Making Bitcoin Feel Simple, Safe, and Human
As the founding designer, I led the design of Bottlepay from concept to public launch, reaching 20,000+ beta users, processing $2.4M in its first month, and helping drive a $300M acquisition by NYDIG.
App Store Rating: 4.4 (300+ reviews)
Platform: iOS, Android
Industry: Fintech
Duration: Feb 2020 - May 2023
Bitcoin is growing but still feels intimidating
The challenge is to make Bitcoin feel as simple, safe, and familiar as using a regular banking app.
We built Bottlepay to simplify Bitcoin
Bottlepay is a UK-based Bitcoin payments app designed to make sending and receiving Bitcoin as simple as sending a text.
My role as the Founding Designer
As the founding designer, I led everything from user flows to testing, collaborating remotely with US and UK teams under a Lean UX process.
The initial Information Architecture and userflows were kept minimal to avoid overwhelming new users: home, portfolio, trade, and profile.
I maintained and scaled the design system to keep pace with new features, team growth, and platform consistency.
I closely worked with the Founder and Product Managers to help shape the vision, roadmap, and user flows.
I ensure to check accessibility throughout my design process to make sure we adhere to WCAG guidelines.
I made user testing a core part of our design process to ensure decisions were based in real user behavior.
The Solution: Make it feel simple, safe, and human
I designed Bottlepay’s mobile experience focusing on clarity, step-by-step onboarding, and plain language. Some highlights of design decisions made:
Payments feel more personal & social
We saw an opportunity to reduce the transactional coldness of crypto by adding social layers like emojis or reactions to payment receipts.
Simple content style
I recommended conversational tone and replaced jargons with simple language so features are easy to understand. I also added simple "Introduction Modals" for first time usage of features.
Onboarding and KYC that feel doable
Signup is broken into short steps with progress, time estimates, and save and resume. Plain language explains why each item is needed. Inline checks catch errors early.
Clear and safe payment/trade flows
The send flow confirms the recipient with a name and avatar, shows the last characters of the address, and surfaces fees and ETA before confirm.
Iterations & Trade-offs
New KYC regulations forced us to add verification into signup without hurting growth. I redesigned the flow into smaller steps with progress indicators and human explanations, reducing drop-offs while keeping us fully compliant.
First version: We launched with a fast, simple signup—just mobile, email, and a quick code—reaching about 81% completion.
New version: When new KYC rules came in, I redesigned the flow with clear steps and progress indicators. Completion dropped to around 65–70%, but it kept us fully compliant and easy to follow.
Impact & Results
As the founding designer, my work focused on making Bitcoin feel simple, safe, and fast. That clarity showed up in the numbers and in how the product grew:
Acquired by NYDIG for $300M in stock
A compliant, scalable user experience and a mature design system made integration more straightforward. Bottlepay was acquired by NYDIG for $300M in 2021.
Raised $15M in seed funding
A polished MVP and narrative walkthroughs helped communicate the product vision. This contributed to the team raising $15M in seed funding in 2021.
20,000 beta sign ups
Clear onboarding, plain-language UI, and simple send flows helped the beta reach 20,000 sign ups.
App Store 4.4 ★
Our thoughtful UX and constant testing supported an average 4.4★ rating across 300+ reviews.
Learning & Reflection:
This wasn’t just a project. It reshaped how I see product design. After NYDIG’s acquisition and realignment, the app was sunset, marking the end of one chapter and a deeper grasp of design’s role in business change.
Listen to users and test often
Staying flexible helped us move fast without losing clarity. Regulations and technology moved fast, and so did we.
Tight collaboration is the key
I wore many hats in a fast-moving, async team, and learned just how powerful clear docs and thoughtful handoffs can be.
If I could do it again…
I’d invest earlier in structured research and tracking, and use async tools like Loom to align faster.