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Role
UX Lead · Product Designer
Scope
Mobile Payment Wallet · B2C
Duration
6 months
Summary
DEXON was developed by COBINHOOD, the first zero-fee cryptocurrency exchange, and owned by DEXON Foundation, a peer-to-peer transaction system capable of processing transfers in under one second. The foundation aimed to make decentralised technology accessible to users at all levels. DEXON Wallet was its flagship consumer product: the entry point for storing DXN, DRC-20, and ETH assets, and accessing DApps directly from mobile.
But in 2018, blockchain was still too complex for most people to access. To build a truly decentralised ecosystem and give users the ability to own their coins and digital identity with privacy, DEXON Wallet needed to work for everyone, not just developers.
As UX Team Lead and the only product designer on the project, I owned the wallet experience end-to-end, from research direction to launch. The wallet shipped as a 5-star app on day one and helped the company raise $2.25M in 3 days from investors worldwide.
Problems
Existing wallets were desktop-first with fragmented onboarding.
In 2018, the most widely used crypto wallets, MetaMask and MyEtherWallet, were browser extensions designed for people who already understood how blockchain worked. Creating an account meant managing private keys with no recovery path. Sending funds meant tracking transaction status across multiple external tools. The apps that did exist on mobile were not always listed on major app stores. The cognitive load was prohibitive, and mistakes were permanent.
DEXON needed to reach a much wider audience, not just to grow its user base, but to attract developers who would build on the ecosystem. Without mainstream accessibility, scalability would always be theoretical.
Mainstream users had no reason to trust mobile blockchain products.
Beyond usability, there was a credibility gap. Blockchain apps were widely seen as experimental and unstable. In 2018, the space was strongly associated with scams, volatility, and complexity. For someone curious about decentralised technology but without a technical background, there was nothing that felt legitimate or safe enough to store real value in. DEXON Wallet needed to change that.
Prioritisation
I directed the research strategy with two senior UX researchers. We ran a global online survey with 1,250 respondents in October 2018, then selected 20 people for in-depth offline interviews to understand their real relationship with blockchain, DApps, and mobile payments. We mapped five user types as listed above.
According to our global online survey with 1250 respondents in October 2018, we found that safety and curiosity are the main reasons for trying new DApps. In this case, designing an ultra-secure decentralized wallet with a number of DApps in the wallet for users to play is our product direction.
Technology Professionals are influencers who lead the blockchain and cryptocurrency community. They are also early adopters who contribute to the development of blockchain technology. We aimed to focus on attracting tech pros to build applications and influence more contributors in the DEXON ecosystem. In the long run, the ecosystem could invite users from all levels to use it.
Users can manage multi-chain coins in one wallet
DEXON wallet supports DXN, DRC-20, and ETH/ERC-20, so users can manage all their assets without downloading multiple wallets.
DApp Store as the gateway
Research showed Technology Professionals wanted to build and explore, not just hold tokens. I positioned the DApp Store as a first-class destination inside the wallet - not buried in settings. This made DEXON Wallet a platform, not just a payment tool, and gave technical users a reason to stay and bring others in.
I hosted a few brainstorm sessions with UX researchers, UI designers and product managers to get some feedback from list of ideas for wallet USP.
The initial wallet wireframe I was working on during the UX session. I tried to evolve the concept to a more gaming and avatar based product for the users from all levels to play with easily.
The wallet launched alongside the full DEXON product suite:
DEXON Wallet — mobile payment wallet on iOS and Android (my primary design focus)
DEXON DApp Store — curated marketplace for verified DApps on the DEXON mainnet
DEXONSCAN — live blocklattice explorer
ArcadeX, DEXON Chat, DekuSan — first DApps surfaced inside the wallet at launch
The wallet was the first decentralised wallet built for users at all levels on mobile — positioned as "Your First Stop on the DEXON Ecosystem."
Outcome
DEXON Wallet launched as a 5-star application on both the App Store and Google Play, with over 500 downloads on day one.
The product directly supported DEXON's investor story. The company raised $2.25M in 3 days from investors worldwide.
DEXON Wallet also served as the gateway for users entering the blockchain world.
The project established DEXON's first product design process and built UX culture within an engineering-driven workplace.
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