A KYC onboarding redesign for Bitkub, a cryptocurrency platform, focused on improving difficult verification steps, addressing user drop-off, and streamlining the path to trading. The initiative also established more consistent design patterns across the product.
Project Context
Crypto onboarding has more requirements than a typical account registration flow. Users must complete identity verification, provide information for compliance checks, and meet the requirements necessary to access trading features.
The existing experience contained inconsistent design patterns and steps that users found difficult to understand. The challenge was to simplify the journey where possible without compromising security, regulatory requirements, or the information needed by the business.
The team worked across multiple designers and a product manager, dividing the extensive onboarding journey into separate areas of ownership.
My Contribution
01 — KYC journey exploration
Initiated alternative design directions for selected KYC steps, researched interface patterns, and presented options for the wider design team to review and vote on before applying a consistent direction across their respective areas.
02 — Onboarding UX/UI design
Owned the detailed user journeys, interface design, and usability testing for key onboarding stages, from login and security setup to identity verification, compliance questions, and minor consent.
03 — Cross-platform delivery
Adapted the experience for mobile and web in both light and dark modes, collaborating with the visual designer, product manager, compliance team, and engineers to align user experience with technical and regulatory requirements.
Simplifying a complex verification journey
The objective wasn't simply to reduce the number of screens. Each step served a different purpose, and some requirements could not be removed because of security or compliance. Three challenges shaped the work:
01 — Complex, interconnected journeys
Users moved between login, security setup, identity verification, and compliance checks. Each step needed to connect logically to the next.
02 — Security and regulatory requirements
Phone verification, incorrect-entry limits, identity checks, and additional documentation required clear instructions and carefully considered edge cases.
03 — Consistency across the product
Different design patterns made the experience less consistent. The team explored common design directions to improve coherence while supporting different requirements.
Design exploration
Before developing the detailed flows, I explored alternative design solutions for selected KYC stages. The aim was to identify clearer ways to present information and actions while considering existing product patterns and the constraints of crypto verification.
The process included:
UI research: Reviewed interface patterns and alternative approaches for complex verification steps.
Design exploration: Created multiple design options to address usability issues and simplify interactions.
Team evaluation: Presented alternatives to the design team and facilitated a team vote to agree on a direction.
Design alignment: Helped establish a consistent visual and interaction approach that designers could carry forward into their own areas.
Key journeys I designed
Journey 01 — Login & account security
Designed the initial account-access experience, including login, two-factor authentication setup, verification, SMS codes, PIN creation, biometric authentication, and related consent forms.
Design focus
Connect account access and security steps into a coherent flow.
Make verification and security actions clear.
Consider the different states and outcomes involved in authentication.
Journey 02 — Verification introduction
Designed the introduction that explains why verification is required, what documents users need to prepare, and how verification levels affect their ability to trade.
Design focus
Explain requirements before users begin.
Make verification levels and their implications easier to understand.
Help users make informed decisions about whether to continue.
Journey 03 — Verification method selection
Designed the decision point between two verification routes: in-person Dip Chip verification at a participating service counter such as 7-Eleven, or online document upload.
Design focus
Explain the differences between the available methods.
Help users choose a route that suits their circumstances.
Make the transition into each route clear.
Journey 04 — Phone verification & security edge cases
Designed phone verification, including hCaptcha and the different outcomes triggered by incorrect entries.
Design focus
Provide clear feedback for successful and unsuccessful attempts.
Account for retry limits and account-freeze conditions.
Make security-related errors understandable without exposing sensitive system details.
Journey 05 — Compliance questions
Designed compliance questions covering family or political and government connections, direct-benefit declarations, and disability-related information, with additional document requirements when applicable.
Design focus
Present sensitive questions clearly and neutrally.
Make conditional requirements easier to understand.
Map the different responses to the appropriate next steps.
Journey 06 — Minor consent & additional forms
Designed the minor-related flow for users under 18, including the requirement to upload a document to confirm permission to trade, along with associated forms and consent.
Design focus
Explain when parental documentation is needed.
Make document submission and consent requirements clear.
Maintain consistency with the wider verification experience.
Outcome
The experience was designed across mobile and web, with light and dark modes. This meant considering not only the visual presentation, but also how the same flow remained understandable and consistent across different interfaces.
I worked with the visual designer, product manager, compliance team, and engineers to align design decisions with the requirements of the product and its implementation.
"This project strengthened my ability to design within complex, regulated user journeys, where usability, security, and technical constraints must work together. It also taught me the importance of establishing shared design direction across a team, while taking ownership of specific journeys and collaborating closely with product, compliance, and engineering."
