In this text, you will find detailed instructions on how to create your own cryptocurrency application. We will look at all the stages of this process with examples and explanations - from finding a business idea to creating an MVP and deploying an application. We will also indicate the estimated development cost.

Mobile application type

The first decision to make when creating your own cryptocurrency app is to choose its type and niche. This is usually either a wallet, an exchange, or a marketplace, but there are other options. Here's a quick rundown of the most common cryptocurrency applications, including information about what to look for when developing them.

Cryptocurrency wallet

It is software that stores the private and public keys of users. Such software allows you to sign transactions, keep track of expenses and, of course, store all your passwords in one place (preferably in a secure place). Although there are already over 100 different mobile wallets out there, the chances that you will create the best one still exist as they all have their rather significant drawbacks.

Here is a set of parameters that determine the quality of the wallet:

• Supported coins: BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP, DASH, OMG and others.
• Security level: two-factor authentication, fingerprint scanner and FaceID, hardware authentication, multi-signature and more.
• User Experience: Managing your wallet shouldn't be any more difficult than managing services like PayPal, Google Pay or Apple Pay.
• Anonymity: depends on the target audience, for the majority it is enough to protect their confidential data, large miners and investors sometimes need a token mixer to trade large amounts.

Statistics aggregation platform

There is not much to say about such platforms, except that when developing such a cryptocurrency application, you need to pay maximum attention to the UI / UX design, and not just the functionality responsible for collecting data. Design is important, since it is the visibility and ease of perception of the visualized data that most of all affect the success of such services.

What other parameters affect the success of statistics aggregators:

• Data quality: it should be pulled from exchanges in real time, while it should be possible to specify from which exchange to get information about the rate, and for each coin (trading pair).
• Analytical tools: there must be all the basic tools for technical analysis of the course and building trading strategies, their quantity, size and quality must exceed similar fictions on the exchanges.
• Additional functions: push notifications, integration with cryptocurrency exchanges, news feed and other things that will be useful for traders and investors to analyze the state of the cryptocurrency market.

Cryptocurrency trading application

These can be traditional cryptocurrency exchanges (Bitstamp, Kraken), decentralized exchanges (Compound, Uniswap), or peer-to-peer trading platforms like LocalBitcoins and Paxful. The development of such cryptocurrency applications is a long and expensive undertaking, since you need to create not only a mobile application, but also the corresponding backend.

Here's what traders and investors need from a cryptocurrency exchange:

• High liquidity: at the start, you are unlikely to have enough trading volume to provide instant sale / exchange of tokens, so it is better to immediately connect to an external liquidity pool. Yes, profitability will decrease, but this is the only way to satisfy user needs.
• A large number of trading pairs: the more, the better, but you need to remember about liquidity and that new coins can be a scam.
• Reliability and safety: think about trading fiat on Forex, where the exchange processes hundreds of thousands of transactions. Your cryptocurrency exchange should have the same level of security and stress resistance.

e-Commerce application

Let's say you have an online store or service exchange and you want to accept payments in bitcoin and ether. Unfortunately, you will most likely have to process each such payment manually as there are no stable and easy payment gateways on the market that can be integrated with major e-commerce platforms. Such projects are being developed, but so far no one has managed to achieve significant success.

Manual processes that your application should automate:

• Merchant Panel: you need the ability to generate QR codes for fast transactions, as well as the ability to quickly check and manage the account.
• Automatic price optimization: although cryptocurrencies are more than ten years old, they are still highly volatile assets, so traders have to change prices every day or even more often. It is better to automate this process.

Other options

In addition to the standard options related to the purchase, sale and exchange of coins, cryptocurrency applications can also include video games, online casinos and DeFi services, which are based on cryptocurrency assets. The time and cost of development, as well as the requirements for such projects, depend on many factors, so we will not delve into this. We can only point to a few examples of similar software solutions:

• DeFi services: Compound, InsurAce, Celsius Network, Balancer.
• Mobile games: Bitcoin Blast, Crypto Idle Miner, Cryptokitties, Worldopo.
• Online casino: mbitcasino.com, bitcasino.io, bitstarz.com.

