Fun CEO: Blockchain Payments Will Become Invisible as Infrastructure Fades Away

Fun CEO Alex Fine said traditional crypto payment infrastructure, including standalone on-ramps and blockchain bridges, will eventually become outdated as applications adopt seamless payment systems that remove blockchain complexity from the user experience.

Fine believes future crypto platforms will no longer require users to separately handle funding, bridging, or asset conversion. Instead, these processes will happen automatically within applications, creating an experience similar to Web2 payments where users interact with services without needing to understand the underlying technology.

“The era of on-ramps will be completely over, and external bridging platforms will also disappear,” Fine told CoinDesk. “Users do not want to use a bridge just because it exists. They want to use an application.”

Fun operates as a payments infrastructure provider that connects traditional financial systems with blockchain networks. The company does not offer a consumer-facing wallet or exchange; instead, it provides APIs that enable fintech companies and crypto applications to integrate deposits, withdrawals, settlements, and checkout functions directly into their platforms.

By handling the complexity of moving money between fiat currencies, stablecoins, and various blockchains, Fun aims to create smoother payment experiences for both developers and users.

The Infrastructure Powering Crypto Growth

Fine’s comments come as prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi, along with tokenized equity platforms, continue gaining traction and attracting more trading activity.

While these applications are becoming increasingly popular, the systems responsible for deposits, withdrawals, and settlements often remain hidden from users.

Fun is among the companies building this behind-the-scenes infrastructure. The firm says it manages all deposits and withdrawals for Polymarket, supports funding flows into Aave’s largest vaults, and processes more than $3 billion in monthly transaction volume.

The company has raised more than $75 million to date.

Moving Toward Unified Funding Experiences

Fine said today’s crypto payment ecosystem remains unnecessarily complicated, requiring developers to combine multiple payment processors, banking partners, digital assets, blockchain networks, and bridge services.

Rather than focusing on individual payment methods, he believes platforms should build unified funding systems that allow users to access applications as quickly and effortlessly as possible.

“In Web2, payments are highly interchangeable,” Fine said. “In Web3, they are much more complex because every payment method works differently. Teams repeatedly rebuild similar infrastructure instead of creating unified and optimized funding flows.”

Fine argued that many existing crypto payment companies are focused on solving problems users do not directly care about. Services built around fiat-to-crypto conversion or moving assets between blockchains, he said, are handling behind-the-scenes steps rather than improving the actual user experience.

“People do not care about converting fiat into crypto,” Fine said. “They care about completing an action inside an application. The conversion is simply something happening in the background.”

He pointed to the rise of embedded payment solutions as evidence that dedicated on-ramp providers and bridge platforms are losing importance. More applications are integrating payment capabilities directly, allowing users to reuse saved payment details and complete transactions without leaving the platform.

Fine also said future payment systems will need smarter fraud prevention and risk management. Instead of applying the same security rules to every transaction, platforms should adjust based on user behavior, transaction history, and account activity. Long-term users with established patterns could receive smoother experiences while maintaining appropriate safeguards.

Prediction Markets and Tokenized Assets Have Room to Expand

Beyond payment infrastructure, Fine highlighted prediction markets and tokenized equities as two areas with significant growth potential in the crypto industry.

He said both sectors remain in the early stages of adoption, with future expansion likely driven by greater liquidity, more specialized markets, and broader use cases.

Fine suggested that as liquidity improves, prediction platforms could eventually support millions of event-based contracts, making them more useful for forecasting, trading, and risk management.