How to Start a Crypto Business: A Guide to Profiting in the Digital Gold Rush

Have you ever entertained the idea of launching your own crypto startup? Many of us have, at some point – it’s hard to avoid it in this day and age when everyone around us seems to have a side hustle. In addition, the fear of missing out is amplified by all those social media posts waxing lyrical about the joys of entrepreneurship. Figuring out the basics of how to start a crypto business is easier said than done, though.

What if there was a handy guide to teach you the basics and point you in the right direction? While this article is no substitute for putting in the work and doing your own research (there will be plenty of that if you decide to get serious about it!), hopefully, I can at least give you a good head start so that your aspirations don’t crumble in the face of practical obstacles too soon.

Are there any good reasons to launch a crypto business in 2024? Should you create a new crypto exchange (it might even rival the top players like Binance, Bybit, or Kraken someday – you never know!), or would a crypto wallet or a dApp be a better idea? Dive into this guide and let it shape your dreams into something a little more tangible!

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What is a Crypto Business?

While the term might seem self-explanatory to you, if you want to learn the ins and outs of how to start a crypto business, it wouldn’t hurt to be absolutely clear on what it really entails.

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A crypto business can mean any type of business that provides blockchain or cryptocurrency-related services or uses blockchain technology as a framework for its own product to harness the benefits it provides, such as decentralization, anonymity, and efficiency of digital transfers.

Crypto-based businesses can range from familiar institutions like centralized crypto exchanges and crypto payment gateways to the sprawling world of Web3 technology, including NFT marketplaces, decentralized exchanges, and other dApps.

There’s a lot more in between that spectrum, too! You’ll find a more extensive list of different types of crypto business in one of the sections below, but for now, what you should take away from this is the sheer breadth of opportunities before you. Blockchain technology is starting to permeate more and more domains: it’s no longer just finance but also gaming, education, and even healthcare!

Reasons to Start a Crypto Business in 2024

Naturally, the first question you should ask yourself is not how to start a crypto business but why.

Despite its rising popularity, crypto is still considered a bit of a niche area outside tech circles. When your average person gets a notion to become their own boss and launch a new business venture, a crypto startup probably wouldn’t be the first thing on their mind.

Even so, there are some good reasons why the crypto sphere could be a fertile playground for your entrepreneurial ambitions.

​​Low Barrier of Entry

Starting a new business venture is never a walk in the park – but some domains are definitely easier to break into than others. While learning how to start a crypto business could take you months or even years before you feel ready to take the plunge – once you get to the point of sorting out the logistics, you’ll discover things aren’t as scary as they seemed to be at first glance.

The digital nature of cryptocurrencies means that your business would operate online, which alone would save you a lot of overhead costs down the road, such as premises rent (if you’re running your business from home).

That’s not the whole story, of course. Depending on the type of your crypto business, you might need to worry about issues like regulations and licenses. Still, if you have a limited budget, crypto is definitely one of the more forgiving options when it comes to business costs.

Rapid Market Growth

Everyone who knows a thing or two about launching a new startup is aware of the dreaded thin line between an oversaturated market and a niche one. Get in too early, and your ingenious idea might flounder, unable to find an audience. Get in too late, and you’ll be rubbing shoulders with way too many competitors, struggling to get noticed by potential customers.

Lucky for you, cryptocurrency seems to be at just the right stage these days: it’s become mainstream enough to have generated a sizable global demand while the market still hasn’t fully caught up, so there’s enough room for new players.

The numbers are clearly in support of this narrative. As of 2024, roughly 6.8% of the global population owns crypto, which amounts to over 617 million people worldwide – up from barely 5 million in 2016!

A lot of that growth can be attributed to Bitcoin – the first cryptocurrency, and still the most popular one to this day. There are now over 46 million Bitcoin users out there (measured by the number of unique addresses) compared to 23.1 million in 2020 – that alone suggests the market is ripe for BTC business opportunities! With that in mind, focusing on how to start a Bitcoin business might not be a bad idea.

Even the most conservative projections predict at least 20% annual growth from this point – so you still have time to jump in on the action.

What’s more, emerging crypto businesses have great potential for global reach. One of the main benefits of digital assets and blockchain technology is the fact that they’re not confined by state borders the way traditional banking is. Thanks to decentralization and relative lack of regulation, crypto can reach a large proportion of users who don’t have access to conventional financial institutions.

Fast-Moving Industry

If you want to learn how to start a crypto business, you’ll have to get up close and familiar with the underlying technology to some degree (depending on whether or not you’re planning to go solo or hire developers to help you out).

The one thing you need to be aware of, however, is just how fast this technology keeps advancing. We’re only just beginning to tap into its full potential, and with such an actively engaged and tech-savvy fanbase, discoveries are made every day.

