The complexity of current Web3 wallets is one of the main problems preventing the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies.
According to Bumblefudge, chief caretaker of the Chain Agnostic Standards Alliance (CASA), an autonomous blockchain developer organization, the crypto industry needs to move beyond the current complicated seed phrases to enable widespread adoption.
During a keynote speech at the Web3 Summit 2024 in Berlin, he said:
“Seed phrases aren’t going to work for the other 95% of the world. But, um, the solution to that is, unfortunately, boring, ugly standards and governance.”
Today’s complex crypto onboarding process remains intimidating for regular users as it requires setting up a wallet with native gas tokens and non-recoverable seed phrases before transactions can be made on a network.
Web3 wallets and DApps need more user-centric features
To appeal to the mainstream user, Web3 wallets need more user-centric features, with the top priority being to move away from complex seed phrases.
However, this would require an industry-wide cooperation standard between wallet providers and developers, Bumblefudge explained:
“Nobody wants to write down how they use it because everyone is competing with each other. Everyone wants the better parts, the implementation. So nothing will be interoperable. Nothing will be secure.”
Without a standard of collaboration, wallet providers will not be able to develop interoperable and more user-friendly solutions like Passkeys. He added:
“We need to focus on the user instead of focusing on what the chain and the DeFi protocol want. We need standards for user expectations.”
Crypto wallets and protocols must eliminate friction for the first billion users
Other well-known crypto companies are also calling for the elimination of friction points.
In particular, Chintan Turakhia, chief technology officer at Coinbase, said that more beginner-friendly applications are needed to bring the first billion users onto the blockchain.
In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph at EthCC, Turakhia said:
“If our goal is to get the next billion users – and let’s start with just 100 million – we need to remove all of these friction points.”
To encourage widespread adoption, Coinbase launched its Smart Wallet in early June, which has more beginner-friendly features and replaces complex seed phrases with account names and passwords.
Turakhia expects these simpler login options to become the standard for crypto wallet providers in the future.
