What Types of Web3 Apps Use an On-Ramp?

Demand for on-ramps comes from the distance between owning crypto and using it. a16z estimated in its State of Crypto 2025 report that 716 million people own crypto, while only 40 to 70 million use it actively.

An app that targets users outside that smaller group must accept the money they already hold, and those users differ in how much verification they will tolerate.

• Wallets, centralized exchanges, NFT marketplaces and games, DeFi apps and super-apps, prediction markets, and social and creator platforms can all use an on-ramp for their users' first crypto.

• Each category stresses a different requirement, such as provider choice in wallets, local payment methods on exchanges, a locked token in games, crypto that is ready to use in DeFi, country coverage in prediction markets, and minimum purchase amounts in social apps.

• Apps that span several categories should pick a provider that can meet the strictest one.

A wallet the user controls, whether an app or a hardware device, opens empty, so a new user's first step in it is buying crypto. What Are the Use Cases for a Crypto On-Ramp? explains why wallets add a buy button.

MetaMask offers several on-ramp providers on its buy screen, so each provider's price competes with the others for the same user.

Our September 2026 campaign with MetaMask shows how this works. New users in Canada get zero Mercuryo fees on their first three purchases until October 31, but only if they select Mercuryo, because MetaMask may suggest a different provider by default.

An exchange already takes crypto deposits, so its on-ramp is there to add the local payment methods it lacks.

Local payment methods are what's missing

Each market tends to have its own bank transfer or QR system. Brazil's is Pix, run by the central bank and settling payments in seconds.

Since Pix launched, online shopping paid by direct bank transfer in Brazil rose from $3.6 billion in 2020 to $35.3 billion in 2024, according to Worldpay's Global Payments Report 2025.

Connecting each of those systems in-house means its own technical project and, depending on the country, its own license.

Local currencies matter as much as local methods. Bybit, like MetaMask, lets users choose the provider, and in February 2026 it ran a zero-fee USDC campaign with us in six markets, including Japan and Turkey.

To take part, new users opened the exchange's buy section, chose Mercuryo, and paid in currencies such as the Japanese yen, Turkish lira, and Vietnamese dong, without the exchange connecting each local system itself.

In a game or an NFT marketplace, the player comes for a sword or a skin, and they need to buy the token it's priced in.

A sword priced in one token can only be bought with that exact token, unless the platform converts the payment. If the on-ramp lets the player pick freely, they can buy the wrong coin, or the right coin in a version the game can't use.

Fixing that takes an extra conversion step, and a first-time buyer who skips it is left holding a coin the game doesn't accept. Mercuryo lets the game lock the token and the amount before the buy screen opens, so the player doesn't pick a token or an amount.

A player who came for a skin compares the crypto checkout with the other payments on their phone, where Apple Pay and Google Pay let them pay with a saved card. Each extra step, such as typing card details or uploading a document, gives the player a reason to close the app.

Our on-ramp shortens that first buy at both the payment and the ID check. Apple Pay and Google Pay allow one-tap payment in 23 fiat currencies.

On the verification side, light-KYC users can buy up to €699, where their country and payment method allow it.

Both categories need the purchase to stay inside the app and leave the crypto ready to use.

A DeFi app, such as a crypto lending or trading service, doesn't keep an account for the user to fund. The user comes to do one specific thing, and the top-up only helps if what lands in the wallet lets them do it straight away.

For the purchase to be usable on arrival, the wallet needs the token the app uses, such as a stablecoin (a token pegged to the dollar), plus a small amount of a second coin to pay transaction fees, unless the app covers them.

Messaging and payments apps treat crypto as one feature among many. Redirecting users to an outside page takes them out of the product, so super-apps tend to keep the buy screen inside the app.

Wallet in Telegram keeps the purchase inside a messaging app. It added Mercuryo in March 2025, letting users buy bitcoin, Toncoin, and other tokens used on Telegram without leaving the app.

Prediction markets let users buy positions on the outcome of events, such as elections or football matches. Crypto-based platforms ask users to fund a balance with digital assets first. Polymarket, for instance, runs trading on pUSD, a dollar-backed digital token.

Users can fund new positions from their balance and winnings, and top up through the on-ramp when those run short. Those top-ups grow with activity, and a16z found in its State of Crypto 2025 report that volume on Polymarket and Kalshi had risen nearly fivefold since the start of 2025.

The rules are still changing. In the United States, federal regulators have cleared Polymarket to run a regulated US platform, while appeals courts have split on whether states can apply their gambling laws to these markets.

Our on-ramp covers more than 150 countries and 62 currencies, publishes its full list of restricted countries, and applies KYC wherever local rules require it.

A prediction market can onboard users through the on-ramp only in countries where both the market and the on-ramp operate.

Money on social and creator platforms moves in small amounts, such as a few euros to tip a post, open a paid piece of content, or back a creator. It comes from people who joined for the content and may never have bought crypto.

Farcaster, a decentralized social network, has paid users to fund their wallets. It told Blockworks in October 2025 that it was focused on the number of funded wallets, which had passed 100,000, and it was matching some users' stablecoin deposits by up to 10%, capped at $500.

Platforms built around tips let users top up a balance once and tip from it many times. With Mercuryo, a top up starts at €25 for most cryptocurrencies and can vary with the asset, the payment method, and market conditions.

A €5 tip can't clear that on its own, so a platform can let users load one balance and tip from it several times.

The same tip also sits far below the €699 light-KYC limit from the games section. Platforms that already verify users through Sumsub, an identity verification company, can share that result with Mercuryo, so users aren't verified twice.

Side by side, the app types differ above all in how much verification their users accept.

In the KYC column, more stars mean users tolerate more verification, with four where they expect it and one where any request for ID costs the sale. The ratings and timings are editorial estimates, meant only for comparing categories.

That spread, from one star in tipping apps to four on exchanges, is why the questions to ask a provider start from the category and only then turn to its feature list.

A single product can span several rows of that table. A wallet that links to DeFi apps also serves their users. A super-app can host games and tipping at the same time. An exchange that adds a prediction product takes on a new set of country restrictions.

Match the on-ramp to the strictest of those rows, because the same on-ramp serves every part of the app.

That row usually decides the lowest KYC depth any of your users will tolerate, the tightest control over which token arrives, and the narrowest set of countries where every part of the app is allowed.

From there, How Web3 Businesses Choose a Fiat-to-Crypto Payment Gateway covers the wider criteria for comparing providers.

Our on-ramp runs KYC inside its own checkout, so your team decides the parts that change with each app type, such as where the buy button sits and what the user does with the crypto next. To go through your use case in detail, talk to Mercuryo's sales team.

Can users buy crypto straight into a hardware wallet? Yes. The on-ramp sends the crypto to an address the device controls. Mercuryo lets the wallet pre-fill that address.

Does a Web3 game need a crypto on-ramp if players pay with cards? Yes, if items are priced in a token, because the player needs that exact token to buy it. Mercuryo lets the game fix the token and amount before checkout.

Do prediction markets need KYC on every deposit? It depends on the amount, the country, and the payment method. A completed check can expire. With Mercuryo, users verify again once their KYC status expires.

What is the smallest purchase an on-ramp allows? Each provider sets its own minimum. With Mercuryo, the minimum is €25 for the majority of cryptocurrencies.