Revolut expands crypto offerings and adds Elrond

British fintech and banking firm Revolut is partnering with Elrond to bring the blockchain’s native cryptocurrency, EGLD, to the platform.

Elrond’s EGLD will be available to over 20 million Revolut users in over 30 countries, an opportunity that Elrond CEO Beniamin Mincu called “huge”.

The move marks a bet on the underlying technology of the blockchain, considering the token plunged around 90% from its all-time high in November 2021. Its total value locked (TVL) has been decimated in that time as well and is now at 157 million dollars, according to DefiLlama.

“It’s a big step forward in making EGLD available to a large audience,” Mincu told Blockworks. “The listing is one thing, but there are other things like staking and some other features as well.”

Elrond launched its mainnet in July 2020, using its own unique Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm called Secure Proof of Stake (SPoS) to support the blockchain.

“We believe that the Elrond network enables us to scale dynamically with the demand of the network

in a way that no other network can do at this time,” Mincu said.

The network’s decentralized central and digital wallet Maiar was taken offline in June 2022 after “suspicious activity”. This event caused the wallet’s token MEX to drop in value by over 90%.

EGLD also suffered, falling to as low as $38 shortly after the event. The price remains down from its November 23, 2021 record high of around $540, and is trading at about $56.20 at the time of writing.

While there have yet to be any significant ecosystem updates on the network, Mincu said there will be a lot to look forward to in the coming months. Most specifically in November — when the first Elrond conference will be held in Paris.

“We’ve been working on several things, and with this conference, people will get a sense of where this whole space is really going and what we’ve been quietly working on for a while now,” Mincu said.

Mincu said that moving forward, he sees Elrond becoming the “next foundational team for the metaverse.”

“I think the metaverse landscape will be absolutely crucial for the next few decades,” he said. “But without the blockchain, the metaverse really can’t exist – so this is the direction we’re pushing very strongly towards.”

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