Why Crypto Still Struggles with Usability – and What Users Are Missing

Crypto has come a long way in terms of infrastructure, capital, and innovation. But one fundamental issue remains: usability. Especially in DeFi, even experienced users still face unnecessary friction — and for newcomers, the barrier is often too high.

Take Aave as an example. It’s one of the most established lending platforms in the ecosystem — and still, it falls short when it comes to guiding users and reducing risks.

What Works: Aave’s Core Functionality

At its core, Aave lets users lend or borrow crypto assets. The interface is sleek, the landing page looks clean, and basic actions like deposits and withdrawals are intuitive — for those who already know what they’re doing.

But that’s exactly the problem: the moment you step outside of the “happy path,” things get confusing. Fast.

Onboarding: A Black Hole for New Users

There’s no structured onboarding. No clear explanation of how Aave works. You land on the site, click “Launch App,” and are expected to connect your wallet immediately. What happens after that? It’s up to you to figure it out.

For users new to DeFi — or even for those with financial knowledge but no Web3 experience — this creates unnecessary risk. In traditional finance, we expect onboarding to be clear, guided, and secure. Two-factor authentication, account confirmations, and warnings are standard. In crypto, you're often one wrong click away from losing everything — with no recovery, no support, and no clarity.

Critical Gaps in Information

Aave provides interest rates, asset lists, and transaction buttons — but very little context. For example:

  • Interest Rates fluctuate constantly, but there’s no visual history or volatility range shown.
  • Collateral Ratios are mentioned but not explained clearly. How much can I borrow? What’s my liquidation threshold? What happens if markets move quickly?
  • Fees and Risks are barely visible. Users aren’t told what they’ll pay, what they might lose, or when things could go wrong.

Clicking a small “...” icon might bring up a few extra metrics — but if this data is essential, why isn’t it front and center?

Liquidations: The Hidden Elephant

One of the most severe issues is the lack of visibility around liquidations. In Aave, if your collateral falls below a certain threshold, it’s partially or fully liquidated. That’s not unusual in finance — but what is unusual is how little information is given.

There are no real-time warnings, no dashboards showing aggregate liquidation risks, no history of how often liquidations occur. And yet, this is a platform used by people managing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Aave, like many other dApps, does have the data — they just don’t share it clearly. Users are expected to monitor everything manually or use third-party dashboards. That’s not serious UX. That’s avoidance.

Who Supports the User?

Another major pain point: there is no proper user support. Even for large portfolios, you won’t get a direct line to a human. The FAQ exists, but it’s written in dev-speak and lacks visual aids or user-level guidance.

This might be acceptable for a grassroots experiment. But Aave is not a hobby project — it’s a billion-dollar protocol. And it earns fees from users. The least it could do is help them navigate the risks.

It’s also naïve to believe that these platforms are built entirely by “the community.” In reality, most major dApps are managed by small, semi-anonymous core teams. And these teams often prefer to stay in the background — legally, financially, and operationally.

Why This Matters

DeFi can only grow if people trust it. And trust isn’t built through slogans or audits alone. It’s built through clarity, safety, and a sense of control. Usability is the delivery layer for trust.

Today’s dApps often assume that their users are either devs or power users. But most of tomorrow’s users won’t be either. If protocols want adoption beyond crypto-native circles, they have to speak human — not Solidity.

Is It Complicated on Purpose?

One of the more uncomfortable truths in DeFi is this: the complexity might not just be a byproduct — it might be intentional.

Simplifying user interfaces, clarifying risks, and offering onboarding isn’t rocket science. So why isn’t it being done? Because transparency would make one thing painfully obvious: DeFi is risky, volatile, and unforgiving. And if that were communicated too clearly, it might scare away new users before they even start.

By keeping things vague, technical, and opaque, some protocols effectively shift the responsibility onto users. If you lose funds, it’s your fault — you “didn’t do your research.” The burden of due diligence gets outsourced to the individual, while the protocol enjoys the benefits of adoption without the responsibility of education.

This isn’t just a UX failure. It’s a structural choice — and one the industry needs to reckon with.

What Could Be Improved (Without Reinventing the Wheel)

  • Clear onboarding flow with wallet connection explained and next steps guided.
  • Visualized interest rate history and volatility indicators.
  • Transparent liquidation warnings and live LTV dashboards.
  • Detailed risk disclosures similar to what TradFi already offers.
  • User-friendly documentation focused on real-world use cases.
  • Basic, real human support for users managing significant capital.

Final Thoughts: Complexity Isn’t a Feature

Crypto UX isn’t just bad because it’s new. It’s bad because it hasn’t been prioritized. That’s starting to change — but slowly.

If Aave, arguably one of the most professional DeFi protocols, still falls short on usability, what does that say about the rest of the ecosystem?

It’s time to stop hiding behind “open-source = enough.” Being technically accessible is not the same as being usable. If we want crypto to be more than a niche, we need to design for the people who aren’t here yet.

Usability is how we get there.