Blockdaemon, VerifiedX Join Forces to Deliver Mass-Market, Self-Custodial DeFi

Crypto infrastructure provider Blockdaemon and Bitcoin sidechain VerifiedX said they are teaming up to make everyday crypto use simpler for non-technical users.

The move, which encompasses earning yield to sending money abroad, will see the same staking and blockchain infrastructure that Blockdaemon provides to banks and asset managers integrated into VerifiedX’s two consumer apps: the Switchblade self-custody wallet and the Butterfly social payments platform, according to an announcement shared with CoinDesk on Thursday.

The experience is designed to feel closer to Paypal's (PYPL) Venmo or Block's (XYZ) Cash App social payment apps than a traditional Web3 workflow. Users can earn yield on bitcoin BTC$93,047.95 and stablecoins, borrow against their holdings and access onchain credit markets without parking funds on an exchange, dealing with custodians or juggling seed phrases (the long stream of random words that users need to back up and recover their assets), the firms said.

Blockdaemon supplies the technical backbone, including node operations, staking systems and liquidity management, while VerifiedX handles the user experience, including payments, merchant transactions and simple asset transfers. The combination is meant to bring self-custodial DeFi features to people who have no interest in navigating dashboards or connecting on-chain wallets.

Crypto/DeFi/Web3 platforms often struggle with mass adoption primarily because their user experience is often clunky, complex and intimidating to the average user. due to unfamiliar concepts like wallets and seed phrases, a process that offers a steep learning curve and high risk of irreversible error.

This highlights the need for these platforms to emulate the simplicity of popular fintech apps, which hide the technical complexities of sending, receiving and managing money from the user and simplify the process to functions like email and password logins and two-factor authentication.