The current state of crypto was similar during “America Online” (AOL) in the late 1990s, when the user experience was clunky, technical, featured by limited use cases, and moved to dial-up speeds, according to polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Nailwal recognized some major developmental areas to improve user experience, including seamless Fiat on- and Off-Ramp, precautionary solutions featuring major recovery, and hardware wallets developed on mobile devices.
“We are in the Internet dial-up period where even connecting the Internet is a tedious task, as you have to be a mini-engineer to connect to Internet-there we are still in crypto.” —Sandeep Nailwal
“We are still in 1998, and it will take at least 10 to 15 years to see the crypto in its full glory,” added the Polygon founder.
While it is considered revolutionary on time, the AOL days of the Internet feature limited operations and a high barrier to entry. Source: PC magazine
Took the internet between 30-40 years to achieve mass adoption and began with a limited number of cases of use. In the late 1990s, the AOL era of the Internet was primarily email and basic web browsing, but today, the Internet covers the entire economy.
Nailwal said the current state of crypto is similar, with financial use cases, especially the speculation in the marketBeing the main focus of crypto at this time.
However, once financial usage cases are fully developed and achieve adequate adoption, the Crypto adoption spreads to Alternative cases of use Such as decentralized social media, gaming, and other niche sectors, he said.
Related: Security concerns are slow to adopt crypto payment worldwide – Survey
Being in Crypto now is early in the festival
Nailwal pointed out that even the case of use of the base for cryptocurrencies, which is financially, is not fully developed.
According to a February 2025 Report from Bitcoin (Btc) River of financial service river, only 4% of individuals worldwide own BTC – which is the original cryptocurrency with the largest market cap and has the most appeal to the mainstream.
Bitcoin’s adoption path. Source: River
The report found that the BTC had only achieved about 3% of the total path of adoption when considering the institutions, the total addressable market, and proper portfolio allocation were considered.
The small number of BTC holders indicate that the Crypto mass adoption is still years and signals that the whole industry is in Early stage of adopter of development.
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