Binance’s New Web3 Wallet Has One Fatal Flaw

TL;DR

• There’re a few features in Binance’s new self-custodial wallet, that could increase the ‘ease-of-use factor’ in the crypto space.

• The sign up process is super easy, and a bunch of the common Web3 features/services are contained within the app.

• the wallet has one fatal flaw: Users can only create/access the wallet through the Binance app…

Full Story

Picture a sea of parents, sitting in a conference room.

A man in a lab coat enters, placing phones in front of each parent/test subject.

He challenges them to set up a crypto wallet, unassisted, while following these rules:

1. No squinting

2. No holding the phone at arms length

3. No grabbing your reading glasses from atop your head

(See gif ☝️).

This should be the official litmus test of whether a tech product is easy enough to use, and we will die on this hill.

Unfortunately for Web3 users – wallet tech ain’t there yet!

…but, in the words of Justin Bieber circa 2010 “Never Say Never.”

There’re a few features in Binance’s new self-custodial wallet, that could increase the ‘ease-of-use factor’ in the crypto space.

For example:

• It doesn’t require users to note down a random 12-word password

• Users can earn interest and take loans against their holdings, in-app.

• It has an ‘Air Drop Zone,’ where users can discover any unclaimed crypto rewards they might have missed.

Point is: the sign up process is super easy, and a bunch of the common Web3 features/services are contained within the app.

We love that!

…unfortunately, the wallet has one fatal flaw:

• Users can only create/access the wallet through the Binance app…

  (Eeeew!)

  This means they still need to give over personal details/ID to Binance, and still rely on Binance to access their crypto (very centralized).

If we can get the process down to:

Download mobile app → input email/create password → Boom! You have a wallet.

Then we could be on to something.