Currently holding a TVL (total value locked) of over $60 billion, the market size and revenue share of the decentralized finance (DeFi) space is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 42.6%, and reach a value of $232 billion by 2030.
However, the true potential of DeFi’s expansion hinges on developers’ ability to overcome long-standing barriers to user-adoption – namely, simplifying the user-experience, and providing better education to successfully onboard new users.
A recent Uniswap survey revealed that a lack of understanding of DeFi mechanics was the primary obstacle stopping users from engaging with DeFi platforms – even more so than the costs associated with transaction fees.
With this in mind, developers are now pushing forward at full speed to devise apps with user-friendly mechanics, and to provide users with a better educational grounding to make the DeFi onboarding process a more attractive one.
Addressing Barriers to DeFi Adoption
A good example of an attempt to overcome these barriers can be found in the decentralized social investing app, DYOR Exchange, which aims to offer a seamless access point for would-be DeFi users through a simplified user interface which more resembles popular investing and social apps.
DYOR Exchange is a Web3/DeFi mobile trading app for Android and iOS which introduces a ‘swipe’ interface similar to popular dating apps like Tinder, where users can review and select potential trading opportunities simply by swiping right.
Coupled with a prominent educational news feed which keeps traders up to date with the latest news emanating from the cryptocurrency industry, and the ability to engage in social ‘copy-trading’, DYOR Exchange greatly simplifies the trading process for new users.
Another recent industry survey found that user-education (45%) was the primary obstacle to DeFi adoption, followed by security concerns (40%), and user experience/interface (39%).
Meanwhile, a study by CoinGecko found that even those DeFi protocols with high brand-awareness still suffered from low usage due to users not fully understanding the product offering.
Because DYOR Exchange is fully decentralized and non-custodial – meaning users retain control of their funds at all times – its array of user-friendly features directly address the three main obstacles to DeFi adoption identified above – namely, education, security and user-experience.
Bridging Gaps in Security and Usability
Over 50% of all malicious hacks in the crypto space which resulted in lost funds are thought to come from cross-chain bridge hacks. Cross-chain bridges are the mechanism by which applications transfer non-compatible coins and tokens from one blockchain to another in the DeFi space, and were the primary attack vector leading to over $2 billion in losses in 2022, with similar losses witnessed in 2023.
DYOR Exchange’s native compatibility with over 30+ popular cryptocurrencies and blockchains allows for a seamless user-experience which does not rely on cross-chain bridges. Combined with its non-custodial nature which allows users to keep hold of their own funds at all times, DYOR Exchange nullifies one of the most troublesome security aspects which have plagued DeFi trading apps since their inception.
DYOR Exchange also looks to bridge the divide between DeFi and the traditional financial services industry by integrating familiar features such as native wallet swaps, asset management, and real-time tracking into a permissionless, decentralized trading platform.
Ultimately, DYOR Exchange looks to demystify the Web3 trading process by eradicating the steep learning curve typically found in the blockchain space which has been shown to deter even the most experienced of traders.
Taking DeFi Into the Future
More and more Web3 developers are waking up to the idea that the answer to sustained DeFi adoption lies in simplification, education and optimization. These key tenets are crucial for portraying the benefits of a DeFi ecosystem which offers much in the way of transparency and accessibility without the interference of the middle-men typically found in the traditional finance system.
Fine-tuning DeFi apps to more closely resemble popular modern-day applications like Tinder enables developers to endow users with all the benefits of decentralized finance without them necessarily having to understand, or care, about the underlying technical machinations.
Similar to a doctor prescribing medicine, the patient doesn’t need to know how the medicine works, but only that it does work.
DeFi trading apps like DYOR Exchange are now starting to implement in-built educational materials and social trading dynamics to make the trading experience more approachable than ever, helping onboard new users to the DeFi space one swipe at a time.