While such a volatile technological landscape can make it hard to keep up with new developments, it makes sure that the scene never grows stale. There’s no shortage of crypto startups that made a fortune by capitalizing on some new advancement before their competitors could get there first – or at least did it better than them.

Community Engagement

Every entrepreneur has their own reasons for starting a business. While some are in it mostly for the money, others value the autonomy and flexibility that comes with being your own boss.

On the other hand, when it comes to crypto businesses, one underrated aspect is a sense of community. For some people, there’s no better feeling than the sense of pride and connection that comes from cultivating a loyal and actively engaged fanbase around your passion project.

The crypto scene is full of users who genuinely care about the products they use and want to support their favorites. As a demographic, crypto traders tend to lean young and more willing to engage with others in online spaces, all of which give you an opportunity to build a thriving community if you put in some effort and maintain active social media channels from the start.

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Picking Your Niche: Types of Crypto Business Opportunities

Now that I’ve clued you in on all the factors that stand in your favor, let’s get started on the specifics of how to start a crypto business. Namely, what sort of business would it be in the first place?

As I said before, you have a fair amount of options lying before you, each posing unique challenges. This is by no means an exhaustive list and you should consider this more of a teaser showing you what’s out there.

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Cryptocurrency Mining Platforms

Many of us remember the good old early days of the Bitcoin gold rush. Back then, crypto mining was something anyone could do in their own home: all you had to do was run software that harnessed your CPU power to solve complex cryptographic puzzles. As a reward, users received newly minted coins.

Sadly, those days are long behind us. Especially what concerns Bitcoin, business opportunities now lie mostly in creating mining tools for group use rather than trying to make a bank mining crypto by yourself with consumer-level equipment.

If you’re wondering how to start a crypto mining business – there are several types of mining tools and solutions out there:

• Cloud platforms: These platforms let users rent out mining power online so that they don’t have to purchase their own hardware.
• Local platforms: Unlike cloud platforms, these require installing specialized software on your computer. They give users more control over the mining process but require more technical know-how and regular maintenance.
• Mining pools: They’re made up of a group of miners who pool their resources to boost their processing power and increase their chances of rewards.

How to start a crypto mining business depends a lot on which of the above-mentioned options you pick – so make sure to do your research!

Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Another obvious choice would be to start your own cryptocurrency exchange. A platform that facilitates crypto transactions - either through the market, as is the case with centralized exchanges (such as Binance, Bybit, and Kraken), or through peer-to-peer transactions with no central intermediary, if you're using a decentralized exchange (DEX).

That said, unlike some other business opportunities mentioned here, launching a crypto exchange requires a lot of legal and financial expertise. Being in charge of other people’s funds and assets comes with a huge responsibility. You’ll have to educate yourself on numerous regulatory nuances – the last thing you want is your platform crashing into legal obstacles before it can even get off the ground!

Here are some factors you’d have to consider if you want to know how to start a crypto exchange business:

• Global accessibility: What countries would your platform be available in, and how would you go about branching out if needed?
• Asset diversification: How many coins would your platform offer?
• User interface: Would your exchange be aimed at experienced traders or beginners? Would you offer a simplified and a “Pro” mode or stick to one universal mode across the platform?
• Trading features: Would you offer a full range of advanced trading options and order types? Would there be a staking, referral, or any other sort of loyalty reward program?

Now, let’s say you launch an exchange platform. Do you know how to make a crypto exchange app? Not having one would certainly hold your business back. Most customers today prefer using their smartphones for basic trading, and not everyone has a desktop computer at home.

Cryptocurrency Wallets

If learning how to start a crypto exchange business sounds like biting off more than you could chew, why not start with something simpler? Especially if this is your first business venture, I’d recommend aiming lower and creating a crypto wallet instead.

The one potential drawback is that standalone crypto wallets are somewhat harder to monetize than full-fledged exchanges. While the latter can generate revenue through trading or withdrawal fees, or other services like margin trading or staking, wallets often have to rely on secondary revenue models, such as in-app purchases or swapping fees.

Depending on your profit expectations, though, these difficulties could still be outweighed by lower operational costs: with wallets, you don’t need to worry about nuances like managing liquidity or order matching.

Cryptocurrency Payment Gateways

What if launching a crypto exchange or wallet isn’t your cup of tea, but you still feel drawn to cryptocurrency’s role in facilitating easy payments? The answer might be creating a crypto payment gateway instead.

It is a service that allows other businesses to accept coins as payment from their customers. Even though this method isn’t nearly as widespread as fiat currency, crypto offers quite a few advantages, such as fast transaction speed and increased global availability. This is especially relevant for cross-border payments.

Cryptocurrency Consulting Services

Asset management consulting has become quite a sought-after service in traditional finance. There is an increasing number of people getting serious about personal finance who find themselves in need of professional advice. No wonder it's catching on in the crypto world, too – with such a relatively new and volatile sphere, it can feel intimidating to navigate these waters all by yourself.

