For more than a decade, the cryptocurrency industry has advocated decentralization, transparency and self-protection. These principles are sublime and, in many ways, essential.
But, if we are honest, they have not translated into widespread mainstream adoption. The dream of billions of people using blockchain every day is still largely a dream. To realize reality, we need to rethink how to build and deliver blockchain-powered experiences.
One of the biggest obstacles is availability. For ordinary people, the main interface of the current blockchain (no suppression wallet) is considered too complicated. Manage the private key, write down 24-word seed phrases, buy local tokens just to execute transactions, navigate multiple chains, bridge assets, kycing repeatedly for each app, and figure out how to convert cryptocurrencies to fiat and return. This is not a user experience built for mainstream.
We often ask ourselves why Web3 does not “cross the gap”. The answer may be simple: Most people don’t want to Know They are using blockchain. Frankly, they don’t have to do that.
This is where the “gridden community” comes in.
I use the term gated community to mean “urban planning.” A beautiful setting for easy navigation that provides a comfortable, safe and well-curated experience. Yes, yes, and behind some kind of protective layer. In cryptocurrencies, closed communities are the platform that abstracts blockchain complexity while retaining its gains.
These environments provide users with a seamless Web2-style interface, while blockchain has been lifted heavily in the background. Hosted wallets, centralized interfaces and trusted intermediaries are gatekeepers, rather than restricting access to only a special few, but reducing friction for everyone.
Critics believe this betrays the spirit of decentralization (“Not your key, not your coin”). However, this ignores a wider opportunity: Through intuitive experiences across millions and even billions of users, these experiences build real value and solve real problems for users. Not everyone will start managing a cryptocurrency journey with a cold wallet. Many will start with a safe, guided, user-friendly “closed” experience – that’s OK.
We can see this with Dapps that successfully serve non-crypto natives.
In the United States, Lofty.ai is quietly transforming real estate investment by using blockchain behind the scenes while providing traditional investors with a simple, intuitive experience. Users can purchase income for as little as $50 to generate fractional ownership of the property, automatically receive rental income, and resell their shares at any time.
It is worth noting that Lofty won’t attract the typical cryptocurrency crowd, it attracts mainstream real estate investors who want to have no legal paperwork, transfer of ownership, or usually involved in tax headaches that manage real estate. Renters can gradually invest in the property they live in, reducing monthly rents as the stock grows, and eventually becoming full owners. Blockchain can be flexible and trustworthy; but user experience is pure Web2 simplicity.
On the other side of the world, in Kabul, Hesabpay allows women to use simple plastic cards and SMS to confirm purchases of food and supplies at local stores. These transactions address the chain immediately, providing transparency and traceability to NGOs and donors. But for women who use them, it’s just a card, not a crypto wallet. They never had a bank account and probably never needed an account. This is what success looks like: a real-world utility without a steep learning curve.
In Italy, tenants can buy “tokenized” solar panels through blockchain-enabled apps, even if they live in an apartment or can’t install anything on the roof. The app tracks the energy generated by these panels elsewhere and deducts it from the user’s electricity bill. Blockchain ensures automatic accounting and real-time settlement; the user experience is intuitive, application-based and familiar.
In online chess, players can now receive rewards for participating in games, contests, or contributing to the community – not knowing that the loyalty they collect is a blockchain token. FIDE Grand Prix’s official organizer, Worverschess, has launched a blockchain-based rewards program that allows players to accumulate and redeem points through competition and participation. The infrastructure ensures transparency and portability, but for users it feels like any other modern loyalty program. The technology is invisible – the experience is seamless.
These examples show that blockchain is not a product. This is an infrastructure layer.
Like all great infrastructure, its job iso disappear.
Over time, we believe these gated communities will act as ramps that gradually make users a more dispersed self-hosting experience. But to get there, we need a new generation of tools that are easy to use with user control.
Self-customer will evolve. Social recovery mechanisms (e.g. DEREC Alliance) will make it possible to restore the wallet without remembering the seed phrase. Verified credentials will enable users to safely carry their identities across applications and services, thus allowing for a one-time KYC that persists across platforms. Moreover, the full charge will mean that the user does not need to touch the local gas token unless he wants to. You will log in via fingerprint and approve transactions and access any app without realizing that you are interacting with the blockchain.
This is the way forward: blockchain gradually fades the background, making it a pleasant, secure, user-centric experience stands out.
If we take mainstream adoption seriously, we must stop building builds for crypto-native users. The future is the builder who can merge the best designs of Web2 design with the capabilities of Web3 infrastructure without allowing users to choose between them. A gated community is not the ultimate goal. But they are the best way to get millions of people into the door.
Once they come in, we can invite them to explore everything else the blockchain open world has to offer.
