Led design for Wealthsimple’s crypto staking feature, empowering clients to earn rewards on select coins.
Lead Designer
Fintech
~ 6 months
Challenge
In order to better position it's self as a viable crypto platform, Wealthsimple acknowledged one key feature missing in its toolkit—Staking.
Approach
As design lead, I started by partnering with UXR to conduct generative research with active crypto traders to understand what clients needed to feel confident. The synthesized insights were then mapped into a clear content strategy (Content strategist) then leveraged (myself) to create a phased development plan. To meet both business and regulatory goals, we introduced a pre-staking education flow, surfaced risk and reward information early, and ensured that clients acknowledged risks before engaging. The flow also included context-aware layouts, currency toggles, and support for nuanced staking states (e.g., partial stakes, pending rewards).
Outcomes
The product launched in beta and gained traction through to public launch: 18% of eligible clients opted into staking (with a 7.6% opt-in for ETH), and clients staked 95% of their SOL holdings on average. Wealthsimple generated new revenue through its share of staking rewards, while support volume remained low — indicating a well-calibrated experience. The project also laid a foundation for future crypto initiatives.
Conclusion
This project reinforced the value of education, clarity, and trust-building—especially in fintech and crypto. By prioritizing client understanding and risk transparency, we created an experience that felt approachable, even in a high-complexity space. It was also a great example of how content and interaction design work hand-in-hand to reduce risk and increase adoption.
