Crypto Reseach and Design Lab (CRADL) Lead Design Researcher and Strategist

Organization Background

The Crypto Research and Design Lab was an initiative funded by the World Economic Forum to understand the relationship between humans and crypto. It was pitched and led by Tricia Wang (https://www.linkedin.com/in/triciawang/), Lauren Serota (https://www.linkedin.com/in/serota/), and Sheila Warren (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilawarren/). The goal of the initiative was to launch 10-12 reports that told different stories about how real humans interacted with crypto currency.

How I got involved

I was brought into the project by Lauren Serota, who I’d worked with twice before: in Austin at frog Design (https://www.frog.co/) and in Myanmar at Yoma Bank where she hired me to run her UX design team during the bank’s digital transformation focusing on retail finance in emerging markets. Not only had she worked with me directly in both design and design research capacities, but I had also managed the creation of a report for Yoma Bank’s digital transformation (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t7vvpNXDhypIRn_C97tEC_FBC8KTLjQc/view), and she was aware of my (at the time, recent) work with J.P. Morgan’s blockchain division.

Structure of the Engagement

Like everyone on the team, I was a contractor. We arranged a long-term contract where I would work ful time taking ownership of four reports, managing their research, creation, and the junior researchers that would be supporting me. The first contract covered the first report (/case-studies/cradl-ux-in-cryptocurrency/) which I worked on solo. After the success of that report, I was hired on for three more reports (one of which was https://nefko.xyz/case-studies/cradl-onboarding/)

Speaking

The UX in cryptocurrency report was the second report published by CRADL, and was one of the centerpieces for the hackathon CRADL sponsored. They kicked off the “web3athon” on their own stage at the 2022 Consensus conference, and I did a lighting talk outlining my findings for the report (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6I9fXM9J98). I also presented the findings at a local event in Oakland celebrating the official launch of the report.

The Four Reports

My work forcused on four reports that tended to be more UX and industry focused:

Report 1: UX in Cryptocurrency.

  • Copy of the report: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NjQVNM8dvxU35Zg4Mr2rjMKTnGOAFAZy1uINdSeMZFo/edit?usp=sharing
  • Case Study: /case-studies/cradl-ux-in-cryptocurrency/
  • Research Type: Heuristic Analysis I conducted a “heuristic analysis” of more than 12 apps in the crypto space and synthesized my findings in the space as a whole in a number of frameworks. The core finding was that cryptocurrency as a whole was still only appealing to “early adopters” and “innovators” and that it was yet to “cross the chasm” toward early majority adoption. The report cited a number of UI experiences as surface-level evidence, but focused on how it was the underlying mechanics of cryptocurrency that created the UX challenges. This reframed “UX” for the industry as something not about “screens”, but about deeper experiences.

I’m a frameworks guy, and the report leaned on several frameworks to tell the story:

  • Adoption Curve [borrowed from Everett Rogers, Diffusion of Innovation book] structured the underlying framework in a technology adoption context (elevated from simple “usability”) which is only one of Rogers’ “five factors” of innovation.
  • Investing vs Transaction Paradigm [my own framework] outlined one of the core reasons for bad usability in cryptocurrency, as well as a shortcoming of the consumer narrative: what is it for? In 2022 (and for many years later), the industry hadn’t decided whether crypto should be framed as a “store of value”, a “means of accounting” or a “means of transacting” in the eyes of users. While “money” might serve as all three at a high level, it is rarely framed as such in an app. Most apps are focused on either transactions or investmenting, and their UI follows that pattern. In crypto experiences, that pattern was unclear.
  • Experience Bridges [my own framework] described on of the challenges for crypto experiences: the relationship between a person’s wallet and other experiences. Web2.0 experiences bake together a user’s authentication, application, and database all within one branded framework. Web3 experiences, by contrast, couple a user’s identity and assets behind one application (a wallet), with their ‘database’ on a blockchain, and the actual mechanics of a goal (getting or using an NFT, buying crypto, etc…) on an additional application. While the industry was full of companies working hard to improve UX for each app, the “bridges” between the apps were confusing, brittle, and dangerous.
  • Landmines were a list of traps that users might fall into that would have dangerous consequences. I wrote about them in the report, and in a blog article (https://medium.com/cradl/ux-in-cryptocurrency-get-rid-of-these-6-landmines-to-achieve-wider-adoption-4010ec1f6ca5)

Report 2: New Ecosystems in Web3

Offical URL: (no longer active) Copy of the report: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qgUnAzsonTKOZzrxXM_J_uvryl9enXvwvGhepg3qkCI/edit?usp=sharing Research Type: Field research (contextual inquiry) This report started life as a deep-dive into the way that token economics (“tokenomics”) were shaking up the way companies were funded, and the way that new types of companies or organizations might emerge in the future. The core idea was that tokenomics could introduce a plurality of ecosystems that could reformat some aspects of organizations. In creating the report, my team and I had 57 conversations including 26 founders and project creators, 5 tokenomics consultants, and 11 venture capitalists. We attended 11 events, spent time in 10 discord and telegram channels, and consumed more than 80 articles, papers, videos, and trainings.

