The growing use of digital currencies may be proving disruptive to traditional financial institutions, but also opens up new avenues for providing affordable financial services to those currently under-served by the finance industry.

This trend is socially uplifting for those previously underbanked, but also part of many companies’ business models as a customer-acquisition strategy needed in a highly competitive and growing global finance marketplace. Big-tech companies like Amazon, Samsung, Facebook, and Google, as well as mega-retailers like Walmart, have all begun to offer customers innovative financial services and products, such as cryptocurrencies.