We Need User-Friendly Wallets for Bitcoin DeFi to Flourish
It’s been more than 13 years since Bitcoin emerged as one of the most reliable investment instruments in the post-2008 financial crisis period. Yet, a Deutsche Bank survey of retail investors in January 2024 demonstrated a deep miscomprehension about the Bitcoin economy.
One-third of the participants said BTC prices would drop below $20K by the end of 2024 and 42% of respondents “anticipate(d) its disappearance”. This survey comes in a year when BTC recorded its all-time high price of $73.6K after Bitcoin ETF trading.
Although BTC prices have eventually stabilized, Bitcoin users have seen some major developments with the Runes launch after the Bitcoin halving. Moreover, the Ordinals market consolidated this year and holds potential for further growth of Bitcoin NFTs.
According to a crypto analyst, historical data shows that BTC prices peaked approximately one and a half years after Bitcoin halving. This means BTC would peak from mid-September to October 2025 for the 2024 halving cycle.
In this context, the Deutsche Bank survey indicates a gap in understanding, communication, and failure to access the Bitcoin economy. Instead of dismissing the report and its respondents, it’s essential to introspect why so many people still cannot trust Bitcoin.
Rather than being derisive, a careful analysis will demonstrate that most retail investors don’t have adequate resources to access Bitcoin. It happens because there is a severe lack of user-friendly tools like simple web3 wallets to store BTC and use it across web3 apps.
Most web3 wallets have a complicated user interface which is difficult to navigate for new crypto users. If Bitcoin has to become comprehensible to the general public, it needs accessible web3 wallets.
In this article, we’ll first explain the problems with existing web3 wallets and how the Tomo Wallet serves as an easy-to-use web3 wallet for users.
The Problem With Web3 Wallets
To begin with, users have to grasp technically sophisticated concepts to navigate web3 wallets which are otherwise absent in traditional banking apps. Jargon like “private key”, “gas”, and other terms might be confusing for first-term users, thereby creating high entry barriers.
If web3 wallets have to reach a mass audience, the wallet interface must adopt an intuitive display with simpler terminology. A straightforward, familiar language can encourage more users to demystify complex terms, start using these apps, and get accustomed to them.
Most crypto wallets offer a disjointed information architecture with haphazard function buttons that make the wallet usage experience difficult for users. Thus, it is necessary to design an interface with easily navigable features that help users quickly and effortlessly access their digital assets.
Additionally, web3 wallets must offer a seamless transactional experience similar to web2 banking apps. If new users don’t feel confident to use a web3 wallet or have to wait longer for transaction processing, they won’t use these wallets.
Lastly, some wallets are either single-chain wallets or support only limited networks which hinders user activity. Moreover, some users have to manage multiple wallets for their fungible and non-fungible tokens, making it a tedious experience.
If users have to change wallets and copy-paste wallet addresses every time for a new transaction, it leads to a subpar experience. Thus, users need a solution that can help them adopt these web3 wallets without facing any difficulties.
Social Wallets: A User-Friendly Bitcoin Wallet Solution
Social wallets like the Tomo Wallet address the long-standing problems of web3 wallets with their unique operating features.
The Tomo Wallet is an Externally Owned Account (EOA) wallet that enables users to easily navigate the web3 ecosystem and seamlessly store their BTC.
To reduce the entry barriers, Tomo Wallet offers a social login feature that helps users access their wallets with their email ID or X handle. Now the Google Chrome web browser has a Tomo Wallet extension so that users can easily log in to their web3 wallet with their Google account.
The social login feature ensures Tomo users don’t have to navigate complex interfaces or use private keys to access their accounts. Moreover, the wallet offers multi-chain asset management and supports a wide range of networks including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Base, Linea, Optimism, Arbitrum, BNB Smart Chain, Solana, and Cosmos.
Tomo Wallet’s Multi-Party Computation (MPC) uses cryptographic technology to protect data and provide security to user assets. Additionally, the Wallet encrypts the seed phrase and stores it in a sharded fashion using Shamir’s Secret Sharing algorithm.
Thus, the Tomo Wallet makes the web3 wallet experience smoother and easier for both first-timers and crypto veterans.
Recently, Tomo integrated with the Babylon Testnet to offer BTC staking services. Users have to follow the steps mentioned here to get sBTC faucet tokens and participate in Babylon’s staking program.
The Tomo-Babylon partnership is an important step forward for seamlessly accessing DeFi services like BTC staking. This collaboration will open new avenues for generating additional yield from idle BTC assets in a secure manner.
Users will no longer have to wrap their BTC, bridge them, or rely on third-party custodial services to stake BTC. Instead, they can simply use their Google account to log into Tomo’s social wallet and begin their journey of BTC staking.
These collaborations indicate that Tomo Wallet will serve as a crucial web3 tool for users to access the Bitcoin DeFi economy. It will further reduce entry barriers and encourage new users to participate in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Bolstering Bitcoin With Robust Web3 Wallets
There is a cheeky press reports tracker that keeps a record of Bitcoin’s demise and shows that Bitcoin ‘died’ 475 times since 2010. The Deutsche Bank survey demonstrating people’s mistrust in Bitcoin will comfortably make it to the tracker.
However, this is not the right time to dismiss people who are skeptical of Bitcoin. Instead, the web3 industry must play a responsible role in providing people with user-friendly crypto wallets to participate in the Bitcoin economy.
To this end, SocialFi platforms like Tomo and crypto wallets like the Tomo Wallet will continue to empower users with user-friendly solutions to access Bitcoin. It is only through constant support and communication that more people will come into the Bitcoin fold, thereby clearing the air of miscomprehension and mistrust.