The report had sections that

  • Outlined the theory of a plurality of ecosystems
  • Had an overview of how tokenomics works
  • Discussed challenges of tokenomic design for builders working on these ecosystems in 2022

The core was a call to action based around path dependence, in 2022, it was possible to imagine the internet growing back toward a plurality of ecosystems model, with tokenomic systems forming hte backbone of necessary online transactions (monetary, identity, and otherwise). However, there were important challenges for the industry to overcome.

The structure of the report was:

  • Why tokenomics may be a key to enabling a plurality of ecosystems
    • Reflecting Values: Using Web3 tools, builders are working to create new digital ecosystems that reflect the values of their communities.
    • Redistributing power: Tokenomics presents an entirely new way to distribute power to (and within) communities.
    • Growing pains: The industry is has yet to develop best practices for designing and implementing tokenomic systems.
    • The work of many: Why it is important to talk about pluralistic ecosystem development now.
  • How Tokenomics Works: Tokenomics creates economic systems for Web3 ecosystems.
    • What is tokenomics? Ecosystems need economic systems. Tokenomics is Web3’s answer to designing new digital economic systems.
    • Anatomy of a Tokenomic System
    • Making tokenomics work in reality: To create a plurality of sustainable ecosystems, it is essential to get tokenomics right.
  • Challenges in tokenomic design
    • CHALLENGE 1: The industry has a lot of scammers that need to be avoided.
    • CHALLENGE 2: Tokenomics is complex, so finding teammates who understand it is challenging.
    • CHALLENGE 3: Regulatory uncertainty raises costs in the industry.

Radical research, polished report. The research we conducted, the people we talked to, and the ideas we were dealing with were quite radical. Our participants talked to us openly about the challenges they had with regulations, scammers, and the general reckless abandon of a frontier technology in a fast-paced industry. Our understanding as a team needed to get deep into the weeds of technical and legal aspects, as well as understanding the economic and behavioural tendencies (and, often, conflicting interests) of young entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Pulling that all into a report to be published by the World Economic Forum that would be accessible to a non-technical audience was an excercise in editorial moderation.

Onboarding to Crypto Currency

  • Copy of the report: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TSmH-0PNfF7vlHTT0IK5eCWDZzw1U0ZSaqeoE7wLjDw/edit?usp=sharing
  • Case Study: /case-studies/cradl-onboarding/ This report was a second opportunity to promote the idea that “UX” is much more than screens. The report focuses on how real people “onboard” to cryptocurrency: how do they discover it, come to accept it, try it, learn, and understand. Our goal was to push readers beyond “onboarding screens” to think more deeply about innovation adoption.

The report featured an extensive review of the crypto adoption literature before discussing the findings from our primary research. We used two core frameworks and three case studies to tell this story.

Frameworks:
  1. Onboarding Experience [my own framework] broke down the steps in onboarding starting with “becoming aware”, on to “deciding to get started”, then moving on to “buying first coins”. THis framework enabled us to identify two barriers: The Understanding Barrier and the Setup Barrier. The understanding barrier (specificallly, understanding the value proposition of crypto) was the biggest barrier.
  2. Ways of Onboarding Framework [my own framework] created a 2x2 matrix between a more social / more independent axis and a more official / more organic axis. This was useful for pushing the conversation away from simplistic “ease of use” understandings toward a more socially oriented framework. From here, we could discuss tradeoffs between diffrent onboarding touchpoints with more precision.
Case Studies

Our three case-studies were situated in different areas of the “Ways of Onboarding” matrix. Each were based on primary research we conducted.

  • Nile the Community Teacher (social/organic) featured a local entrepreneur and community advocate in Brooklyn that took it upon himself to educate the community about crypto. (Research: in-field, contextual inquiry)
  • The Bitcoin Classic Streetball Tournament (social/official) was an event in Harlem sponsored by CashApp that encouraged the local community to sign up. We did an analysis on the event and the onboarding process and incentives offered by the corporation to encourage sign up.
  • The Black Wall Street App Experience (independent/Official) was an app analysis based on the “Black Wall Street App,” a bitcoin saving app launched by a prominent black finance influencer. Our analysis was a breakdown of the features and media surrounding the app.

Looking Ahead to 2023 Report

Copy of the report: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dLByiuV2iDMXQHWKieRducGWH4B-Crm5IExSyYu38-8/edit?usp=sharing

This final report for CRADL ended the 2022 year with a look ahead to 2023. My role as to structure, synthsize, orchestrate, and write the bulk the report with core contributions from the CRADL leadership: Lauren Serota, Tricia Wang, and Renee Barton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ren%C3%A9e-pinto-da-silva-barton-b3829098/)

During our process, we pulled from several of the interviews we’d conducted over the year with leaders in the industry.

Our core these was that web3 could only evolve to solve the day’s intractable problems if it was able to (1) attract people to the inudstry that actually unerstood problems deeply, and (2) it continued to invest in infrastructure that would empower builders to focus on real-world problems.

The short report was CRADL’s swan song and told a hopeful story of what the industry had the potential to be if it was able to resolve some of the internal issues that was keeping it a ’niche’ technology.

Reflections and Learnings

CRADL was one of my first experiences in a pure research organization. I’ve always been interested in broad, sociological perspectives of the relationships between technology, society, and industry, but this was the first opportunity that I had to put it into writing.

Along with managing my own four reports, I played a role of mentorship on the team, as well as an important role helping others with the narrative design and visual infographics (and framework development) for their own reports.

Several of the reports ended up being influential and seeded the ground for future work and conversations.