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When Eleni Steinman and Shane van Coller saw their users manually clicking to pay crypto invoices every month, like writing digital checks, they knew something was broken. Web3 promised speed, scale, and seamlessness, but the user experience told a different story.
That disconnect became the seed for LoopCrypto, the infrastructure layer tackling one of crypto’s most overlooked (but business-critical) problems: making recurring payments actually work.
In this Portfolio Spotlight, we go behind the scenes with Loop’s co-founder Eleni to explore how they’re rebuilding the payment stack from first principles, why their early constraints became a strategic moat, and what a truly user-owned, onchain financial future might look like.
1. What was the moment you knew Loop had to exist? (Was there a specific pain point or ‘aha’ moment that sparked the idea?)
Shane and I were working at a crypto company serving global developers and traders. We offered a subscription-based product, but the payment infrastructure was completely manual. Each month, we’d email customers: “Your payment is due, please click here to pay.” There was no recurring billing, no autopay — we were basically asking sophisticated users to process payments like writing checks.
That was the moment. We were working with cutting-edge technology designed for global reach, instant settlement, and low fees, yet we couldn’t deliver a basic user experience that drives adoption.
We realized crypto payments had solved the technical challenges but not operational ones. Businesses and consumers don’t want to think about payments every month — they expect them to be seamless and automatic.
But solving that didn’t mean rebuilding every piece from scratch. It meant integrating this missing functionality into the systems already in use — customer management, billing, and financial operations.
And we saw an even bigger opportunity: to rebuild the payment stack better. In today’s systems, your financial data lives in corporate silos. With Loop, we imagined a world where consumers own their own transaction data, where financial interactions are transparent, portable and under their control. You don’t really own or control that data.
That’s been our north star from the beginning: make crypto payments seamless, yes, but also unlock what’s possible when you reimagine payments from first principles.
2. How do you explain Loop to someone outside Web3 and what’s their first reaction? (Any memorable responses or confused faces?)
Loop is like the little box where you enter your credit card info online, but for crypto. We’re the infrastructure that powers crypto payments, especially for recurring transactions like subscriptions. Merchants immediately get the value: it’s a new payment method that reaches over 500 million holders worldwide.
Crypto holders get it too. It’s faster, cheaper, and in many cases, the only way to complete international transactions.
For those who’ve heard of crypto but never used it, the conversation usually turns into a broader explanation of how payment processing works, and that’s often the bigger unlock. It’s not just about crypto; it’s about how money moves online.
3. What part of the payments stack were others overlooking and how did Loop approach it differently?
Most crypto payment providers tried to rebuild everything from scratch — billing systems, invoices, even product catalogs, which meant asking merchants to rip out their existing tools.
But businesses don’t work that way. The average merchant uses 40+ different tools — for billing, accounting, CRM, inventory, and customer support. These tools are battle-tested. Replacing them isn’t just a heavy lift — it’s a nonstarter.
We saw the gap: recurring payments weren’t actually solved. Most platforms just processed a series of one-time transactions, which didn’t offer meaningful advantages.
Loop took a different approach. We focused on the hard part — making recurring payments work reliably and seamlessly across hundreds of chains, thousands of tokens, and hundreds of different wallets. For everything else, we integrated with the platforms merchants already trust. Crypto is just another payment method. Loop makes it easy to plug into your existing stack — no overhaul required.
And the timing is right. Crypto payments are growing 200x year-over-year. Merchants want in — they just need a way that fits how they already operate. That’s Loop.
4. What’s something you’ve changed your mind about while building Loop? (A belief, strategy, or assumption that evolved along the way.)
Loop supports all types of crypto payments- one-time purchases, subscriptions, invoicing. But early on, we became known for solving recurring payments, and only that. At first, that frustrated me. I worried we’d be overlooked by merchants looking for simpler solutions. I thought we needed to reposition ourselves as a broader payments platform. But I was wrong.
One-time crypto payments are a commodity now — dozens of providers offer them. Recurring payments are where things get truly difficult: different wallet behaviors, token standards and multiple blockchains.
And it turns out, this is exactly where the market is heading. AI companies, creators, gaming platforms all rely on subscriptions to scale, and they all want global reach. Crypto is their fastest path to international revenue without banking barriers.
The subscription economy is worth over $650 billion globally and growing at 435% annually. Now I see it clearly: our focus isn’t a limitation — it’s our moat. We’re leading in the hardest part of crypto payments, right as demand is exploding.
5. Zooming out, what’s the bigger vision behind Loop and what would success look like in 5 years?
In five years, success means Loop is powering crypto payments across most billing platforms and payment processors — the infrastructure layer for global onchain transactions.
That includes subscriptions, one-time purchases, invoicing — all processed seamlessly, across chains. As volume scales, we’ll layer on services like native swaps and settlement in any currency, creating a fully interoperable ecosystem.
But our bigger bet is on stored payment profiles — think Stripe Link or Shop Pay, but for crypto. A one-click checkout experience, portable across merchants, with one major difference: users actually own their payment profiles and history on-chain.
That foundation unlocks everything from onchain credit scoring to universal financial management tools. Loop isn’t just making crypto payments easier; we’re building the rails for a more open, user-centric financial future.
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LoopCrypto is just one example of how we’re supporting companies that are shaping the future. As we continue to explore bold new ideas and opportunities, be sure to stay tuned for more Portfolio Spotlights showcasing other groundbreaking companies and their incredible impact. Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements and insights on how these projects are making waves in their industries.
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