Crypto consulting services can cover a lot of areas, such as:

• Assistance in setting up and monitoring a cryptocurrency portfolio to maximize returns.
• Development of investment strategies tailored to your personal goals and budget.
• Providing analytical data on the cryptocurrency market.
• Help in optimizing tax liabilities from crypto transactions.
• Various training programs, courses and webinars to improve financial literacy in crypto.

In other words, if your passion lies in helping other people, setting up a crypto consulting business might be right up your alley!

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Decentralized Applications (dApps)

All of the above-mentioned opportunities are worth a thought if you’re looking into how to start a crypto business. As you’re probably well aware, though, crypto is more than just finance! If you’re looking for a smaller-scale project more closely aligned with the decentralization aspect of cryptocurrencies, you could try your hand at launching a dApp.

When it comes to decentralized applications, the sky’s the limit. A dApp is a digital application that runs on blockchain technology or a peer-to-peer (P2P) network instead of on a single computer. Just like conventional apps, they can be anything: social networks, productivity tools, games, and more!

Another element you could explore if you decided to go with a dApp is NFTs (non-fungible tokens)^[1]. They’re a type of cryptographic tokens that represent ownership of unique digital assets. This makes them particularly useful in GameFi (specifically, play-to-earn games that use NFTs as in-game assets to be traded) or digital art platforms.

How to Start a Crypto Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

Now that you have a better idea of just how many options are out there, it’s time to whip out the whiteboard and get to work! After figuring out the why and the what, the only thing left to do is to learn how to start a crypto business.

The guide you’ll find in this section is meant to serve as a generic game plan you can refer to regardless of what type of crypto startup idea you’ve settled on. Whether you’re looking into how to make a crypto exchange app or how to start a Bitcoin business-to-business payment solution, the fundamentals of launching a new venture in the crypto sphere are still the same, for the most part.

Without further ado, let’s see what your prep work is going to look like from start to finish!

Step 1: Conduct Market Research

The first and foremost thing you need to figure out before starting a new business (crypto or otherwise) is whether there’s a need for it. This is where market research comes into the picture. Here are some of the questions you should be asking yourself:

• What does the current crypto business landscape look like?
• What are the industry trends?
• What potential unmet needs might your customers have?
• Who exactly is your product for, and what are they looking for?
• Who are your competitors, and what can you offer that they can't?

These are some of the questions you should try to answer if you don’t want your business to become just another statistic among the 90% of startups that end up in the ditch. Well-executed market research lays out the groundwork for your entire venture.

Besides, as they say – a good start is half the battle! Market analysis will help you narrow down your niche, find a target audience, and define your startup’s identity (its brand, vision and mission, and other foundational elements). If you don’t do your homework at this stage, you’ll inevitably have to retrace your steps later when you hit the wall.

Step 2: Choose a Legal Structure for Your Business

When starting a business, including a crypto startup, the impact of picking the right legal structure can’t be overstated: it’s going to affect things like taxes, liability, fundraising, and regulatory compliance, among others.

Unpacking the specifics and nuances of different legal structures and their suitability for a crypto business could easily take up a whole book, let alone an article. Having said that, most crypto startups tend to go for one of these three options:

• Limited Liability Company (LLC): Ideal for smaller startups in need of flexibility, personal liability protection, and pass-through taxation.
• C-corp: Best for larger startups planning to raise significant funding, attract institutional investors, or go public. It also allows for easier stock issuing and scaling.
• Decentralized Anonymous Organization (DAO): A good alternative for startups that aim to build decentralized ecosystems, such as DeFi platforms. However, their legal frameworks are still developing, so this option would be considered one of the riskier ones.

Whichever one you go for, make sure to do your research! This is definitely not a decision you want to rush. Choosing the wrong legal structure could not only hinder your growth and profits but come with disastrous legal ramifications, too.

Step 3: Find Out the Licensing and Regulatory Requirements

Speaking of legal issues – one of the unfortunate consequences of entering a finance-adjacent business sphere is having to deal with various regulatory requirements. What makes it even trickier is the shaky legal landscape of cryptocurrencies in many countries: their status is often subject to continuous reassessment and new regulations.

The specifics will depend on where your business will be based, of course. American entrepreneurs will have to contend with SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) guidelines, while those in the EU should heed MiCa (Market in Crypto-Assets) regulations.

Either way, it’s a good idea to consider your tolerance for regulatory bureaucracy when choosing your niche. For instance, if you’re reading this guide with the goal of learning how to start a crypto exchange business, be aware that launching a CEX, short for centralized exchange, would involve a whole lot more regulations than, say, creating an earn-to-play NFT game.

