Crypto Asset Staking & Reporting Web App

Led the design process for the entire product lifecycle, from initial concept to full-scale implementation and beyond.
DeFi
Blockchain
Web3
Web App Design
Company
Validation Cloud
Date
June '23 - Present
Role
Lead Product Designer
(Solo Designer on the Team)

Background

Validation Cloud’s Staking Platform provides an end-to-end solution for asset managers to stake, delegate, manage, and analyze their crypto assets across different blockchain networks and protocols. The business model of staking is about Validation Cloud taking a commission of the rewards earned by clients while their staked assets are delegated to us. After MVP and serveral iterations, this product sets itself apart in the market by providing game-changing features such as multiple wallet address overview, comprehensive reporting and automatic reward deposits.

Industry
Defi, Web3
Role
Product Strategy
End to end Product Design
Duration
MVP - 2 sprints design + 2 sprints test & iteration
V1 - 2 sprints design
V2 - 2 sprints design + 2 sprints test & iteration
Target Users
Institutional investors and asset managers
Secondary: Individual Stakers

Overview

The advent of crypto assets staking has opened a new frontier in blockchain technology, offering a way for users to participate in network security and consensus through PoS(proof-of-stake). However, for institutional asset manager, the complexity and scale of managing multiple crypto assets under different wallet addresses have posed significant challenges. Our staking platform aim to be a solution to bridge the gap, providing an efficient and user-centric approach to managing staking processes at an enterprise level.

V1 - Ethereum staking

Period:
Jun 23'- Oct 23'
6 weeks - MVP; 6 weeks - Iteration.
‍
Brief: 
Users can stake and unstake ETH via our web app UI by connecting their wallet, we will show them the status of their validators and total rewards to date.
‍
Impact:
Positive mentions about ETH staking in prospect and customer conversations. 3000+ ETH is under management.

V2 - Multichain Staking

Period:
Mar 24' - Apr 24'
8 weeks

Brief:
Expand the protocols we support to 12 networks, showing multi-staking capability and providing static instructions for stakers to go to their wallet or an explorer and delegate to our addresses themselves outside of our web app.

Impact:
Increasing external recognition. Since the product's launch in April 2024, we have created 50+ validators and staked $100M for our users.

V3 - Multi-staking and Reporting

Period:
May 24' - Jun 24'
8 weeks

Brief:
Within the staking product, the ability to stake/delegate to blockchains other than Ethereum, primarily be for Cosmos based chains via UI and API, viewing and monitoring the performance of staked assets.

Impact:
Stakers are utilising the reporting & actions we provide to view and manage their staking delegations. Asset under management reaches to $600M(Aug, 2024).

Team

1 Lead Product Designer (Me)

1 Front-end Engineer

2 Back-end Engineer.

A product manager joined the team during the development of V2 Multi-chain staking and reporting.

Staking Team Interview

My responsibility

1st and lead Product Designer

Full Design Cycle Leadership:
‍Overseeing the entire design cycle: from research, ideation, UI/UX design, through to QA and post-development support.Implementing revisions based on user feedback and further version iteration.

Product Management(before a PM join us):
0>1 Product Strategy. Defining problems, setting goals and metrics.Writing Product Requirement Documents (PRDs).

Problem Statement

Asset managers face significant pain points in managing and monitoring their diverse staking activities. The lack of comprehensive reports at both the overview and per protocol levels, coupled with limited asset coverage, forces users to switch between multiple platforms, resulting in inefficiencies and potential errors.

Goal Statement

Our goal is to develop a "one-stop platform" that enables all staking-related activities across extensive asset coverage and offers detailed staking reporting at both the overview and per protocol levels. This will allow users to monitor and manage their staking activities efficiently within a single platform, eliminating the need to switch between different systems.

V1: ETH Staking

Lean Design, Quick Launch: Building product from ground up

Design principle

We have hosted several workshops to understand the high-level strategy and principles that serve as a guiding framework for our design decisions, ensuring consistency, clarity, and alignment with our core values and goals.

Building Trust and Confidence

We ensure every interaction with our platform reinforces the user’s confidence, portraying Validation Cloud as a reliable partner in blockchain connectivity and reward generation.

Inclusivity for All User Levels

By combining an intuitive interface with robust security and transparency, we cater to both new and experienced stakers.

Deliberate and Focused UX

Our platform encourages focused and deliberate financial decision-making. We introduce “good friction” in high-risk decisions and employ full-screen modals to aid user concentration, ensuring clarity and safety in fund management.

How do design principles affect the design?

