Sending crypto should be so much easier

Setting up a crypto wallet to send crypto can be complicated, even for the tech savvy. Some projects try to make it easier.

Entering the crypto world is notoriously complex. Even the most simple projects and protocols can struggle to simplify the user experience for non-crypto commoners.

While the crypto community was previously dominated by developers and software engineers, the ranks are now filled with product managers, creatives and those with no technical background. Naturally, this has changed the software and solutions being created. Arguably, where this change in culture has had the biggest impact is wallets: the core of the crypto ecosystem.

Make crypto wallets easier

“The big thing with crypto right now is how do we figure out what the next upturn looks like?” Cobrin Page, the founder and creator of Patch Wallet, told BeInCrypto. “It looks like we’re probably getting a different order of magnitude of users into this space. And the user experience around onboarding is probably the number one problem we have to solve.”

After leading the Fintech product team at ConsenSys, he became independent about a year and a half ago and started building his own projects. The latest of these is the Patch Wallet, a product that he claims “everyone already has right out of the box.”

Patch Wallet uses a technique called account abstraction, which allows developers to produce smart contracts that are not tied to a specific blockchain account. This means that smart contracts themselves can act as wallets. And as for Patch Wallet, it allows you to send crypto and digital assets like BTC or NFTs to someone who doesn’t have a traditional crypto wallet.

“You already have one connected to your email, Twitter, GitHub, and so I call it like a wallet before you need it,” Page said.

“I would say this is kind of the equivalent of your Venmo, or this is the equivalent of your in-game items or your in-game currencies, right? This happens to run on crypto or blockchain rails.”

Page is well aware of the controversy and skepticism that calling his product a “wallet” will cause in the account abstraction community. Of course, it’s not a wallet. It’s technically an account. “I’ll be in a Telegram group and I’ll get slammed and I’m like you realize nobody outside of this group cares, right? The thing has tokens and NFTs — it’s a wallet for most people. »

Simple payment

One option for sending crypto to a friend’s email address or phone number comes from Binance Pay. It purports to be a “simple pay” solution founded and operated by the world’s largest crypto exchange. Unlike some other solutions, Binance Pay requires its own Binance account to redeem your digital assets. In a discussion with BeInCrypto, Jonathan Lim, the Singapore-based head of Binance Card & Pay, said the firm sees it as “a fundamental and crucial step to increase adoption.”

“What is important for Binance Pay is to continuously innovate and experiment with new ways to create a seamless payment experience for users and merchants, and simplify access to Web3 by bridging CeFi and DeFi,” continued Lim.

“We see all functions that can affect the user’s experience as important; bad UX is definitely a barrier to product growth. Ease of use is important. This applies to the entire user experience, be it technical design or the entire user journey. This ultimately affects branding as well, Lim added.

Take a leaf from the Web2 Playbook

Redeem is a similar service that leverages a user’s existing touchpoints to receive and receive crypto. Their service uses an existing phone number to connect to a new blockchain wallet. The team claims it only takes five seconds and two clicks to get up and running. “While social media platforms are ubiquitous today, personal phone numbers are much more widespread, accessible and inclusive,” said Tony Rush, the company’s CEO. “Some people may be indifferent to social media platforms, but chances are they still have a phone number.”

In Rush’s view, there are certain questions that many new Web3 users struggle with. “How do I register a wallet? What is the difference between blockchains? Should I take care myself or use some third party platforms? How not to lose my seed set? How to avoid scams and scams? Can I send assets from one chain via another? What is “gas” and where do I buy tokens to use the platform? These and countless more questions arise when ordinary people look at blockchain platforms, and it can become overwhelming even for a tech-savvy person,” Rush commented.

The Web3 ecosystem needs to do better to simplify onboarding, Rush believes. If sending crypto is so hard, can we really expect newcomers to go deeper? He compares the space to Web2 social media platforms, which are “constantly working on new ways to simplify user onboarding, despite already having millions or even billions of users.”

“In this light, given that Web3 platforms are considerable more complex and intricate than their Web2 counterparts, excellent user experience is far more important for them to have a chance at mass adoption.”