“Self-custody wallets will replace your bank account, I can almost guarantee it.” When Andres Lamothe said that, he didn’t hesitate.

Andres is the Executive Director of Partnerships at MoonPay, a leader in global crypto payments and stablecoin infrastructure. If you have ever bought crypto instantly with Apple Pay or a credit card inside a wallet app, chances are MoonPay helped make that possible.

But Andres did not start in crypto. Like many people shaping the future of this space, his journey began in a completely different industry.

From SaaS to Crypto

Andres spent more than a decade working in software and shifted to crypto during COVID when a friend introduced him to Bitcoin and Ethereum. With Ethereum trading around $200. At first, he had the same reaction many people have when they first encounter the industry: he felt late.

“Everyone always feels late to crypto,” he explains. “But when you actually start learning the technology, you realize it’s not just speculation. There’s a lot more underneath it.”

At MoonPay, Andres focuses on partnerships that make it easier for people to enter the crypto ecosystem with a simple mission: make buying crypto as easy as ordering food online.

This simplicity is critical because one of the biggest barriers to crypto adoption is not technology, it’s user experience.

Making Crypto Simpler

While other crypto companies, such as centralized exchanges, have spent years optimizing their onboarding flow, self-custody wallets often introduce more complexity.

Users have to understand wallets, addresses, networks, seed phrases, and transaction confirmations. For new users, it can feel overwhelming. Andres believes solving this gap is essential if self-custody is going to reach mainstream adoption.

“In a centralized exchange, the complexity is hidden,” he explains. “But in a self-custodial wallet, you have to build that experience differently.”

This is where companies like MoonPay play an important role. By integrating directly into wallets, they allow users to buy crypto instantly using familiar tools like credit cards or Apple Pay.

The result is a smoother bridge between traditional finance and self-custody.

Unboxing Ryder One

The first word that came to Andres was “weight”, but the real moment came during setup. Within minutes, Andres had a new and fully backed-up wallet.

”Wow. Very f*ing easy.”*

For Andres, that simplicity is exactly what the industry needs. Crypto will not reach the mainstream by building products exclusively for crypto experts. It will reach the mainstream by building products that work for everyone else. That includes parents, families, and people who have never interacted with blockchain before.

When user experience improves, the benefits of self-custody become clear.

• Ownership.

• Security.

• Freedom.

That’s why Andres believes the future of finance will not live inside traditional banks. It will live inside self-custody wallets, not someday, soon.