Tezos tech is lightyears ahead but the user experience lacks intuition. New users are daunted by the complexity of Web3 in general and, just for e.g. almost all users I brought to Tezos who are not especially interested in tech experiments don’t use it at all. Even staking is too complicated to them. I think Tezos could gain a lot of ground in being intuitive to use and easy to understand. We need to to things differently.
Widespread adoption needs two things (Spoiler: Meme coins or gambling are not one of them)
- IRL use cases
- much more simplicity and seamless integration.
This is a wild and very incomplete collection of ideas on how to improve the perception of Tezos and how to make it more attractive for new users. Let’s discuss!
A) More intuitive wording
- Crypto - technically correct, but what does it mean for the user? Crypto just teases the technical background of cryptography, which almost nobody understands. It leaves the taste of “nerd-stuff” to unexperienced users. Maybe instead we can just say Secure. Like Secure currency. What do you think?
- NFT - again, technically correct but a complicated construct. And I bet, most non-involved people think of Ape-JPGs and scams. Instead it has so many different applications from visual art, over books to tokenised cars and real estate etc. Why don’t we just name what it is and differentiate more. e.g. Art-Token, Book-Token, Collectible-Token, Real Estate-Token. Or we get rid of the word “Token” altogether even though it is just a certificate and not the file itself. It could be an Artwork on Tezos. What do you think?
- Wallet - I know the name wallet is deep embedded in all crypto protocols and I understand that a wallet is a different concept than an account or login. But let’s face it: a user doesn’t care. Maybe we could e.g. agree on naming the login "sync“, how it is already often used instead of "connect wallet“. The whole procedure of using a wallet needs to get more intuitive.
- Web3 - to be honest, nobody needs that expression. It is an evolution and might even be a revolution, but the common user is only interested that it works. Not how it works. Scammers didn’t shine a nice light on buzzwords so lets skip the ones no one needs.
B) Ease of Use
I think, a big part of Amazons success is because it is the most simple to use. When you buy something, you simply put it in you shopping cart and press “Buy” exactly once! People are easily turned away just by one more click on a button! There are a ton of things to fine-tune. Let’s find them and adjust them.
For a start:
- Let’s use shopping carts on all platforms to batch transactions
- Let’s not have to sign something with the wallet that is just a hash or code that no user understands. Why would I sign a package I don’t understand. It could even be malicious…
C) Onboarding / Getting your first tez automatically be the network
creating a (software)-wallet is IMO already pretty straight forward. But how to get your first tez to start interacting? Currently there are fountains or faucets to give you your “first tez” but you need to find them. Therefore you need to go to the right discord, find the right channel and ask the right people. Unless you have a friend who gives you you your initial tez.
I suggest that being automated. Everybody who creates their first tezos wallet could be greeted by the network with 1 tez. Enough to make transactions or to even buy a first Artwork.
But wait, how to avoid scammers from creating thousands of wallets? By an optional Identity Proof embedded in the protocol. If you proof you are a real person you get your “first tez” exactly once. How this identity proof is exactly implemented is of course to be discussed.
I know, many people prefer to stay anonymous, but they can still find the fountains in the according discords. Anonymity comes at the price of less convenience. There can be both! Just like Ledger should have promoted their latest stunt. There are different users with different needs - There can be both: Social cloud backup and being totally sealed inside a disconnected vault.
D) Identity Proof - Level of trust from the beginning
Coming straight back to the Identity proof. There are already options like Tezos Profiles and TezID. Could these mechanisms be streamlined in the process of creating a wallet? Could all platforms implement a level of trustworthiness. Most already do, But how could it be be easier and standardised implementation. How could it be improved?
E) A step further on Identity Proof
There could even be more ways to prove you are you. Today many people don’t hesitate to scan their fingerprint or face to unlock their computer or phone. Couldn’t that be combined with blockchain tech? If an encrypted/hashed proof of your fingerprint of face-scan would be embedded on chain with you wallet, maybe it could even be possible to initiate transactions just with your fingertip. Or the wallet could recognise if it is running on the device that is unlocked with the same fingerprint/face. Wouldn’t that make usage much more convenient and at the same time more secure!? What do you think?
