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If good UX is like driving auto, Web3 is ‘driving stick’ — UX designers

July 13, 2023 Coin Telegraph

0xDesigner

The high stakes of crypto applications mean developers often need to prioritize security — but that comes at the cost of poor user experience.

The current Web3 user experience (UX) is akin to driving a manual transmission car — there’s more control, but most users will find it unnecessarily clunky, according to several UX designers.

Over the years, discussion around mainstream adoption of Web3 has centered around the need to improve crypto’s user experience and “ease of use.”

However, in a July 12 tweet, Web3 UI/UX designer 0xDesigner argued that certain properties of blockchain make it challenging to build easy-to-use Web2-like applications.

Web2 vs Web3 UX

I was asked by a reporter from a crypto publication about the disparity between web2 and web3 UX. It’s a meaningful line of questioning that isn't covered enough. So I’m going to share some half-baked thoughts in hopes that it triggers more discourse.

Why is…
— 0xDesigner (@0xDesigner) July 12, 2023

According to 0XDesigner, one of the main issues with cryptocurrency applications is that every action is “irreversible” — there’s no “undo button” on the blockchain and mistakes are expensive. They added:

“Think of it this way: Web2 is like driving an automatic car. It’s straightforward; you get in, press the pedal and off you go. Web3, on the other hand, is more like driving stick.

“You need to understand the gears, the clutch and constantly monitor the tachometer; otherwise, you’ll damage the transmission or stall the car,” they added.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, 0xDesigner argued most of the “broader population” may not even care about the sovereignty (control and ownership) that blockchain offers.

The Web3 UX paradox

Thomas Ling, a former user interface (UI) designer for blockchain tech firm Immutable and Web2 gaming studio Riot Games, told Cointelegraph that UI is typically more simple in Web2 because with Web3, ownership and control are vested with the user.

While this makes Web3 unique, it adds more complications on the backend, Ling explained:

“Where a Web2 app may only need to show one step out of five, a Web3 app needs to show all five in order for a user to achieve an action and retain the value proposition of Web3.”

Because of this, Web3 UI/ UX designers are “limited” in the way that they can make “magic” happen in creating an easy-to-use application, explained Ling.

Got me thinking about UX/UI in crypto, oh and GM pic.twitter.com/ayEIbWQPDg
— irena (@irena_clarke) July 4, 2023

Ling said this is particularly challenging when product teams are faced with making design decisions with tradeoffs:

“It’s a bit of a paradox — by making Web3 flows simpler, we have to take away some control from the user, which starts to take away from the point of Web3.”

0xDesigner believes another problem lies in the lack of priority given to user experience in Web3 projects.

“From what I’ve seen, most product teams are engineering driven. The designer-to-developer ratios are lower than in Web2. That usually results in more technical solutions.”

This could be because of the high stakes in Web3, especially regarding financial applications, meaning that more staff will be focused on security and error prevention.

0xDesigner believes mass adoption of Web3 will come when there’s a truly useful application of it, like gaming and music.

“The adoption problem is usefulness first, not usability. It needs to be a good game or good music. I don’t think it will matter that it’s Web3.”

Cryptocurrency applications should also “feel invisible,” they added.

“I think the next crypto cycle will be driven by consumer apps that are powered by crypto, but users won’t know it’s crypto unless they look closely.”

In a contrasting view, Messari CEO Ryan Selkis downplayed the problem of UX/UI on adoption during a July 11 Twitter Spaces.

Just under 1 hour until our next On the Road to #Mainnet2023 Spaces! Join @twobitidiot, @bloomberg_seth & @mikeykremer as they dive into current crypto product solutions and their usefulness.

https://t.co/StNxv2kOoG pic.twitter.com/DzS8Vuxasg
— Messari (@MessariCrypto) July 11, 2023

“The wallets are fine, there’s definitely some things to be desired [...] but it’s really a lot of the off-chain, social and regulatory things that cloud long term adoption.

Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.

Magazine: Web3 Gamer: Apple to fix gaming? SEC hates Metaverse, Logan Paul trolled on Steam

‘Bad batch’ or flawed design? Compass Mining flags problems with new ASIC miners

March 10, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Aluminium

The Bitcoin mining company is stumped as to why Bitmain changed the design of the S19 Antminers.

Bitcoin mining company Compass Mining claims to have found “three issues” in the ASIC design of the two new Antminer S19 miners, units that are primarily used to mine Bitcoin (BTC).

These issues could result in the machines overheating and in some cases, completely breaking down.

The firm’s mining operations team warned in its Mar. 6 post that “Miners need to be ready,” particularly those who purchased the S19 90T and S19 XP Antminers manufactured from 2022 onwards.

Bitmain changed its ASIC design. Miners need to be readyhttps://t.co/cs8z96lR1L pic.twitter.com/2NN4O3sEfP
— Will Foxley (@wsfoxley) March 7, 2023

While the firm stated that “other versions could be affected as well,” the three flaws the firm identified stemmed from a lack of a peripheral interface controller (PIC) on units, the implementation of aluminum plating instead of laminate material, and the bunching up components onto just one side of the board.

According to Compass Mining, peripheral interface controllers, or PICs, are used to control and monitor a range of devices and systems across all sorts of electronics. In ASICs, they’re used to interface with hashboards individually, rather than addressing them as one unit.

This, however, has been removed in the most recent design, said the firm.

