. Gate is at the forefront of this integration trend.