In the early stage of product development, we adopted a strategy of small, quick sprints to complete core functionalities and attract the initial batch of users. As a result, we launched our first Ethereum staking within 3 months. The core features include:
‍
1. Dashboard to manage assets
2. Stake ETH via API and UI
3. Unstake ETH via API and UI

Solution 1
Staking ETH was a single page with all steps together.
Solution 2
To align with the principle of deliberate and focused interaction, we evolved the workflow into a multi-step process, reducing cognitive overload and enhancing user focus. This approach minimizes errors and ensures users are fully informed at each stage of the staking process.

V2 - Multichain Staking

Expand network coverage within one month.

In the fast-paced world of startups, speed is crucial.

To swiftly seize business opportunities and market needs, we expanded protocol coverage to 12 within a month by implementing short-term solutions. The core features include:
‍
1. Protocol selection for Ethereum and other Cosmos-based chains.
2. Delegation instruction pages for Cosmos-based chains(short-term solutions).
3. Contact page and Intercom integration for user support.

V3: Multi-chain Staking & Reporting

1-100: Scale protocols and asset coverage

From MVP to MLP

For a long time, our product development strategy focused on taking small, rapid steps to build core functionalities and attract early users. However, the market is filled with well-established products, and as newcomers, offering similar services makes it challenging to displace users' existing preferences. This has led our team to reconsider and redefine our product strategy.

Generate reports

Refine product focus to solve the reporting dilemma

Empowering Staking Through
Superior Reporting

Reporting is a significant challenge faced by many of our users, particularly those involved in managing and monitoring assets. Users need robust solutions that can seamlessly integrate data from multiple sources, offer advanced analytics, and present information in an accessible and intuitive format.

Our primary goal is to attract delegations by offering a standout reporting feature. In an industry where such capabilities are rare, this addresses a critical pain point for asset managers and sets us apart from the competition.

Solution 1
First solution:
Allow users to connect their wallets based on existing technology. If they have delegated to our validator before, we can pull data and generate reports for them.

‍Problem: Connecting a wallet is the first step for most web3 products, but it is more suitable for consumer-facing (ToC) products. Our product is primarily targeted at business users (ToB), and for asset managers, connecting a wallet is a significant security concern.
Solution 2
Second solution: 
Users only need to paste an address to get some data.

‍Problem: During the adoption phase, most of our users are new and have not delegated to us before. Therefore, when pasting an address, they see a warning message and very limited data. To see all the data, they still need to connect their wallet.

Techinical Constrains

The product team’s expectation was that users could simply paste a wallet address and instantly generate rewards data. However, this idea faced strong pushback from engineers due to manpower and time constraints, making it seem difficult to achieve. Compromising on this feature would mean losing a major reason for users to choose our product and a key differentiator from competitors. Therefore, we ultimately decided to stick with this approach. To address the technical limitations, we decided to partner with a third-party company for technical support.

Solution 3
Third solution:
Manage users' expectations involves separating data that can be generated quickly from data that cannot be generated quickly.

‍Problem: No rewards data by just pasting wallet address. Not valuable enough feature as it can only easy access information on Chain where users can get somewhere else.
Solution 4
Fourth solution: 
Once users confirm that the provided address is correct, we will generate all available data for them.
‍
‍Problem: There‘re costs per wallet address we added to 3rd party tech support to get rewards data. Users may paste many wallet addresses by paying 0 to us.

Involve pricing plans

Free plan
Free users are limited to registering [1] wallet address and [3] reports each. Once they confirm their registration, they cannot replace it with a new one.
Scale plan
Scale plan users can do a lot more. They can add and manage multiple wallet addresses, and oversee all assets, validators they previous staked.

Prototyping

Workflows for generating reports, delegating, re-delegating, un-delegating, and claiming rewards.

Generate reports

Impact

Validation Cloud’s Staking Platform garnered 100% positive feedback from stakeholders and major enterprise users. Its innovative reporting features and automatic reward deposits distinguish the platform in the market, successfully attracting its initial group of enterprise users who now manage Millions of crypto assets via our platform.

Takeaway

Product design is more than just solutions. It’s essential to involve design early in the process to drive innovation and create differentiation. As industries grow, the importance of design and brand becomes even more critical. Designers can explore product possibilities with fewer resources compared to engineering teams, making early design involvement a strategic advantage in defining market-leading products. As Julie Zhuo best put it:

" If you expand your definition of design. If you think of it as translating problems into solutions. If you think of it the way Steve Jobs thought of it — Design isn't just what it looks like and feels like; design is how it works — then you will see the design arena expand. Problems are eternal. Tomorrow’s design jobs will be simply be product jobs. " - Julie Zhuo