Making self-custody usable for everyday users

CONTEXT

Understanding web3 shouldn’t feel fragmented

Web3 tools are still built for crypto-native users. Newcomers are expected to manage wallets, fees, and transactions across disconnected interfaces—often without clear feedback or guidance. This creates high cognitive load in environments where mistakes are irreversible.

Portal explores how familiar web2 UX patterns can reduce risk, clarify actions, and make self-custody usable for everyday users.

CHALLENGES

No undo, no support desk, no second chances

The core problem is that self-custody removes every safety net users have spent twenty years learning to rely on. In web2, mistakes are recoverable — a wrong transfer can be reversed, a support team can restore access, a fraudulent charge can be disputed. On-chain, a mistyped address or a malicious approval is final, and no convention existed for communicating that finality without terrifying people out of the product.

The second problem compounds the first: smart contract interactions are opaque by default, so users routinely confirm actions they don't understand — blind-signing is one of the most common ways people lose funds. And there was no established web3 pattern language to borrow from, so the work became adapting the web2 vocabulary users already trust — confirmation, progressive disclosure, undo-adjacent safeguards — to a context where "undo" doesn't exist. The kill switch, the step-by-step approval sheets, and the assets/interactions/permissions IA all come out of that one constraint: designing for irreversibility without designing fear.

RESEARCH

Key insights from research

Users don’t understand what actions actually do

Transactions feel opaque—users confirm actions without fully understanding outcomes, fees, or consequences.

Fear of irreversible mistakes blocks engagement

Self-custody introduces high perceived risk, leading to hesitation or reliance on external tools.

Web2 mental models don’t transfer

Users expect confirmation, feedback, and reversibility—patterns that are often missing in web3 tools.

These insights shaped how I approached onboarding, transactions, and risk reduction across the product.

APPROACH

Translating web2 UX to web3 systems

Web3 introduces new constraints—irreversible actions, visible transactions, and decentralized logic. Instead of reinventing interaction patterns, I explored how established web2 principles—like feedback, confirmation, and progressive disclosure—can be adapted to these constraints.

This approach makes complex systems more understandable without hiding their underlying mechanics.

PRINCIPLES

Designing for clarity, safety, and trust

Make actions understandable

Clearly communicate what will happen before users commit.

Reduce irreversible risk
Design safeguards for high-impact decisions.

Guide users through complexity

Break down flows into manageable steps.

Expose system status

Show what’s happening and what just happened.

Leverage familiar patterns

Use known interaction models to explain new systems.

FLOWS

Structuring complex actions into clear flows

I mapped key user journeys—from onboarding to transactions—into structured, step-by-step flows to make complex actions understandable and predictable.

Mapping these flows made friction, decision points, and missing safeguards explicit—especially around irreversible actions and transaction feedback. These insights directly informed how guidance, confirmations, and constraints were introduced across the product.

Token swap flow

Exposed confusion around fees and irreversible confirmations—leading to clearer review steps and stronger transaction feedback.

Wallet top-up flow

Revealed early drop-off points around funding and network selection—informing where defaults and guidance were needed.

To support these flows at scale, I defined a clear underlying structure:

Information architecture

Defined a system that separates assets, interactions, and permissions—making complex wallet behavior easier to navigate and reason about.

SOLUTIONS

Making transactions understandable and safe

Interacting with smart contracts is one of the most critical and risky moments in web3. I designed a system of bottom sheets that guides users through approvals, signatures, and confirmations — breaking complex actions into clear, step-by-step decisions.

Contextual information such as fees, outcomes, and risks is surfaced at the right moment, helping users act with confidence.

REFLECTION

Designing for responsibility in web3

Designing for self-custody means designing for responsibility. Unlike traditional products, mistakes in web3 are often irreversible, which fundamentally changes how users approach interaction.

This project reinforced that usability in web3 isn’t about removing complexity—it’s about making it understandable and safe to navigate. The goal is not to hide systems, but to expose them in a way that users can build confidence over time.

It also highlighted the importance of designing beyond individual screens. Trust emerges across flows, feedback, and consistency—not from isolated UI decisions.

Ultimately, the challenge is not reducing friction, but placing it intentionally—where it protects users without blocking progress. Portal shipped as a native iOS build and went out through TestFlight. The company wound the product down before public release, so it never reached the App Store — but the flows below shipped in a working build, not a prototype.