GeckoCon - The Decentralized Future: Optimizing User Experiences in DeFi

YGG co-founder Beryl Li joins Web3 pioneers from the Philippines to speak about making experiences in crypto more user-friendly.

YGG co-founder Beryl Li joins Web3 pioneers from the Philippines to speak about making experiences in crypto more user-friendly. 

GeckoCon - The Decentralized Future is a digital conference that brings Web3 builders and entrepreneurs together to showcase the potential of decentralization in various sectors like the creative economy, finance, governance and business. In this panel titled “Banking the Unbanked,” GeckoCon rounded up panelists involved in the DeFi and Web3 gaming space in emerging markets. 

Angelo Kalaw is part of the Research and Innovation Circle at the Celo Foundation, where he leads global pilots that develop use cases and catalyze wider adoption and development on the Celo ecosystem. 

Ian Estrada is the CEO and co-founder at XLD Finance, with over 10 years of experience running strategy, product, and commercial teams in the telecommunications and fintech sectors. He is also a pioneer in the digital microcredit space in Southeast Asia.

YGG co-founder Beryl Li sits down with fellow Web3 builders who are at the forefront of creating blockchain-powered products to discuss how to optimize services in crypto and make the technology integrate seamlessly into our daily lives. The panel discussion was moderated by Leah Callon-Butler from Emfarsis.

The following is an excerpt from the discussion. Catch the full panel here. 

GeckoCon 2022: Banking the Unbanked

Leah (37:03): Angelo, what sort of phones were the female entrepreneurs part of your program using?

Angelo (37:11): I do think a key differentiator for Celo is our prioritization for a mobile-first approach, and it has become an access point, and we cater to a wide range of mobile phones from the advanced ones like iPhone and Samsung to lower-end ones. Even the mobile wallet we use is optimized for environments with lower internet connectivity as well as low-end hardware. 

My experience has also been that it's less about the technology and more about the cultural relationship of the user with their mobile phones. Same with the Philippines, you do have a segment that is very phone savvy, but you also have a segment of the population — and this has a high overlap with [those who are] unbanked — whose relationship with their mobile phone is really basic, like for social media, sending messages, and so bringing them to a segment where they see their mobile phones as a digital wallet is itself a game changer that needs studying, and we are still integrating on that. 

To my mind, the technology will always catch up, but the more fundamental question for Web3 builders is how do we change that relationship with people and their mobile phones.

Leah (39:15): How has it been for you, Beryl? I know mobile gaming has been incredibly popular in the Philippines, but what is it like for your guild members who are also playing these games and cashing out?

Beryl (39:27): When a lot of our members cash out, they use a lot of applications like PDAX or Bloom to be able to cash out in the Philippines, and this is also the same in other emerging markets like India and Latin America. But I do have an opinion about these applications. 

So with DeFi, the engineers that have built DeFi have not optimized for user experience and user interface, which is why a lot of these platforms are web-based. But to penetrate our day-to-day consumer experiences, that would have to be mobile-friendly, real applications. And to be able to be really successful and to make online applications famous, these apps need to look like GCash or Coins.ph. 

If you are doing remittances, the people remitting don’t care whether they are paying with Bitcoin or Ether. What they care about is, “I send money, and I want the other person to receive exactly the same amount I have sent them.” The foreign exchange rate should actually be cheaper as well. And that is the user experience people are looking for, and a lot of DeFi platforms still need to improve on that experience. 

You can watch the full panel on CoinGecko. 

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