ChangeNOW is expanding beyond its core cryptocurrency swap service as it works to build a platform that combines digital asset management, payments and infrastructure for businesses, according to Pauline Shangett, the company's chief strategy officer.

The company, which began operating in 2017, has added a crypto wallet, loans and trading features to its original exchange service. In an interview with Cryptopolitan at the Token2049 event, a major cryptocurrency industry conference, Shangett said payment cards are also planned as ChangeNOW moves toward becoming a one-stop platform for people who want to acquire, hold and spend digital assets.

ChangeNOW's shift toward a super app

Shangett said the company is morphing into a super app, a label she prefers over “neobank” because, while its offering does include neobank-style functionality, ChangeNOW has been bringing multiple services together into a single platform. The term describes applications that bundle multiple everyday services—such as payments, lending and commerce—into one interface. She cited the growth of real-world assets (RWAs), tokenized versions of traditional assets, as one factor contributing to crypto's potential to reach mainstream users.

“What we're doing right now is like trying to become like truly a one-stop shop for anybody who wants to interact with crypto, who wants to own crypto, and most importantly, who wants to pay in crypto,” she said.

The company is also investing more heavily in public relations, events and brand recognition. Shangett said ChangeNOW relied largely on search engine optimization and social media for much of its history, but has broadened its marketing efforts in recent years. It plans to continue that work through more industry events, speaking engagements and media appearances, she said.

Building a business around infrastructure and payments

Beyond its consumer-facing platform, ChangeNOW provides infrastructure for companies building cryptocurrency products. “Right now, we have more than 5,000 infrastructure partners who use our API as a way for them to either monetize their business or just expand and grow,” Shangett said.

Its business-to-business offerings include swaps, custody, liquidity, loans, payment services and wallet infrastructure, which Shangett described as “wallet as a service.” In such an arrangement, companies embed ready-made wallet technology into their own products rather than building it from scratch.

The company has also introduced private transfers, which route payments through ChangeNOW's infrastructure so that recipients do not directly see the sender's wallet address in the final transaction path. Public blockchains record transactions on open ledgers, meaning the balances and transaction history tied to any address can be viewed by anyone. According to Shangett, one possible use case for the feature is payroll for businesses that pay employees over the blockchain, where publicly visible wallet balances and transaction histories may raise privacy concerns.

Early-stage wallet companies can also access ChangeNOW's functionality free of charge under the firm's Fast-Track program, which provides support in other areas such as marketing and public relations. Shangett said the program is intended to help founders generate revenue while covering development, infrastructure and customer acquisition costs.

ChangeNOW is additionally working with hardware wallet providers including Ledger and Trezor, and has partnered with CoolWallet on a co-branded product.

Licensing requirements shaping the expansion

As ChangeNOW adds services, licensing has become one of its main strategic challenges, Shangett said. “When you're adding on new features, more and more of them are restricted to certain markets,” she said, adding that the company is “working on obtaining all the necessary paperwork to expand ourselves into the markets that we're not available in.”

She said ChangeNOW limits access in sanctioned jurisdictions, in markets where using its services could be unsafe, and in countries where it has not obtained the necessary licenses or permissions. Transactions originating from restricted markets are refunded and the originating IP addresses are blocked, she said, while the company continues working toward the permissions needed to enter other markets.

As its product offering grows, Shangett said, the challenge will be to make more crypto services available while maintaining the standards the company expects from its partners. How quickly it secures the licenses it is pursuing, and how its planned payment cards take shape, are the markers to watch as the super-app expansion progresses.