Uniswap Labs, a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, has recently conducted a survey to understand the motivations and barriers of US-based retail users towards DeFi. The survey received 1,860 responses, including non-crypto, centralized finance (CeFi), and DeFi users.
The survey revealed that despite the bear market backdrop, nearly half of CeFi users expressed an interest in experimenting with DeFi protocols in the next 12 months. This finding is encouraging as it indicates a growing interest in DeFi among traditional finance users, who are willing to learn and explore the possibilities of on-chain activity.
Uniswap Survey Points to A Shift from CeFi To DeFi
However, the survey also highlighted that complexity, lack of understanding, and costs are the main barriers preventing CeFi users from using DeFi platforms for all their cryptocurrency trades. This finding underscores the importance of providing educational material, improved user experience, and support to overcome the learning curve associated with DeFi. But how is Uniswap Labs simplifying DeFi for CeFi users?
- Seamless User Interface: Uniswap Labs has a user-friendly interface that allows users to easily navigate the platform and execute trades with a few clicks. This contrasts traditional DeFi platforms, which can be overwhelming for new users.
- Automated Market Making (AMM): Uniswap Labs uses an AMM system that eliminates the need for order books and allows users to easily swap tokens at a fair market price, simplifying the trading process and eliminating the need for users to understand complex trading concepts.
- Self-Custody: Uniswap Labs strongly emphasizes self-custody, meaning users have complete control over their assets and do not rely on centralized custodians. While this may seem daunting initially, Uniswap Labs provides educational resources and support to help users understand the benefits of self-custody.
With this, Uniswap Labs, which builds products to onboard people directly to DeFi, aims to bridge the gap between CeFi and DeFi by focusing on UX and considering the first steps as a gateway into the broader crypto ecosystem. By doing so, Uniswap Labs seeks to provide CeFi users with a more transparent, self-custodial, and publicly verifiable alternative to centralized finance platforms that often lack accountability and transparency.
Transaction Fees And Costs Identified As Biggest Barriers
Transaction fees and costs were also identified as notable barriers to entry. However, as Ethereum continues to scale and layer 2 solutions see greater adoption, DeFi will become more economically accessible for price-sensitive users, according to Uniswap’s blog post.
The survey also revealed that better educational resources and increased user support would increase willingness among CeFi users to trade on DeFi platforms. Products targeting this CeFi segment have already invested in these educational resources. Uniswap Labs has assembled one of the few customer support teams in crypto, considered one of the best in the industry.
For this, Uniswap Labs is exploring layer 2 scaling solutions that will significantly reduce transaction fees and increase the speed of transactions. This will make DeFi more economically accessible and user-friendly for price-sensitive users.
Overall, Uniswap Labs’ survey sheds light on the motivations and barriers of US-based retail users towards DeFi. The platform aims to simplify and abstract the complexities unique to crypto without compromising on the ideals of self-custody and transparency. As the industry continues to grow, it is important to prioritize user education and support to help users build their knowledge base and grow their confidence.
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com