Service monetization model

Advertising. A monetization model in which app developers are paid for displaying third-party ads within their apps. Such advertising can be of several formats. Most common: Ads, Banners, Video Ads, Naive Ads, Text Ads, and Interactive Ads.

Freemium model. It is understood that users can access the basic functionality of the application for free and expand it later by connecting paid functions. The principle of this approach is simple: users download a free application, see the range and quality of the services provided, explore premium features with a preview, and pay for them. This model works well with games, SaaS and educational platforms.

App subscription. This model is close to freemium as it also allows you to test the mobile app first. However, unlike freemium, the subscription model is more suitable for applications with high user engagement and / or for services that provide unique content and services. The latter includes music and video streaming services such as Spotify, Netflix, and Apple Music. Online magazines and performance optimization services such as Todoist and Evernote also use this model.

Affiliate Marketing. Another way to monetize your app is to find a company that wants to work with you and launch an affiliate program. You will be placing ads within your app with unique links and making a profit every time users turn to leads and / or make purchases. Cryptocurrency applications usually cooperate with exchanges and exchangers, less often with information resources and stores.

Transaction fees. This option assumes that you will charge a commission on all transactions made within your application. This approach is suitable for exchanges and exchangers, unless it is a P2P platform.

Paid apps. This approach assumes that the user pays once and immediately gets access to all functions. When mobile apps first appeared, this monetization model was the only one. Now they are only 3,8% (114,540 out of 2,896,398 on Android).

Selling data. This is a controversial method as many users dislike it. But almost all popular mobile apps use it, so you should consider selling data too. The main thing is to trade not confidential user data, but marketing data: behavior, desires and preferences of consumers, broken down into categories, for example, by income level, location or marital status.

Cryptocurrency Application Design

When creating your cryptocurrency application, it is best to borrow the design ideas of a similar traditional application so that your users immediately understand what to do and how to do it. For example, if you are creating a service for buying and selling coins, you can copy the design from PayPal or Google Pay, if it is an online store - from Amazon or eBay, if it is the exchange - from IQ Option.

At the same time, you can develop a design in four ways:

• Best option if you are good at UX and UI.
• Hiring a freelancer. A budget option that you can use to save a lot. True, there is a risk of not getting the best result.
• By purchasing a ready-made design. On sites such as Dribbble, designers post ready-made designs for websites, desktop programs and mobile applications. Sometimes you can find decent options there.
• By hiring a design agency. The best option if you do not want to take risks and are not ready to spend time and effort looking for a professional freelancer, which can take up to a month (or more). It is more expensive than other options, but not much.

Approach to the development of crypto app

Bitcoin Wallet API. If you need to create a cryptocurrency application that will simply use cryptocurrency to receive payment for goods or services, then in this case it is best to use special APIs for integration with exchanges or exchangers. This approach will require minimal time, money and effort (one to three weeks and from $ 1,000 to $ 10,000), if you do not take into account the development of the mobile application itself. The best option for online stores, statistics aggregators, video games, casinos and other e-Commerce projects.

Software Development Kit (SDK). It is a special set of development tools, utilities and documentation that allows programmers to create software for a specific technology or platform. This option is optimal if you need to create a cryptocurrency application for buying, selling and exchanging coins. The most popular SDKs are Coinbase, Bitcoinj and Blockchain. Here is the estimated cost of creating a mobile wallet using the SDK:

Developing an application from scratch. The most expensive and complex approach to creating a cryptocurrency application, which is used if you need a unique design and functionality. Most applications in the cryptocurrency market are developed from scratch, since SDKs are mainly focused on the development of exchanges, and APIs are still too limited in capabilities. Here is the estimated cost of developing an app from scratch.

How to Create Cryptocurrency App? key takeaways:

#1. Mobile application type
#2. Cryptocurrency wallet
#3. Statistics aggregation platform
#4. Cryptocurrency trading application
#5. e-Commerce application
#6. Other options
#7. Service monetization model
#8. Cryptocurrency Application Design
#9. Approach to the development of crypto app