[Case 05]
Redefining Crypto for Everyone
Crypto
Building The Most Inclusive and Empowering Crypto Platform
[Project Overview]
[1] Mission
Eliminate the biggest barriers to crypto adoption for both mainstream and advanced users, globally and inclusively.
[2] Process
Led an end-to-end, mixed-methods research sprint, audited 15 market leaders, synthesized UX pain points, and prototyped 5 industry-first features fundamentally tied to real user needs.
[3] Why now?
Crypto stands poised for mass adoption - yet experience, trust, and empowerment are missing for most users, threatening true global impact.
[Industry]
Crypto
[My Role]
Senior Product Designer
[Platforms]
Desktop
Mobile
[Timeline]
Jan 2025 - Apr 2025
[Problem Statement]
Over the past decade, billions have been invested in building crypto exchanges, wallets, and DeFi apps. Yet, even the most celebrated platforms have failed to serve the potential mainstream user - leaving most people intimidated, lost, or unprotected.
Despite design advances, B2C crypto remains a landscape of fragmented, jargon-heavy tools - where every mistake carries real risk and the promise of financial empowerment remains out of reach for most.
70% of first-time users abandon onboarding due to fear of loss, complexity, or missing confidence in the system.
Despite huge fintech investment, even the best crypto platforms leave most users frustrated, overwhelmed, or unprotected. It’s time for a radical yet deeply empathetic rethink
[Research Objectives]
Can we create a crypto experience that anyone—regardless of background—can trust, learn, and thrive with?
Which zero-to-one opportunities have all major platforms ignored or failed to scale?
How can we design a product so intuitively that it removes the psychological barriers to adoption, not just the technical ones?
[Archetypes]
First Time User
"I keep hearing about crypto, but it all sounds risky. I don’t want to lose money or get scammed."
Tech Proficiency: Moderate
[Attitudes & Needs]
Wary and cautious; craves security, explanations, and easy recovery. Needs clear, friendly guidance and assurance that making a mistake won’t ruin them financially.
[Financial Behaviour]
Has never held crypto; only interested if it’s as easy (and secure) as using a banking or e-wallet app.
Skeptical Banker
“I understand finance - but crypto? Feels like smoke and mirrors buried in buzzwords.”
Tech Proficiency: High
[Attitudes & Needs]
Analytical but distrustful; demands transparency, regulatory clarity, and robust risk disclosures. Needs to see credible guardrails and institutional-grade controls.
[Financial Behaviour]
Dabbled as a skeptic; holds small amounts, only invests if convinced by professionalism and compliance.
DAO Contributor
“I love what Web3 can do, but I spend half my life switching wallets, apps, and Discords. Why isn’t it all simpler?”
Tech Proficiency: High
[Attitudes & Needs]
Excited and passionate, but jaded by tool fragmentation and lack of cross-functionality. Needs one place for all governance actions and assets.
[Financial Behaviour]
Active in voting, liquidity provision, staking, cross-chain swaps; juggles multiple identities and wallets.
NFT Artist
“I want to create and sell digital art, but gas fees, weird addresses, and wallet rules just trip me up.”
Tech Proficiency: Moderate to High
[Attitudes & Needs]
Focuses on creativity, not technology; needs seamless onboarding, no-jargon UX, a safe space for minting, selling, and collecting art.
[Financial Behaviour]
Occasionally buys/sells NFTs, sometimes loses track of assets or stumbles at wallet setup.
Passive Investor
“Show me stable yield - don’t make me read a whitepaper or stress about moving money around.”
Tech Proficiency: Moderate
[Attitudes & Needs]
Simple, safe, steady; wants passive earning without complexity or technical risk.
[Financial Behaviour]
Uses centralised exchanges or trusted apps, little interest in active trading or experimental protocols.
Everyday Explorer
“Crypto is all over my feed—some of it looks wild, some inspiring. I want a shot at new opportunities, but only if I can understand what I’m getting into, and recover if I mess up.”
Tech Proficiency: Moderate to High
[Attitudes & Needs]
Open to trying new things if risk is manageable and explanations are clear. Looks for clear guardrails, demo modes, easy experimentation, and support for when things go wrong. Motivated by curiosity, opportunity, or community—not just financial gain.
[Financial Behaviour]
Jumps between trends (airdrops, social tokens, community projects) with friends or online groups; invests modest amounts; regularly seeks advice, tutorials, and “safe try” features to explore without feeling lost or exposed.
[So what are the real issues faced by these archetypes?]
I developed and executed a comprehensive usability study combining quantitative metrics with qualitative insights to understand both performance issues and underlying user motivations. The study design included:
25 representative users (archetypes), 5 core flows tested, across 15 leading crypto platforms.
[And what did the users say?]
“I abandoned the process when it asked to write down 12 random words. What if I lose them? There’s no backup option?”
“KYC was half-finished, then it said not supported in my country. So why did I have to upload my ID three times?"
“Switching networks, switching wallets - one missed popup and my session is gone. Don’t get me started on gas fees.”