“In ASICs, a PIC sits at the top of a hashboard and allows each hashboard to be spoken to individually. Without it, you have to address the unit as one unit, instead of three hashboards.”

Compass Mining explained that this lack of PIC means that should one hashboard fail, the entire unit “fails completely.”

“Instead, a miner fails completely. We’ve found this to be the case with our S19 XP 141 TH units, which have failed completely when only one board is having issues.”

*The red dot in the center represents the PIC, which was present on older models S19 Antminers. Source:* *Compass Mining.*

The mining company also said that by implementing aluminum plating on the hashboard, it may overheat and therefore lead to a higher “failure rate” than those built on printed circuit boards (PCBs) — which is what the old S19s were built on.

This would lead to “higher servicing needs,” the company said.

Meanwhile, the company has also raised concerns about the mining unit’s transition to aluminum, referring to it as “net negative.”

“We view the design decision to swap to aluminum-plating on hashboards as a net negative–one that will increase ASIC failure and underhashing while increasing service and maintenance costs,” it wrote.

The firm also explained that the presence of the aluminum would make it more difficult to replace malfunctioning chips:

“The lack of a PIC is compounded by the abrupt change to aluminum-plates on all hashboards. If a board overheats because of the aluminum's heat dispersion properties, then the entire unit will go down instead of just one board.”

Compass Mining said they first realized the drop in performance when they deployed the S19 XP at its Texas partner facility — which could have been impacted by humidity and heat.

As for the third issue, the firm noted that by implementing the aluminium plating without changing the chassis — the base frame of the ASIC — would also contribute to the higher failure rates.

Because aluminium is very heat emissive, the metal will cause “convective heating” inside the chassis, the firm explained, before proposing some solutions:

“A solution to this in an air-cooled environment would be to increase the mass air flow sufficiently to dissipate the heat stored within the miner – a different design or stronger fans.”

Other possible solutions proposed by the firm include finding third-party firmware that allows the frequency and voltage of the machine to maintain reasonable temperature and humidity levels in order to get more longevity out of the mining machines.

*Some of the latest S19s do not have a PIC on each hashboard of the ASIC. Source:* *Compass Mining.*

The firm did however acknowledge that they may have just gotten a “bad batch” from Bitmain, noting it is “common knowledge” in Bitcoin mining not to buy the first batch of Bitcoin ASICs.

“Unknown errors are often only revealed over time, so it's best to have others find them out first,” it said.

Cointelegraph reached out to Bitmain for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Bitmain Antminers have been used to mine proof-of-work cryptocurrencies such as BTC, Dogecoin (DOGE) and Litecoin (LTC).

Solana CEO hoses down claims network outages caused by on-chain voting

February 28, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Anatoly Yakovenko

Solana Labs founder and CEO Anatoly Yakovenko said claims that Solana's network outages were caused by on-chain voting were born out of "pure ignorance."

Anatoly Yakovenko, the founder and CEO of Solana Labs has downplayed claims that Solana's network outages were being caused by a high volume of validator messages and its on-chain voting system clogging its consensus layer.

While the Solana Foundation confirmed in a Feb. 27 post that the “root cause” of the recent 20-hour network outage is still not clear, the CEO responded to speculation that Solana’s decision to include on-chain votes as transactions is a “massive design flaw” that has led to its many outages.

The controversial thread in question was posted by Twitter user DBCryptoX earlier on Feb. 27 days after Solana's 20-hour network outage, suggesting that the high volume of validator messages and on-chain votes were clogging the network.

1/Yesterday #Solana had another 20 hour outage

Just one of about a dozen times the ⛓️ has gone down. But why?

All part of a massive design flaw that I will try to break down in this

So let’s get into it… pic.twitter.com/KmeUPnnlZJ
— DBCryptoX ⚡️ (@DBCrypt0) February 26, 2023

However, Yankovenko in a response Tweet some 20 minutes later called the theory as coming from “pure ignorance.”

In short, he explained that the votes — which are part of a “single giant quorum” — contribute to provide an “exceptional level of security and high throughput and low fees” simultaneously.

Why are votes transactions? Every thread that I've seen that talks about this comes form pure ignorance.

Classic BFT consensus requires quadratic messaging overhead.

The more nodes you have in the same quorum, the part of the network that agrees on the state, the more messages… https://t.co/8lOhICb8mn
— toly (@aeyakovenko) February 27, 2023

However, Yakovenko didn’t exactly refute DBCryptoX’s claim that 90-95% of transactions on Solana comprise these validator messages and on-chain votes, which, DBCryptoX suggests has helped “bog down the system.”

*DBCryptoX claims that validator messages and on-chain votes are clogging up the Solana network. Source: Twitter.*

DBCryptoX also claimed that the network outages were last 20 hours because it takes considerable time for validators to meet and reach a consensus (and thus a solution) using off-chain means, such as a messaging system like Discord.

Many commentators on DBCryptoX's initial post also appear to have disagreed with their theory.

Software engineer Alex Kroeger of Solana-powered Wallet Phantom said that there is likely no singular cause of the network outages and that validators of proof-of-stake systems need a lot of network communication to achieve validation.

While the network officially restarted on late Feb. 25, it appears as though members of the cryptocurrency community are getting tired of the frequent network outages on Solana.

Cointelegraph reached out to Solana Labs for comment but didn't receive a response by the time of publication.

Design

The Web3 UX paradox

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