Robinhood Crypto Wallet is a feature design for Robinhood app to help customers transfer and receive cryptocurrency to and from their Robinhood account.
Disclaimer: This is a passion project. I'm not affiliated with Robinhood Markets, Inc.
With current user count of 13 million, and as crypto trading continues to gain momentum as well as acceptance in the financial institution and mainstream market, it is important to fulfill people's need for flexibility. In this case, it's the ability and freedom to move their assets around with ease. Not having a crypto transfer feature will put Robinhood at a disadvantage against their competitors, some of which already have a wallet feature.
• Design a new transfer feature that embeds within the current Robinhood platform
• Design experience that enhance user's ease of use in Cryptocurrency transfer
To gain a better insight on the need of this feature, I created this Research plan and then started the journey with secondary research. It was important to understand the function and value of Crypto wallet and why it is a "need" rather than mere "want".
Before we get into crypto wallet, we need to understand what a cryptocurrency is...
It's a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange wherein coin ownership records are stored in an record book existing in a form of computerized database using strong cryptography to secure transaction records. It does not exist in physical form. Well known Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin uses decentralized network, a blockchain, that serves as a public financial transaction database.
Now what is blockchain?
To simply put, it's a decentralized and public digital record book that records any information in an anonymous and immutable way. Some benefits of blockchain are:
1. Because its a decentralized system, it reduced overhead cost by cutting out the middle man.
2. As a public record, it provides transparency of all the transactions and allows traceability, which makes falsifying information very difficult and expensive.
3. Faster transaction time than traditional centralized system.
Since Cryptocurrencies exist in the Blockchain, we will need some sort of tool to help us communicate to the Blockchain. Here comes Cryptocurrency wallets, a software programs that store your public and private keys, and interface with various blockchains so users can monitor their balance, send money and conduct other operations.
For example, when a person sends you bitcoins, they are essentially signing off ownership of the coins to your wallet’s address. To be able to spend those coins and unlock the funds, the private key stored in your wallet must match the public address the currency is assigned to. If the public and private keys match, the balance in your digital wallet will increase, and the senders will decrease accordingly. The transaction is signified merely by a transaction record on the blockchain and a change in balance in your cryptocurrency wallet.
In this competitor analysis, I looked for strength and weakness of Crypto wallet in popular crypto exchange apps. These platforms offered a hot mobile crypto wallet which translate into convenience to retail traders.
There were 8 participants total. Participants were picked based on their investing and/or trading experience, their age, and their technology knowledge level.
Below are the key takeaways. Click here for full overview of my interview findings.
"With the Robinhood platform, I don't feel like I actually own my Bitcoin since I can't move it around"
1st takeaway - Need for flexibility in asset transfers
"I get my Crypto information through my friends"
2nd takeaway - Users seek out and depend on to their social circle
All participants are familiar with Blockchain Technology, have a positive outlook on Crypto, and plan on trading Crypto for the next 3-5 years.
3rd takeaway - Crypto traders continue to become more experienced, and will demand a more advanced Crypto exchange platform with flexible options
The golden path: steps that a user takes to find a product’s real value
Through user interviews and market research, I translated my qualitative data and form 3 personas:
The New Trader, The Casual Trader, The Experienced Trader.
Through talking to over 15 people who are familiar with cryptocurrency, I find that many express intimidation towards the idea of moving their crypto around. Many of them know what a wallet key is and how to utilize it, but still feel nervous about the process. With that in mind, I thought of ways to help ease that nervousness and did some screen idea sketches with the crazy 8 method. This method helps me to push out as much raw ideas as I can. I then share it to 2 of my friends who are traders and investors to get votes and inputs from a customer perspective.
I followed up my crazy 8 session with a mid-fi wireframe of all the screen needed with an emphasis on simplicity and friendliness to help ease the feeling of nervousness. For UI design; since this is an add-on feature, I followed design pattern, elements, and overall feel of the Robinhood design guideline.
Aside from the nervousness, some other points to keep in mind is a fee transparency. General consensus is that no one wants to be surprise with a hidden fee at the end of their transaction. With that said, it make sense to state fee amount from the get go.
SEND OPTION
To battle high Crypto transfer fees, feature offers free in-network transfers when sending assets to other Robinhood account
RECEIVE OPTION
One click away from sharing you Crypto address to the sender. Since different Crypto have different wallet addresses, users can easily change wallet type here by clicking "Change wallet"
PROTOTYPE
User testing conducted on 4 participants via video chat. User was given a link to the Figma prototype and asked to perform 2 tasks. Participants were based on personas:
(1) New Trader, (2) Casual Trader, (1) Experienced Trader.
Goals:
1. Users can send 0.50BTC without any confusion
2. Users can share their Bitcoin address without any confusion
100% of users were able to finish both tasks with some confusion, but overall the feature were well received and proof to me that there are demand for Robinhood to offer Crypto wallet. Participants said that they would recommend this feature to friends and family.
❌ UNCLEAR ADDRESS AND TRANSFER OPTIONS
Participants express confusion while trying to choose between the two transfer options and what to put as a recipient address.
"So, I can add my recipient email if I choose to transfer through Bitcoin? I thought you need a wallet address for that?"
❌ VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF CRYPTO
Although Robinhood does not use visual representation of coins on their app, testing result shows desire for coin logos to be present next to each currency.
"Having a logo of each coin next to the name would really help me speed up my thought process. Right now, I feel like I still have to think about which coin is what"
✔️ DISTINCTION IN ADDRESS BAR SPECIFIC TO EACH TRANSFER OPTION
An extra step added to help create distinction between different types of receiver addresses.
In-house Network Transfer: "Send to Robinhood email"
External Network Transfer: "Send to Bitcoin address"
What's the next step...
While overall input from my participants has been positive, I would like to conduct another user testing with a revised prototype to get insight from actual Robinhood customers. I recognize that it would not be possible to execute design ideas without a team of developers, engineer, and legal team, and would love to get in-touch with Robinhood product team to discuss technical feasibility, legality, return on investment, and development of trust between Robinhood Markets, Inc. and their customers.
I Strongly believe that this add-on feature offers transparency, options, and a sense of abundance, which could potentially lead to loyalty and long term engagement in customers.
Final thoughts...
Being a Robinhood Crypto customer from 2018 to 2020 and pretty much developed a serious interest in investing through their product, I appreciated Robinhood for being that stepping stone. With that said, I came to understand that Robinhood crypto system operates differently than other Crypto trading platform, and as of now does not have a proper infrastructure to offer their customers individual wallet. I hope they do soon, because people should be able to truly own their crypto.
All things considered, I really enjoyed this project. It directly relates to my topic of interest and is a space I would like to explore as a career path. Blockchain and Crypto is a complex and dense topic, but people should not be discourage from trying to educate themselves, especially younger generations.
