From Chaos to Clarity: A Journey of Blockchain Payments
About eight months ago, I set out to solve the problems of making blockchain payments usable in the real world.
The vision? To create a unified payment system for everyone. by everyone, I mean crypto and non-crypto users. It’s weird to even have this distinction, right? No user care about the technology or underlying mechanism. They care about only two things:
What advantages does it offer over alternatives?
How simple it is for them to use?
Since I finished studies and stepped into the real world, all I’ve been fascinated by blockchain. It fits perfectly with my deep rooted rebellious coder mind because of the freedom and control it gives. Everything works on proof, logic, and transparency. and I never looked back since then.
We all know crypto is money of modern digital world. we’re all working towards making it happen.
The Mess We’ve Made
Initially, we started with idea of preparing blockchain to handle world transactions and building blockchain applications.But doing so has brought a whole new problems that now we have so many chains and tokens, and the users are stuck figuring out how to move money between chains just to use basic applications. Its frustrating, Sometimes we even drop the thing we wanted to do.
On top of that, crypto has turned into a way to “make money out of money”. It’s less about usability and more about speculation. Finally we’ve started to look for ways to spend fat crypto money in real world.
I remember the old days when we’d exchange cash for crypto with OTC traders, using serial numbers on banknote. and then go with that same banknote to collect cash. Sure, rates were crazy, but who cared when you are earning in crypto? Fast forward to today, and we’ve got crypto debit cards. They are convenient, but they charge huge fees- exchange fees plus traditional card processing fees. For me, this goes against everything blockchain stands for: freedom, control, cutting out middleman.
Infrastructure Inversion
I remembered the first ever blockchain talk I have given in one Conference. Infrastructure Inversion- I explained that the traditional systems and disrupting technologies often coexists for a while before new tech takes over. These crypto cards feels like we are in that phase. They are bridge between old and new systems. but they don’t capture real ethos of blockchain.
That said, its not something we can avoid. We’ve created so much chaos trying to make blockchain usable that it feels like we’re still in the early days. At the same time, we’ve already solved major technical problems. Now it’s just about wrapping it up and making it ready for regular users.
Because honestly, No one cares about whether something is centralised or decentralised, what chain its on, fee tokens etc. People just wants to benefit from real potential of blockchain
Buy and sell tokens
Earns APYs
Pay and accept payments without giving away chunk of their money in fees.
Is it too much to offer? not at all. its basic.
The Lightbulb Moment
Over the past few months, we have been exploring how to shape a system that’s simple for everyone. And there was already a a great example right in front of us: India’s UPI( Unified payment Interface)
UPI is a unified payment solution for inter-bank transactions. It powers multiple app, each offering seamless experience. Despite literacy challenge in India, almost everyone uses UPI for everyday payments. Whether its p2p transfers, or small business, a simple QR code or UPI-ID get the job done. Payment happens in few clicks, and even small transactions are gone digital- from big cities to ruler areas.
I see this as a perfect solution to fit on blockchain- A unified interface for everything. Pay a friend, pay at a store, shop online, or use dApps- all with the same simplicity.
So, What’s Holding Us Back?
Blockchain is inherently global. Users already have full custody of assets, phrases/ Privates keys are already interoperable with wallets. So why aren’t we there yet?
I will be stating obvious if i say the fragmented ecosystem. but its true.
We have made good progress with chain-abstraction protocols and account abstracted wallets. but I see everywhere, everyone is just too focused on complex tech problems. Developers are expected to build their apps around these overly complex solution instead of focusing on figuring out their core problems.
Our Approach
We’ve decided to focus on blockchain payments as our niche. The idea is to design a system so simple that apps can send and receive crypto without worrying about specific chains or tokens.
What do you think? How do you see blockchain payments evolving?