Step 4: Consider Your Funding Options and Find the Right Team

The next logical step in how to start a crypto business is figuring out where your initial capital is going to come from. You’ll have to make sure that your funding meets the bare minimum threshold of covering the licensing procedures, development costs, marketing budget, salaries, and other expenses.

Traditionally, startups often rely on venture capital firms and angel investors. When it comes to crypto, however, there might be better alternatives: options like Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and Security Token Offerings (STOs) would give you the opportunity to secure funding directly from the crypto community, although they come with their own conditions and complex regulations, as well.

Lastly, finding a team is not necessary if you intend to go solo, of course. On the other hand, if you’re not the type to be a lone ranger, or if you lack the necessary skillset to launch your venture all on your own, you’ll have to find a business partner or employees if you hope to get your startup off the ground.

Step 5: Set up the Technical Infrastructure

It wouldn’t be a crypto business without the blockchain technology behind it, now would it? Once you’ve moved past the initial roadmap milestones, you’ll have to come up with the technological blueprint for your business.

The first question you’ll need to answer is – what blockchain would you base your project on? Each of them comes with its own set of strengths and advantages: Ethereum is well-loved for its smart contract capabilities^[2]. Binance Smart Chain – for its fast and cheap transaction fees, while Polkadot has gained a loyal fanbase thanks to its array of development tools.

Picking a prominent blockchain could boost your project’s recognition and pave a smoother path to user adoption.

On the other hand, the crypto sphere is rife with opportunities to get off the beaten track and make your own way! Forking an existing blockchain or creating a new one from scratch could give your startup a pioneer status and make for a great elevator pitch, not to mention provide it with a technological framework uniquely tailored to its needs. Such an ambitious undertaking would cost a lot of time and development resources, though.

Step 6: Create and Validate Your MVP

This is where your “How to Start a Crypto Business” journey theory finally merges with practice!

MVP (minimum viable product) is one of the most crucial milestones for any business. As the name implies, it’s meant to be the first version of your product, containing only the essential features and functionalities.

After this initial release follows a hectic period of continuous refinement, during which you’ll be engaging with the early adopters (many of whom will be there to stay if your product delivers what it promised) and listening to their feedback and suggestions.

Step 7: Plan for Scalability and Build a Marketing Strategy

A lot of startup owners overlook the importance of planning for scalability and come to regret it later. In those early days, it might be hard to believe your product could attract such a large audience that scalability could become an issue. Nevertheless, you should plan ahead and look for ways to accommodate an unexpected rise in demand.

In the context of a crypto business, this could include optimizing your codebase, adopting a more efficient consensus mechanism, or exploring Layer 2 solutions like sidechains, plasma, state channels, and rollups.

Now that you’ve got a viable product that’s passed the early adoption stage, it’s time to figure out how to advertise it effectively.

Marketing often seems so far removed from the more technical side of product development that it’s tempting to see it as a side aspect rather than an essential part of the process. Unfortunately, the “built it and they’ll come” approach doesn’t always work out; if you don’t want your venture to crash up on the rocks, you’ll have to ensure that word of it gets out!

Moreover, if you’ve done your homework during the first step, you already have a solid foundation of market research under your belt – you can now draw on it to create a comprehensive marketing plan.

The following avenues are the most relevant for a crypto startup:

• Social media marketing (active social media channels);
• Content marketing (blog articles, whitepaper, educational resources);
• Community engagement (reward and loyalty programs, Q&A sessions, meetups);

Don’t forget other popular options, like PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns and email marketing.

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Conclusions

Learning how to start a crypto business is no small task – and certainly not something you can achieve after reading one single article!

Still, a comprehensive guide could become a trusty paddle in this intimidating ocean of crypto entrepreneurship. If you’re still mulling over various Bitcoin business opportunities – hopefully, my list of options helped you narrow it down to something that feels both exciting enough and within the realm of possibility. Or, if you already have a more tangible challenge in mind (such as how to start a crypto exchange business to rival one of the big ones like Binance, Bybit, or Kraken), this step-by-step roadmap is as good a starting point as any.

That said – don’t fall into the trap of getting too attached to your preliminary project outline. Crypto market trends and technology are moving so fast that even the most prescient plan could become obsolete any day. Stay open to new possibilities and be flexible! Your once-in-a-lifetime venture opportunity could be lurking just around the corner.

The content published on this website is not aimed to give any kind of financial, investment, trading, or any other form of advice. BitDegree.org does not endorse or suggest you to buy, sell or hold any kind of cryptocurrency. Before making financial investment decisions, do consult your financial advisor.

Scientific References

1. Q. Wang., R. Li, Q. Wang., et al.: ‘Non-Fungible Token (NFT): Overview, Evaluation, Opportunities and Challenges’;

2. W. Metcalfe.: ‘Ethereum, Smart Contracts, DApps’.