But the industry is only in its infancy and constantly evolving. It’s difficult to predict where things are headed long-term, but in the coming months, experts are following themes from regulation to institutional adoption of crypto payments to try and get a better sense of the market.
Each asset holds a value, often priced in U.S. dollars, which leads to another use case: trading and investing. Aside from stablecoins — which seek to stabilize the instability of cryptocurrencies by pegging an asset to something else, such as the U.S. dollar — most cryptocurrencies constantly fluctuate in price. You can trade between cryptocurrencies and national currencies (called fiat currencies) on exchanges, depending on the trading pairs available on the platform of choice.

At Cointelegraph, we are chronicling the ongoing story of cryptocurrency and the rise of a borderless, permissionless financial system. How will industry stakeholders work to make crypto a mainstay in people’s lives? How will crypto investments change the paradigm of the current financial system? And will incumbent and legacy systems accept or fight this change?
The NYDFS is known for being especially rigorous in its approach to cryptocurrency businesses compared to other state regulators, requiring an exacting review of capital requirements and policies regarding money laundering, fraud, capitalization, consumer protection, and cybersecurity. It's an unpopular approach among many in the crypto industry, some of whom have even opted to pull business out of New York rather than bear the high cost of compliance.