Miami Beach, FL — After years of experimentation, crypto today is boiling down to two core uses: trading and payments.

Speaking at a fireside chat at Consensus 2026 in Miami, Tempo’s go-to-market lead, Dan Romero, said the industry is settling into a “barbell” shape, with speculative trading like Hyperliquid’s marketplace on one end and stablecoin-based payments gaining traction on the other.

“The things that have worked over the last five years are speculation and stablecoins,” he said. “In the middle, it’s a bit of a wasteland,” he added, describing a slew of projects that have struggled to find product-market fit despite years of development and funding.

Romero is speaking from experience. Before joining Tempo, he was the…