The UX overhaul blockchain needs to reach a billion users

The following is a guest post from Susannah Evans, IBC Product Lead at Interchain Foundation.

The future of the internet is shaping up to be promising, and there is no doubt that blockchain and Web3 technologies have been at the forefront of this innovation, promising decentralization, security, and financial sovereignty. However, despite all its advancements, mass adoption of the technology still remains elusive. The primary culprit? A poor user experience. Even though interoperability protocols have improved significantly, the process of moving assets and interacting across multiple chains still remains too complex for institutional and everyday users.

The recent Cross-Chain Interoperability Report 2024 highlights that the biggest challenge to adoption is the high friction users face when they navigate blockchain ecosystems. As of today, users need to manage multiple wallets, manually sign numerous transactions, and navigate complexities when identifying the optimal route for transferring assets between chains. These inefficiencies have forced users into ecosystem silos rather than encouraging them to explore more cross-chain interactions.

When comparing the Web2 experience to that of Web3, the difference is night and day. Take traditional financial transactions as an example. There is still a lot of complexity in Web2, but Web2 is just better at hiding it, meaning users can navigate this space without thinking about the backend. For instance, when sending money through a payment app, users need not bother about bank settlement layers, messaging protocols, or verifying different clearing mechanisms. Web3, by comparison, places too much of this burden on users, making it essential for them to understand the backend and thereby forcing them to deal with intricate transaction approvals, security risks involved, and token management systems. This has been fine to date for an audience of crypto enthusiasts keen to understand the tech on which they operate. However, as the Web3 ecosystem looks to scale to a global user base, the industry must rethink this user experience to captivate the attention of the layperson that has no prior dealings with blockchain.

Interoperability’s growing pains – what’s stopping Web3 from going mainstream?

There is no denying that interoperability is solving some of the technical limitations of blockchain technology. However, for users, the experience still leaves much to be desired. Recent data indicated that over 85 million people worldwide use blockchain wallets. However, despite the growing adoption, the challenge of wallet fragmentation remains a glaring issue. Unlike in Web2, where a single login provides access to multiple services, blockchain requires users to maintain different wallets for different ecosystems. This makes cross-chain interactions painstaking, as the experience of switching between multiple wallets is neither intuitive nor seamless.

Managing wallets across chains continues to remain a major point of friction for users. While transaction batching has reduced the burden of multi-signing, users still often need to switch wallets when interacting across different blockchains. This process is not only painstaking but also increases the likelihood of human errors—such as approving the wrong contract accidentally or sending assets to an incorrect address—leading to a potential loss of funds. Seamless interoperability should mean users can move assets and interact across chains without needing to constantly switch wallets or navigate complex approval processes that are still manual.

Security concerns complicate the case for Web3 adoption further. With an aggregate of $2.7 billion lost in cross-chain bridge exploits from July 2021 till Aug 2024 alone, it should come as no surprise that many users hesitate to move assets across blockchains due to fear of hacks or transaction failures. When a single mistake can result in permanent asset loss, it comes as no surprise that even experienced users remain cautious when engaging in cross-chain transactions. While significant strides have been made in addressing these challenges, it is essential that interoperability solutions factor in differences among chains to build trust and ensure security, reliability, and a seamless experience for everyday users.

Solver-based bridging: A new approach to UX

One of the emerging solutions to blockchain’s user experience crisis is intent-centric/solver-based bridging protocols. Acting as a form of chain abstraction, these protocols operate on an “intent” or specific goal that a user wishes to accomplish within a chain—for example, swapping tokens between two chains without the need to navigate the cross-chain complexities themselves. Instead of having to select a bridge, sign multiple transactions manually, and then monitor the process until the transaction is complete, users are simply required to define their intent, and automated solvers execute the action in the most efficient way possible. Intent-based chain abstraction solutions are becoming an increasingly popular architecture, with many component-based products potentially coming together like puzzle pieces to gradually shape the final form of chain abstraction.

For example, if a user wants to exchange ETH on Ethereum for USDC on Solana, a solver-based protocol has the capability to identify the best route, align all the necessary approvals, and then complete the transaction—all this without the user being required to make any technical decisions. This drastically reduces the high level of friction users face and improves security by minimizing errors due to manual interventions.

Intent-centric/solver-based bridging protocols aren’t just about simplifying transactions; they are also about making Web3 interactions feel as smooth as traditional Web2 experiences. With these solver-based protocols handling tasks like route optimization and execution, users no longer need to worry about the underlying infrastructure as they simply get their desired result.

Making the Web3 backend invisible: Are chain abstraction and ZKPs the solution?

For Web3 to reach a stage of mass adoption, the underlying complexities that users must currently navigate need to be eliminated. While solver-based bridging protocols improve cross-chain interoperability, chain abstraction and zero-knowledge proofs can be implemented in many other ways to make the overall Web3 UX better. While chain abstraction makes blockchain interactions feel seamless, allowing everyday users to engage with dApps without worrying about the underlying infrastructure, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) enable the verification of information without revealing the information itself, giving individuals and organizations assurance that their information is safe. These technologies eliminate the need for users to switch networks, bridge assets, or manage different token standards. Additionally, these advancements move blockchain technology beyond just technical innovation and into a system that simply works well. If it wasn’t evident already, it should be by now that the most successful technology isn’t the most complex—rather, it’s the one people don’t even realize they’re using. This is reflected in the popularity of these technologies, which are already gaining traction.

The Web3 industry has spent years and significant resources looking for solutions to improve scalability, security, and interoperability along with building trust. It is now time to bring into sharp focus the evolving needs of users and make this pathbreaking technology accessible to everyday users. If the Web3 ecosystem truly wants to onboard the next billion users, it is time the user experience becomes a key priority and the focus shifts from just building infrastructure.

It can be said in no clearer words—user experience is the key to mainstream adoption. Solutions like solver-based bridging protocols, chain abstraction, and zero-knowledge proofs represent a fundamental shift in how users are beginning to interact with various blockchains. By prioritizing these innovations, the Web3 ecosystem is on a path where the future of Web3 becomes as seamless as what we all have come to expect with Web2. After all, a billion users won’t adopt blockchain technology because of what it can do—it will only see mainstream adoption when individuals can engage with it without even thinking about it.

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