I'm a cryptocurrency enthusiast, and my interest in crypto goes beyond merely investing in it, hoping to make a good profit. Of course, I would like that, and it is one of my goals, but ultimately, what I really want is for crypto and blockchain to be more integrated not only in our financial system but in the very roots of our society.
Because of that way of seeing things, I've been trying to adopt crypto gradually in my own life.
That's not an easy mission for many reasons, such as regulatory complexity and the fact that not many businesses or institutions are prepared to deal with crypto, at least where I live. However, I'm confident that as technology advances, these barriers will be taken down and crypto adoption will get easier.
In fact, that's already happening. I have recently come across a crypto product that is a huge help in integrating crypto into my life.
Integrating crypto with Kast
I recently wrote an article about Kast, a platform that allows users to order a credit card that they can use to pay for things using stablecoins, more specifically, USDC or USDT.
This platform allows users to order a credit card to make payments effectively using crypto, and it was a real game-changer for me.
They have a partnership with Visa, which means their cards are accepted nearly everywhere and because of that, Kast is now my number one form of payment. That not only helps me to take an active role in integrating crypto into the economy, but it also gives me a few extra perks.
Kast has a token generation event (TGE) planned for late 2025 or early 2026, and it rewards users with points that will be exchanged by tokens after the TGE. You can get points by performing actions such as referring friends, ordering cards and, of course, making payments so I'm getting points for potential tokens in the future with no effort at all.
Another perk is that Kast makes cross-border payments a lot easier and cheaper. I subscribe to a few international services and since I switched to Kast I'm paying over three times less fees than I used to when I was paying for those services with a regular international credit card.
However, as great as Kast is, there was still one issue that was bothering me. Although you can use it as a credit card, it works more like a debit card, meaning you need to have the funds available at the moment you make a payment. The problem with that is funds in your Kast wallet are idle.
Most Fintech works like a savings account and will pay a small APR on any money you have in your account, but Kast doesn't have that, at least not yet.
That was a small nuisance to me, but then I realized the answer to that problem had been right on my face all along.
Hive to the rescue
It's quite obvious when you think about it. The Hive blockchain has a great stablecoin, the Hive Backed Dollar (HBD) and it offers a savings account where you can stake your HBD for 15% APR.
There is a 3-day waiting period to unstake your HBD from savings but, aside from that, it's very easy to operate.
I'm not one to brag but I'm very organized financially and it's very uncommon for me to make impulse purchases. That means my expenditures are predictable enough for me to be able to leverage HBD savings to maximize my financial efficiency.
So, as soon as funds become available, I will bring them to Hive and stake in HBD savings. Then, I plan my movements so I can unstake HBD as needed.
Next steps
Although this structure increased my financial efficiency significantly, it still has room for improvement.
For example, moving funds out of Hive into Kast is not ideal yet because it involves too many steps. However, the InLeo team is working on integrating Solana into LeoDEX, which will allow me to easily go from Hive to Solana.
Since Solana is one of the networks supported by Kast and also an important part of my current financial structure, a lot of pieces will fall into place once the integration is live, so I'm looking forward to that!
Final thoughts
Cryptocurrency can potentially significantly increase the efficiency of our financial system, and while that doesn't happen systemically, it's up to each one of us to find ways to integrate this technology into our lives.
Kast and Hive helped me increase my financial efficiency and I doubt I'll be going back to traditional forms of payment anytime soon.
Upcoming developments, such as the Solana integration planned by the InLeo team, will make things progressively easier, providing great incentives for crypto adoption.