In their journey to offer users a first-of-its-kind, fully crypto-compatible mobile finance platform, fintech startup Lanistar now allows its Brazilian users to buy and sell cryptocurrency directly from the app.

Social media famous fintech Lanistar has unveiled the latest update to its mobile payment app, which gives all users the opportunity to buy and sell a diverse range of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, directly via the Lanistar app.

Lanistar has an ethos of striving towards the future of finance and bringing its users with them. Lanistar is taking a divisive, modern approach to money, either that be by removing physical plastic cards to prevent waste or by their belief in cryptocurrency as a financial solution for the underserved.

On the matter, Chief Commercial Officer at Lanistar, Merton Smith, said:

“The plastic-free virtual cards, it gives us that flexibility that we're not simply bolted to a table like a terminal in a fixed format: we're virtual. So wherever users go, the virtual goes too”.

“So, you know, we're embracing crypto, and crypto is an example where there's no- you know, it's definite, it's defined, it's there”, Smith continued. “I think that we serve the underbanked, the underserved people who don't feel like they are represented by these traditional banking institutions. And I think crypto is one of the things that people have turned to as an alternative to these systems”.

Cryptocurrency has been a part of the financial conversation since 2009, with Bitcoin created as a response to the financial crisis which occurred the year prior. However, it is only in recent years that the technology and its accompanying virtual currency have made its way into public use. Promoted by celebrities like Elon Musk and encouraged by some outlets like Gucci and Starbucks as a payment option, cryptocurrency now has a more diverse in-person use case than ever before.

However, more notably, due to the security enabled by blockchain technology, cryptocurrency also has a massive appeal to those around the world who feel their national banking systems are failing them. They, therefore, seek an alternative: an alternative that Lanistar intends to make as accessible as possible.

On the Lanistar crypto exchange itself, CEO Jeremy Baber said: “The layout is simple, straightforward. Some exchanges, they fill the screen with information, it's overwhelming, and that can make new investors nervous. With Lanistar, our goal is to make something that anyone can use. Where users can just log on, tap a few buttons, and their chosen crypto is there, in their account. That's the goal”.

The Lanistar app and its current crypto functionality are available in Brazil, with the app expected to reach the UK and other LATAM regions later this year. Further functions will become available later this Summer with a full crypto exchange offering send and receive functionality creating a full ‘AnyMoney’ solution.