One-Click UX: The Path to Simplifying DeFi
This is the second article of our “GlueX Foundations Series”. A series in which we introduce our journey, the vision of our team and our role in DeFi.
- “Towards GlueX Protocol: Simplifying DeFi Through Verticalized Abstraction”
- “One-Click UX: The Path to Simplifying DeFi”
- “Why Now? How DeFi’s Evolution Made GlueX Possible”
Despite the impressive growth of DeFi over the past few years, user experience remains one of its biggest barriers to adoption. Users are often forced to deal with multiple wallets, native gas tokens, bridging delays, and fragmented liquidity across protocols and chains. These complexities make DeFi intimidating and difficult to use, especially for newcomers.
Abstracting complexity is the key to unlocking DeFi’s full potential. This is why, at GlueX, we have set our focus on supporting One-Click UX experiences—interfaces where users can achieve their intended actions (swapping, lending, staking, etc.) with minimal effort, regardless of the underlying complexity.
But what does it take to make this vision a reality? Let’s explore.
Current UX Challenges in DeFi
While many DeFi protocols have made strides in improving usability, there are still critical UX challenges that need to be addressed:
1. Bridging Delays
Moving assets across blockchains often requires 4 to 15 minutes of wait time, depending on the bridging protocol used. For users accustomed to instant transactions in traditional finance, this delay is a major pain point.
2. Managing Multiple Wallets and Gas Tokens
Existing DeFi users have adapted to these complexities, but the reality is that this approach won’t scale to billions of users. DeFi needs to become more intuitive and welcoming for new users. Managing different wallets, stablecoins, native gas tokens, and cross-chain interactions is simply too overwhelming.
3. Fragmented Liquidity Across Chains
Liquidity is scattered across multiple chains and protocols, requiring users to search for the best rates and manage liquidity fragmentation. This creates inefficiencies and adds another layer of complexity to the user experience.
4. Complex Transaction Flows
Simple actions like swapping tokens may require multiple clicks and confirmations across different protocols and chains. Each additional step increases the likelihood of user drop-off and errors.
Building for the Next Wave of DeFi Users
The next phase of DeFi adoption depends on making the user experience as simple and intuitive as possible. Delivering one-click UX where users can perform complex actions like swapping, lending, or bridging with minimal effort—requires solving core usability challenges. By removing unnecessary steps and abstracting away complexity, DeFi can become as seamless as any traditional financial service. Here’s what needs to happen to achieve this vision:
Abstracting Away Chains and Tokens
Users shouldn’t need to think about which blockchain they’re interacting with or worry about holding native gas tokens for transactions. These processes should happen automatically, in the background, enabling users to focus solely on their goals. Infrastructure that supports this level of abstraction ensures that wallets and token management no longer act as barriers to entry.
Unified APIs for Seamless Interactions
For developers to create truly seamless experiences, tools that unify fragmented ecosystems are essential. APIs that aggregate liquidity across chains, provide accurate real-time pricing, and streamline cross-chain transactions allow developers to build applications that abstract technical details for users. These APIs form the backbone of a user-friendly DeFi ecosystem, enabling dApps to deliver seamless and efficient interactions.
Removing Degrees of Freedom
To achieve a truly simplified UX, we believe it’s necessary to remove degrees of freedom from the user interface. This means offering users a single, optimized path to achieve their goals, rather than presenting them with multiple options that could create confusion.
Real-World Use Case: Yield Generation for New Users
Picture a completely new user stepping into the world of DeFi. Their goal is simple: increase their savings without navigating a maze of technical details. This user isn’t interested in learning about different chains, protocols, or gas fees—they want a frictionless experience that feels familiar, like any traditional financial app.
Here’s what that ideal experience looks like:
The user opens a dApp powered by a robust abstraction layer, like GlueX Protocol, and deposits their savings directly into a single stablecoin on a high-performance chain. They don’t need to choose between multiple tokens or manage complex on-ramping processes.
The dApp presents the user with a personalized investment option based on the best yield-generating positions across chains and protocols, tailored to their risk tolerance.
The user makes their investment with one click. The dApp, using GlueX APIs, handles all the underlying complexity: cross-chain interactions, liquidity sourcing, and gas fees.
The user can easily track their savings and returns without worrying about which chains or protocols were used to achieve their yield.
GlueX powers this seamless journey by abstracting away all the complexity of DeFi. Through its APIs suite and infrastructure, GlueX handles:
- Cross-chain interactions: Ensuring assets can move freely across chains without user intervention.
- Gas fees: Covering and managing native tokens in the background so users don’t need to hold them.
- Liquidity sourcing: Identifying the most optimal yield-generating positions across chains and protocols automatically.
Our focus is on helping dApps create seamless experiences that require no prior knowledge of blockchains, protocols, execution fees or any other elements that may complicate the user’s journey.
Building Towards One-Click UX: What’s Next?
Our journey towards one-click UX is just beginning. Here’s what’s on the horizon for GlueX:
Incubating Simplified dApps
We’re actively working to incubate a first batch of dApps that will demonstrate the power of one-click UX. These applications will showcase how seamless interactions can remove barriers and improve user experiences in DeFi.
Expanding the API Suite
Our team is continuously developing new APIs to support one-click UX experiences. Upcoming APIs will focus on cross-chain bridging and composable intent-based transactions. These APIs will further abstract the complexities of DeFi, making it easier for developers to build dApps that offer intuitive user experiences.
Never Stop Glueing
Our team of Gluers is working daily to onboard every single protocol and blockchain into our abstraction layer. GlueX is currently integrated to 13 blockchains and +100 protocols.
The GlueX Vision: Simplifying DeFi for Everyone
At GlueX, our vision is clear: make DeFi accessible to everyone by delivering seamless, intuitive experiences that abstract away the underlying complexity. GlueX is built for those who find today’s DeFi ecosystem overwhelming. It bridges the gap between complexity and usability, enabling both new and seasoned users to benefit from a simplified experience.
We believe that one-click UX is the key to achieving this. By reducing the number of steps required to complete DeFi actions and removing degrees of freedom, we can create a user experience that feels natural and familiar to users, regardless of their technical knowledge.
As we continue to develop and release our APIs, we invite developers to join us in building the future of DeFi. Let’s create the tools and experiences that will bring DeFi to the masses, one click at a time.
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