“Buying my first NFT, I clicked three times, paid two ‘fees’, and still didn’t know where my art exactly is. It needs to be simpler!”
“Staking looked tempting, but after reading five screens of warnings and no plain-English summary, I quit. Too much to risk for a few percent yield.”
“I wanted to buy a meme coin with my friends, but one got stuck on ‘minimum deposit’, another had his payment cancelled by the bank.”
“I actually tried a few platforms. They are scary, technical, and there’s no clear way to fix issues if you get stuck. I need something that feels… like banking, not hacking.”
“I tried moving coins from one app to another, and they just disappeared for 20 minutes. All I got was a ‘pending’ message. Couldn’t tell if I lost my money.”
[Summary of user observations]
Majority abandoned onboarding due to cognitive/emotional barriers (seed phrase, ID upload, no clear safety net).
Lowest confidence and trust observed in wallet recovery and fee transparency.
Power users equally frustrated with fragmentation—too many logins, apps, manual tracking.
Universal desire for “plain English” explainers, live help, and undo/recovery options.
[Auditing the "The Top 15 B2C Crypto Platforms"]
[Synthesis: 5 Recurring UX Problems]
Onboarding Friction & Recovery Anxiety
Severity/Frequency: Found in 13 out of 15 platforms (Critical)
Key Drivers: Seed phrases, complex KYC, overwhelming setup steps
Impact: 55% onboarding drop-off; 75% of recovery attempts failed or required support
User: “I abandoned the process when it asked for 12 words. What if I lose them? There’s no safety net.”
Business Effect: High abandonment, increased support costs, negative brand trust
Information Overload & Jargon
Severity/Frequency: Universally present - dashboard density/jargon in all platforms tested
Key Drivers: Non-intuitive navigation, unexplained crypto terms, inconsistent flows
Impact: Only 33% completed staking/earn flows; 80% reported feeling “lost or intimidated.”
User: “Staking looked tempting, but after five screens of warnings, I gave up. Too much to risk for a few percent.”
Business Effect: Lost potential revenue, negative word-of-mouth, low feature adoption
Security, Trust, & Recovery Gaps
Severity/Frequency: Present in 11 out of 15 platforms (High)
Key Drivers: Missing/hidden recovery options, lack of explainers, support delays
Impact: 25% were able to recover wallets; remainder locked out or resorted to customer support
User: “Lost my wallet once, never again. Give me the equivalent of 'forgot password' for crypto.”
Business Effect: High churn, spike in support tickets, user attrition
Rigid, Non-Personalised Flows
Severity/Frequency: 12 of 15 platforms lack meaningful personalisation
Key Drivers: “One size fits all” approach; non-adaptive UIs
Impact: Frustration for both experts (too basic) and newcomers (too advanced)
User: “Why can’t I just see what matters for what I do? I’m flooded with stuff I don’t care about.”
Business Effect: Lower daily active use, skipped advanced features
[Design Principles & North Star Vision]
Our North Star Vision:
“We don’t just want to make crypto easier or more beautiful - we’re designing the only global, regulated, user-first platform that turns cryptocurrency into a practical, everyday financial advantage. Our vision is to give everyone, whether they have £5 or $5M in crypto, the same confidence, security, and opportunity to grow, spend, and protect their digital assets, every day, everywhere.”
Guiding Principles:
1. Crypto for Humans, Not Just Coders: Every flow is explainable, recoverable, and accessible - no more intimidation, no more risky leaps into the unknown.
2. Trust at Every Touchpoint: Security, safety nets, and helpful controls are always visible and easy to use. Users never “hope for the best” - they know they’re safe, and can always recover
3. Adaptive by Nature: The product recognises its user - trader, artist, parent, DAO member, and degenerate - and responds with clear, role-driven UI, context, and recommendations.
4. Effortless Power, Accessible to All: Advanced actions (swaps, automations, cross-chain) are available in plain language and require no prior expertise; features progressively reveal themselves based on user needs, never overwhelming at the start.
[Solution Ideation: Key Features]
Solves: Onboarding dropout, recovery anxiety
Moment of Change: User gets started instantly, no seed to memorise, no scary warnings. “I lost my phone, my trusted contact helped me get it back in 30 seconds.”
Solves: Info overload, security second-guessing
Moment of Change: If a trader asks, “Should I do this?” and gets plain-English, actionable help or warning, no more jargon or guessing (while ensuring that no financial advice is delivered by the AI).
Solves: Info overload, rigid flows
Moment of Change: Dashboard adapts: an expert sees a more analytics and risk-based dashboard layout; a first-timer crypto enthusiast sees simple card views and owned NFTs. Furthermore, the user should see their every wallet/asset/NFT and reward, CEX, DEX, DAO, in one clean, manageable view.
In crypto, the true UX test isn’t the ‘happy path’ - it’s whether users still feel empowered and safe when everything goes off-script.
[Real Product Decisions: Navigating Trade-Offs & Team Tension]
One of the hardest early choices was how to balance “invisible” onboarding (no jargon, seedless, pay-and-go) versus giving users explicit education about wallets, keys, and risks. Here’s how it unfolded:
Storyboarded Conflict: Invisible Onboarding vs. Explicit Key Education
1. Initial Approach
We sprinted ahead with Google Pay-style invisible onboarding - users could start buying/earning instantly, no seed phrase, no hardware wallets, everything recoverable with social or biometric login.
