Decrypt trusts Magic to onboard record new user growth with the launch of reader tokens and rewards
“CryptoPunks NFTs Are Worth Nearly $2 Billion Now”
“Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT): Beginner’s Guide”
These two headlines are just a glimpse into how Decrypt helps demystify the decentralized web. On the site, you can find everything from insights into the biggest events shaping the crypto industry to content that meets readers where they are in their journey of learning about blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
As a fan of the publication, I was thrilled to talk with Luke Hamilton, Senior Software Engineer. In this post, I’ll cover how the Decrypt team streamlined development and onboarding to launch Decrypt Tokens and Drops — along with how crypto DNA and a leading product and team drove their trust in Magic.
Incentivizing readers to earn as they learn
Decrypt is the gateway into the decentralized world. What’s unique about the reader experience is its clear-eyed storytelling and accessibility. Decrypt content caters to various levels of existing crypto knowledge.
Back in 2019, the team had ambitions to deepen the reader experience and connect further to their ethos of education through using decentralized technology.
Fast forward two years of behind-the-scenes work by their product team, that vision is now brought to life with the launch of Decrypt Token (DCPT), a new reader token that lives inside the Decrypt mobile app. According to the team, “The token is our way of participating in the decentralized industry we cover, and experimenting with how cryptocurrency can spur reader engagement.”
So, what’s in it for readers? The opportunity to earn as they learn. Every week, unique digital rewards — called Drops — become available and redeemable with Decrypt tokens. It’s an ingenious way to assign value to actions, thank readers for their loyalty, all while also encouraging hands-on interaction with crypto.
Novel reader tokens and rewards inside a mobile app
During the development process, Luke and the team tackled the question of how to authenticate users. They explored whether to build their own authentication or integrate with an existing auth solution.
Internally, there was already substantial discussion about going passwordless for the tokens MVP (minimal viable product). For Decrypt, the biggest benefits to passwordless login were improvements to UX and that several forward-thinking brands had started to make passwordless login increasingly popular with users.
At the time, work on traditional username and password flow had already begun. But after assessing where the app was and what was left to do in the critical path, Luke realized they had not yet solved issues around account recovery. After evaluating the large effort it’d require their lean engineering team to build out forgot password, reset password, and so on, Luke decided not to continue to invest in a traditional auth flow and instead, implement Magic.
Natural excitement for Magic sparked at first discovery because of the companies’ shared philosophies on crypto.
“Choosing Magic further bolstered the credibility of our ethos.”
The product also stood out as the passwordless auth solution with future-proof crypto and identity tech under the hood.
“The clear aha moment came when we realized Magic does exactly what we wanted, functionally and philosophically: frictionless login for users and decentralized identity aligned to our mission.
There weren’t that many competing solutions or anything remotely comparable; it’s fully-featured and production-ready.”
Luke estimates that continuing to build password-based auth would have added “at least another month” to their roadmap. In just a week, email magic links were up and running in Decrypt’s mobile app for their private beta.
The process of implementation was streamlined primarily thanks to Magic’s simple documentation and proactive customer support. Luke counts the responsiveness to his questions and genuine partnership mindset as most impressive, highlighting the customer-centric team behind the product.
Successful user adoption at scale
Decrypt has seen remarkable success in the months immediately following their beta and public launches. Over 50,000 users have already downloaded their mobile app to engage with content and earn tokens, and Decrypt is expecting hundreds of thousands more users by the end of 2021.
Luke is certain Magic played a key role in appealing to broader audiences who want to get their hands on the latest technology and trends in crypto. Sign up and login is easy and fast; users can set up their in-app wallet in literally a few seconds.
“User growth is the best proof there is. Less friction for users leads to higher conversion.”
He’s also the first to recommend Magic to colleagues and is now solely building auth with Magic for his passion projects as well.
“I’m working on my own rewards app and had to switch from Auth0 to use Magic.”
The coolest part: innovation around tokens is just getting started. To kick off the first season of Decrypt Drops, the team launched an exclusive NFT (non-fungible tokens) series. In the future, Drops will evolve to include a host of different rewards and functionality.
Together with Magic, Decrypt is reaching record reader growth and engagement. Through seamless onboarding and innovative experiences powered by blockchain technology, the Decrypt and Magic teams are co-advocating for the future of the web.
