Why Crypto Adoption Stalled – And What Can Restart It

TELUS Digital explains how CX done right can address the ‘trust deficit’ in crypto platforms to move from niche market to mainstream adoption

The number of cryptocurrency users could exceed 900 million globally by the end of this year, if recent growth rates hold. Total market cap is well into the trillions of dollars, and is projected to keep increasing over the next five years.

Even so, crypto would remain a niche asset class rather than the currency of choice for most of the world’s 8 billion inhabitants. At this moment, the user penetration rate is barely 7%. So let’s be clear on what’s bogging down the pace at which people begin to accept crypto. Then let’s figure out what to do about it.

The first part is the easiest, because it boils down to one word: Trust.

Institutional investors have come to adopt crypto, signalling their acceptance by launching ETFs securitizing spot Bitcoin and Ether. But that’s not growing crypto’s wallet share – it’s cannibalizing it instead. Rather than going on DeFi apps to buy and sell digital currencies, everyday retail investors conduct transactions from their more familiar legacy brokerage accounts.

And that should be a wakeup call for the crypto space. At a time when the entire industry should be doing all it can to garner the trust of the average retail investor, many on the inside may be ignoring layers of baked-in complexity that make people yearn for the relative comfort of their stockbrokers’ apps. After all, familiarity fosters trust, while complexity often breeds doubt and skepticism.

Trust Deficit Prevents User Engagement

“Bridging the gap to mainstream adoption requires addressing a fundamental trust deficit,” says Brian Breslin, a senior executive at TELUS Digital, a global firm that integrates artificial intelligence and human agents to deliver seamless customer experiences for crypto. “The future of sustainable growth and mainstream crypto adoption hinges on a dedicated, industry-wide commitment to prioritizing the new, non-technical customer."

Breslin identifies three major contributors to this trust deficit:

Industry jargon: Crypto-speak and its unfamiliar jargon can sabotage the customer experience by overwhelming new users who are accustomed to more mainstream financial terms. Additionally, much of the industry’s jargon is rooted in English, which poses a barrier for the roughly 80% of the world that doesn’t speak the language fluently, further impeding attempts to attract and engage a global user base. Security concerns: Breslin describes these as “paramount, fueled by frequent headlines about hacks and scams, with billions lost annually.” The irreversible nature of transactions and the lack of traditional insurance add to these fears, especially for non-technical or newer users that already have a general lack of trust in these platforms. Transparency: Fee structures and platform operations can be opaque, creating suspicion and making it difficult for users to make informed decisions. On some platforms, it can be difficult to reach a person – or even a helpful automated response – at the contact points where they’re most needed.

These are all elements of the broader CX ecosystem – every bit as much as the user interface. Still, UI/UX friction points remain the most important of these factors, and CX for many crypto exchanges is fraught with non-intuitive processes. These result in:

Complex Navigation : Cluttered or non-intuitive interfaces can make it difficult to understand where to locate key features

: Cluttered or non-intuitive interfaces can make it difficult to understand where to locate key features Lack of Visual Feedback : No clear indicators when actions are completed

: No clear indicators when actions are completed Poor Mobile Optimization : Desktop-first designs that are not well optimized for mobile devices

: Desktop-first designs that are not well optimized for mobile devices Lack of Personalization: No way to adapt the interface to user preferences and needs or make recommendations based on historical data

Smoothing Out the Touchpoints

Every point at which new or potential users come into contact with the DeFi product is a point where the platform can lose them. That’s where a strong customer support presence comes in. The days when a static list of FAQs would suffice are long gone. Chatbots have their use cases, but they don’t comprehend the world the way humans do, and their lack of situational awareness can put people off. DeFi leaders need to understand one thing that traditional financial services providers have always understood: This is a people business.

“Often there's a gap between what a customer is actually experiencing on a crypto or digital assets platform and what the platform itself thinks is the experience it's delivering,” Breslin says. “So we look at what is the user journey, how can we improve the sentiment or the sense of trust at the different points of that journey.”

CX as the new trust infrastructure

This journey begins with onboarding, and the platform that loses its customers here is unlikely to ever get them to proceed – and almost certainly will never get them back. This isn’t a matter of an abandoned cart; this represents the evaporation of each prospect’s lifetime value.Onboarding needs to be streamlined and rendered much more intuitive, and AI can help automate what had previously been manual processes. The first, and perhaps biggest hurdle for DeFi in this regard is the Know Your Client (KYC) process. Everyone who signs up must provide – and must be willing to provide – personal data and sometimes banking information. This must be documented by government-sanctioned photo ID, proof of address, biometric verification and a background check.

“The initial onboarding is hypercritical,” Breslin says, noting that 63% of potential customers abandon financial services apps at this point. “There's a lot of frustration when you're going through delays. So we look at that user journey through the KYC process. We bring in procedures to let the user know why there is a KYC process and that in itself builds trust. We also update the timeline so users can track their progress and see where they are in the journey.”

Even so, that’s just the beginning of the CX requirements. Proactive and transparent communications should be applied to security and privacy concerns, which will only become more critical as the new client becomes a more frequent user. This means having an accessible, knowledgeable customer support team and this is where AI can really make a difference. While AI- supported self-service should be an option, users should also have the choice to speak with a human agent. Backed by an AI-fueled knowledge base and next-best action engine, a human agent can give users the most up-to-date and authoritative answers and optimal suggestions with a personal touch.

“When it does get to the point that users need to interact with an agent, we use AI to streamline the process by providing agents with solutions such as next-best-action recommendations, interaction histories, and automated article suggestions from knowledge bases so they can get to the most accurate answer a lot more quickly,” according to Breslin.

Additionally, while crypto platforms operate in highly-regulated environments, meeting those obligations doesn’t have to mean creating points of friction for users. A thoughtfully designed customer journey can make compliance feel seamless.

He notes that working with a partner such as TELUS Digital, which has a commitment to providing ongoing training and upskilling for its CX agents, helps them stay up-to-date with new global regulations as they emerge.

Architecting Trust Throughout the CX Journey

By focusing on delivering trusted, secure, seamless customer experiences, crypto platforms can significantly lower the barrier to entry for new users. Improving CX often leads to increased user confidence, greater adoption rates and stronger ongoing engagement.

"Ultimately, a positive and trustworthy customer experience will be a key differentiator for crypto platforms looking to expand their user base and achieve mainstream adoption," Breslin says.

Trust is no longer just a brand value. Rather, it’s a core operational function in customer experience. This is particularly true in crypto. Any industry in which users entrust platforms with personal data and digital identities – not to mention money – must instill trust into every step of the customer journey from onboarding and verification to transparency in transactions and support responsiveness. Platforms must attract and engage users before they can move on to that even greater challenge: retaining them. It's all about building systems, policies and experiences that prove the platform is secure, ethical and accountable.

TELUS Digital is among a select few thought leaders specializing in developing end-to-end CX journeys for crypto projects as well as building intuitive and user-friendly mobile applications for some of the world's most trusted brands. Its website can be found at https://www.telusdigital.com/.