2. Early Test Signals
First user testing was positive (onboarding drop-off halved), but power users and legal/compliance flagged issues:
Users misunderstood where their keys actually lived.
Regional compliance required explicit acknowledgment of self-custody risks.
Some users felt “tricked” by the lack of early warnings if they wanted to go fully non-custodial later.
3. Team Debate
I led a working session with product, Eng, Legal, and our external security advisor.
Legal: “If users lose funds and weren’t warned, it’s a liability risk.”
Product: “But if we force education up front, we lose 30% more users!”
Growth: “What if we ‘progressively disclose’ - default to invisible onboarding but serve micro-educational nudges before advanced steps (withdrawals, NFT mints, DAO governance)?”
Design Decision
We quickly Figma-branched:
Branch A: No-jargon flow (“Just start!”) + warnings only at “Send” or “Withdraw.”
Branch B: Compact explainer modal at first use, before any funds are sent or received.
We ended up going with Branch B:
A minimalist, animated explainer modal appears before the user’s first wallet action or asset withdrawal - with one-tap access to “Learn More” if desired. The UI records if the user has ever read the advanced custody docs; if not, it gently prompts before every major chain interaction.
Outcome: We balanced drop-off rates with clear, audit-ready warnings. Compliance and initial tests showed that user trust improved. Advanced users appreciated the ability to skip, and everyone else onboarded quickly, safely, and with confidence.
This explicit design tension, negotiation, and iterative decision-making displayed my ability to drive alignment across business, compliance, and user interest in web3/crypto.
[Key Messy Flows and How I Designed for Them]
Incomplete Wallet Recovery
Flow: User loses a device and discovers their backup social contact is unavailable/unresponsive.
Solution: Designed a progressive fallback system - users can add up to 5 social guardians, and the system transparently shows recovery status, remaining options, and escalation to support with strict identity proof, ensuring users are always aware of next steps and timelines.
Failed Asset Swap or Bridge
Flow: A cross-chain swap fails mid-transaction due to network congestion (or a power user attempts a swap to a non-integrated chain).
Solution: The swap confirmation screen now explains possible reasons for delays or failures, logs all attempted transactions for clear status tracking, and provides a guided path to retry, refund, or support - removing the “black hole” experience.
Exploit or Scam Attempt
Flow: User tries to approve a transaction with a suspected malicious contract.
Solution: Integrated the AI Co-pilot to flag suspicious dApps or contracts, requiring explicit user override with a robust warning screen and guidance to review safe alternatives.
No single crypto pattern is ‘perfect’.
Responsible design is about owning the trade-offs.
[Core Trade-Offs Considered]
Seedless Social Recovery vs. Self-Custody Only
Considered:
Pure self-custody (no backups)
Centralised recovery (more traditional security questions),
Social recovery.
Trade-Off Decision:
Chose social recovery with multiple guardians for a “human safety net,"
But layered with clear education on risks of selecting weak/overlapping guardians
UI to periodically prompt users for “health checks” of their setup.
Cross-Chain Aggregation UX vs. Minimalist, Chain-Specific UI
Considered:
Showing all chains in one dashboard (max power, some complexity) versus individual “siloed” UIs.
Trade-Off Decision:
Opted for aggregation with progressive disclosure—users start simple and can “reveal advanced” as comfort grows.
Maintained “one glance” transparency but never force full complexity upfront; user friction is controlled.
AI Co-pilot Risk Warnings vs. User Autonomy
Considered:
Making AI warnings mandatory blocks versus user-overridable alerts.
Trade-Off Decision:
Chose overridable warnings with always-on “see why” transparency, balancing user sovereignty with platform responsibility.
Rejected Options:
Unskippable warnings risk user resentment and migration to less secure competitors.
My Reflection:
Great product design in crypto is not about denying risk or discomfort - it’s about facing it head-on, making each path (even the tough ones) as safe, transparent, and empowering as possible. By always surfacing trade-offs, respecting both legal and user needs, and treating edge cases as first-class design citizens, we make crypto not just usable - but genuinely trustworthy and future-ready.
[User Experience Impact]
[Business and Strategic Impact]
This design doesn't just solve usability problems - it can set a new industry bar for trust, clarity, empowerment, and business growth in B2C crypto.
[What My Colleague Said]
Collaborating with Swapnil has fundamentally reshaped our vision of what’s possible in crypto.
From day one, Swapnil approached our product not as just another ‘digital wallet,’ but as a vehicle for real trust, empowerment, and financial inclusion. Through deep research, relentless empathy, and a clear designer’s eye, he identified the industry’s true pain points and systematically transformed them into breakthrough features - features our competitors will be scrambling to replicate.
If you want design leadership that combines craft, system-level thinking, and an infectious drive for true impact, Swapnil is the partner who will take you there. I couldn’t recommend him more highly.