The future of crypto applications will hide the complexity of blockchain, focusing on user experience to win the market.

Author: Suhail Kakar

Translated by: Baihua Blockchain

Everyone is building the wrong crypto applications. People think the future of cryptocurrency is social, DeFi, or gaming. Wrong. The real revolution is invisibility. The killer application of cryptocurrency will not announce itself with flashy logos or token launches. It has quietly integrated into daily life, becoming an invisible underlying technology.
This is how it should be.

Chasing the Wrong Goals

For years, crypto founders have been obsessed with "moving existing products onto the blockchain," resulting in disappointing outcomes.

Social? No one wants to rebuild the social graph

How many crypto versions of Twitter have we seen? Some have raised hundreds of millions, but most are ghost towns compared to the platforms they aim to replace. The harsh reality is that no one wants to start from scratch to rebuild their social graph. Your friends are not on crypto Twitter because their friends are not there either. This is the ultimate chicken-or-egg problem. Even with token incentives, users will ultimately return to the platforms where their real social connections exist.

Finance? Still trapped in the hell of fiat on-ramps and off-ramps

DeFi promises to revolutionize finance, but most users are still stuck in a terrible experience between traditional banks and cryptocurrencies. KYC forms, bank transfers taking days, withdrawal limits, identity verification selfies… it's a nightmare. Ordinary people do not care about self-custody enough to endure these hassles. They just want their money to work normally. Currently, despite its flaws, traditional finance still offers a smoother experience for most people than cryptocurrency.

Gaming? Retention data tells a tragic story

"Play-to-earn" games were seen as a breakthrough for crypto adoption, yet they created an economy where no one plays for fun. They initially attracted a lot of attention, but then suffered heavy player attrition. It turns out that when games are designed around making money rather than fun, they attract only profit-seeking "mercenaries," not loyal players. Once better opportunities arise elsewhere, these players will leave.

The Invisible Revolution is Happening

While everyone focuses on these high-profile failures, something more interesting is happening: cryptocurrency is slowly "disappearing." This is a good thing.

Technology Craves Invisibility

Think about the internet protocols that support your browsing experience today. Do you care about TCP/IP, HTTP, or DNS? Of course not. Because they are invisible, and that is why they are effective. Payments are the same. The online payment process in early e-commerce was cumbersome; now it takes just one click, or even zero clicks. The best payment experience is one you don't even notice.

Cryptocurrency is following the same path. Every wave of major adoption stems from abstracting away complexity:

• Smart contracts abstract the need to build on the blockchain
• DeFi abstracts traditional financial intermediaries
• NFTs abstract the technical details of digital ownership

The next wave? Abstracting away cryptocurrency itself.

The Cognitive Load Problem

Current crypto applications demand too much from users:

• Understanding wallets and private keys
• Managing gas fees for volatile tokens
• Navigating different chains and bridges
• Constantly worrying about security and scams

This is exhausting and unnecessary. The breakthrough will come from applications that quietly handle all the complexity behind the scenes, allowing users to simply… use the application. No wallet setup, no gas fees, no chain switching, no seed phrases.

Real-World Examples Are Emerging

Telegram/TON: Messaging First, Crypto Second

Telegram did not launch as a "crypto application," but as a messaging app that gradually and seamlessly integrated crypto features, allowing hundreds of millions of users to interact with the blockchain without realizing it. Their mini-apps and payment bots handle all the complexity. Users only see "send funds" or "buy stickers." Wallets exist as a feature, not as a standalone product that requires education and guidance.

Over 200 million wallets have been created, most belonging to people who would never download a "crypto wallet." Through @tacbuild, you can bring all EVM applications to Telegram and TON.

Stripe-like Stablecoin Experience

Companies like Stripe and Circle are building payment infrastructure that allows merchants to accept crypto payments without needing to understand cryptocurrency. Merchants receive dollars, and the infrastructure handles all blockchain transactions, providing customers with a seamless checkout experience. This is similar to Stripe's strategy of simplifying credit card processing, just applied to cryptocurrency. Technology becomes an invisible infrastructure rather than a visible consumer product.

Embedded Finance and Crypto Tracks

Some of the most exciting advancements are happening in traditional financial applications that use blockchain in the background:

• Banking apps use stablecoins for instant settlement
• Remittance services use cryptocurrencies for cross-border transfers
• Investment products access DeFi yields through traditional interfaces

Users get better rates, faster transfers, and more features—without ever hearing the word "blockchain."

The Future Belongs to Invisibility

I boldly predict: the first crypto application with a billion users will not mention "crypto" in its marketing. Users will not know or care about the involvement of blockchain. They will only know that this application solves their problems better than alternatives.

Insights for Builders

If you are building products in the crypto space, a fundamental shift in thinking is needed:

• Stop trying to convert users to a "crypto lifestyle"
• Stop expecting users to learn new terms and concepts
• Stop designing products that look like "crypto applications"

Instead:

• Find real user problems that blockchain can solve
• Abstract away all crypto complexity
• Make the experience feel familiar and intuitive
• Focus on user benefits rather than technology

The Invisible Competitive Advantage

The best crypto applications will not say "crypto." They will say:

• "Send funds instantly, anytime, anywhere"
• "Your savings earn 5% interest"
• "Own your digital purchases forever"
• "Control your online identity"

They will compete with mainstream products through user experience rather than ideology. They will win because, in many cases, blockchain can indeed create better products—as long as the technology itself does not get in the way.

The Ultimate Paradox

The most wonderful irony is that the greatest success of cryptocurrency will occur when people no longer talk about cryptocurrency. When it becomes the invisible infrastructure supporting the experiences people truly want.

Killer applications are not social, not financial, and not gaming.

They will be invisible.

The sooner builders accept this reality, the sooner blockchain technology can fulfill its promise to change how the internet operates—not by making users care about blockchain, but by improving their digital lives in ways they don't even notice.

Revolution will not be tokenized. It will be invisible.

Article link: https://www.hellobtc.com/kp/du/07/5989.html

Source: https://x.com/SuhailKakar/status/1948019003810849077

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