Problem: For beginner Crypto users, the Metamask platform has a steep learning curve. For expert crypto users, Metamask doesn’t do enough. Is there a way to make an easier Metamask experience for both of these archetypes?
Subscribe here to get access to the first 500 ideas from our blog. For just one coffee a month, you can have access to more than $500 billion dollars of ideas. What's not to love?
Solution: In November 2021, Pioneer Square Labs published a piece reflecting on “An Engineer's Hype-Free Observations on Web3 (and its Possibilities).” In it, Dave Peck explores Web3 in comparison to the early internet while suggesting areas for improvement for corporations and potential startups. To me, one of the most interesting parts of the article was Peck’s argument that “Onboarding to crypto is easy; going deep is walking on fire.”
The typical user’s first foray into the crypto ecosystem is through fiat on-ramps like Coinbase. Coinbase maintains a wallet* on behalf of its users. The experience for users is much like the typical web: log in with a username and password, get access to your investments.
To wade deeper into the web3 world, users need to install noncustodial wallets like MetaMask: software tools that are functionally “1Password but for your crypto private keys”. Unlike 1Password, however, MetaMask is a user experience disaster from its introduction (the website does an impressively poor job of describing what MetaMask is, or why you might need it) to its daily use (strange layout of common controls, lots of weird technical stuff like hex addresses very much front-and-center, no understanding or presentation of NFT ownership, etc). If 1Password’s users make a mistake, they might reset their passwords via email. If MetaMask’s users make a mistake, they might lose their investments forever. And MetaMask isn’t all: sophisticated users need multiple crypto wallets (Phantom, etc.) since they work on multiple blockchains.
The scathing review of MetaMask (which looks like it last had a design UI over hall in 2018) I actually find quite accurate: (1) poor descriptions of the product, (2) poor product design, and (3) in-flexible product usage. Not to mention Peck’s final point that one wallet often isn’t enough. Of course, there are probably more lessons to glean and criticisms of MetaMask, but the ultimate learning is this: “Plenty of opportunity exists to make better wallets. It is a remarkable testament to the demand for noncustodial wallets and the use cases they unlock that, despite all this, MetaMask has over 10 million monthly active users!”
According to a report from exchange Crypto.com, there were 106 million crypto users around the world in January 2021 and some reports estimate that by the end of 2022 Global crypto users could reach one billion. An easier MetaMask designed with first-principles and design thinking would be a revolutionary concept that could help onboard new users, be an extremely sticky product, and win the market despite MetaMask’s current market dominance.
Monetization: Transaction fees based on gas and/or AUM trading through float.
Contributed by: Michael Bervell (Billion Dollar Startup Ideas)