Unlike 2017 and even early 2018, a time period when new tokens faced heavy, speculative upward momentum, pushing many new listings to 10x or above, the recent Crypto market has become far more selective with regards to token appreciation. In the past 12 months, only a handful of projects have managed to appreciate past 500%, and the vast portion of these faced gains through the transient support of IEOs (initial exchange offerings), and quickly lost much of the appreciation.

The reason for the lack of monumental gains is that the vast portion of projects have been led through nothing but a whitepaper, an idea. This has forced most projects to soak market value without ever returning intrinsic utility. While the new and tougher state of the market has been crippling to most, it is a bold opportunity for the few teams that are genuinely pursuing products that have a great market fit and a go-to demand.

TAP, which is a crypto exchange and payment platform, listed less than a month ago and it did not even issue a public sale. However, it has surged in price within days after listing.
But why?

An analysis of TAP's sudden rise highlights how Crypto projects need to stay true to product fulfillments that have led to startup successes in the past, and, perhaps even most importantly, have a clear product differentiation.

A quick Background

Since Bittrex Global listed TAP’s token (XTP) on December 23, 2019, the token’s market price has jumped by approximately 700%. TAP’s big success during its first month of listing on Bittrex Global is driven by a few simple reasons that can be attributed to any successful startup:

Good product-market fit
A large go-to market demand
Seamless adjustment to user experience

While TAP aims, in the long run, to be a wallet for the entire Crypto market, it built early services for the sake of user acquisition, and so it ventured first towards ticking the above 3 factors.

TAP built a seamless user experience by developing user-centric storage and trading apps for 2 years, before releasing them to the market. As trading has a good product-market fit, TAP was able to easily break into the market by offering low fees. Additionally, as trading is well-sought throughout the Crypto space, it matches the needs of a large market and can thus convert a large base into users.

By giving users features they actively demand, TAP is able to build a seamless user experience where its core product fits into users’ primary needs. TAP aims to provide a one-stop, unified crypto banking solution to approximately 42 million users of crypto wallets worldwide.

TAP/BTC trading pair market graph on Bittrex Global

More about TAP?

TAP is a Crypto exchange and payment platform that provides users with access to multiple exchanges using just one account. Differentiation is key, and by combining order books of other exchanges, it is able to stand out without even having to directly compete against other exchanges.

TAP enables trades between various cryptocurrencies without the need to transfer funds between platforms. Users can find the best market price across multiple exchanges right from their phones and maintain access to all their crypto assets in one secure location.

A well-established problem among Crypto traders is the time and value expense of moving between exchange accounts in order to reap the best price and liquidity for coins. However, TAP has managed to deliver a solution, much like a traditional broker, where a single platform taps into various top-tier exchanges to always manage the best price for a buy or sell order.

Key Benefits of TAP:

Eliminates the need to set up multiple exchange accounts
Instantly find the best price among the market's leading exchanges
Stores all crypto assets in one secure place
Enables exchange between crypto and fiat currency
Easy transfer of assets between users and bank accounts

Bittrex Global Listing and Global TAP Rollout

Of course, marketing an community engagement are a major part of building a powerful, distributed token. Just an exchange listing isn't enough, no matter how good the exchange is. Listings draw attention from the exchange's trade community but a project must build and solidity its own community to show the exchange's traders that there's a growing momentum that they can join.

The listing of TAP’s native XTP token on Bittrex Global is part of a bigger global rollout of the complete TAP project. On December 19th, just ahead of the XTP token listing on Bittrex, TAP announced a Micro Token Offering (MTO) through the STP Network. The TAP app for Android was then launched on Google Play on December 20th, followed by the launch of the iOS version on the Apple App Store on December 22nd.

These back-to-back major events built a powerful schedule of news that not only drew new interest, but also sealed it.

Unlike other native crypto tokens that are purely speculative, TAP’s XTP tokens already provide tangible value to users of the platform. Staking XTP tokens reduces transaction fees when trading crypto and fiat currencies on the app. The fees for crypto trades on TAP already fall in the low range of 0.5-1.5%, with additional discounts, up to 50% off, offered if the fees are paid with TAP tokens.

To make sure a token's momentum is sustained, a solid roadmap is essential so that a token's utility can grow.

TAP’s Plans for the Future

Having already secured an in-principle approval, TAP is expected to receive full Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Provider license from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission in early 2020. The company wants to capitalize on the potential for unified and trustworthy cryptocurrency banking and alt-banking solutions. Meanwhile, it is acquiring a large user base, cored around the XTP token, so that it can position itself as the most convenient solution.

Aside from all the conveniences offered by the various trade and transfer solutons, TAP has also sealed safe cold storage provided by its partnership with BitGo, which offers $100M account insurance. In addition, TAP is also launching a TAP Prepaid Mastercard, which will let users complete transactions anywhere Mastercard is accepted (over 200 countries around the world). In the app, users will be able to quickly convert cryptocurrencies into local fiat currencies to purchase goods and services using the TAP Mastercard. Users will also be able to withdraw cash from a global network of ATMs this way.

All these steps take TAP closer to its goal of offering a regulated crypto banking service.

Conclusion

As demonstrated by its success during the first month of trading on Bittrex, TAP is a crypto project that has done everything right by way of patience: over 2 years of work have gone in the launch of this product's ecosystem. Thus, while the wider Crypto space's altcoins may be facing a drought, TAP has shown a well-executed and differentiated product carries itself.

With the app’s convenient features and safe storage, the usability of its native XTP tokens, and the upcoming launch of the TAP Prepaid Mastercard, TAP is already well on its way to becoming a unified alt-banking and crypto trading solution. TAP will continue to release updates regarding its upcoming launches and licensing status, making it a crypto project to watch throughout 2020 and beyond.