Client: Buttons Lab

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Tools: Figma, FigJam, Google Docs, Dovetail, Survey Monkey, Notion.

Industry: Decentralized Finance (DeFi); Blockchain.

Product Overview

Non-custodial wallets are a type of cryptocurrency wallet where the users possess and control the wallets’ private keys. This means they have complete control and access to their funds. On the other hand, with custodial wallets, a third party holds and manages the user's private keys. This means, they do not have total control of their funds and cannot approve transactions at will.

Since the user is in charge of protecting their own keys and funds, non-custodial wallets provide a better level of security and privacy, but with that also comes a higher degree of responsibility because the user is also responsible for keeping their private keys secure.

Non-custodial wallets are needed when interacting with decentralized exchanges, DEXes or decentralized applications, DApps. However, with the increasing popularity of non-custodial wallets in the DeFi ecosystem, it has become increasingly important to protect users' assets from hackers and scammers. This case study will look into implementing a fraud detection and reporting system for a non-custodial wallet platform.

The Problem

Non-custodial wallets offer users ultimate control over their funds and assets. But with that comes the responsibility of keeping their assets safe, and the risk of falling victim to fraudulent activities, such as hacks and phishing attacks which could result in loss of funds.

Hence, the challenge faced by many non-custodial wallets is the ability to detect fraudulent activities, prevent them and warn users of such attempts.

Also, many users who have fallen victim to scams and hacks in the past have little or no knowledge of and access to reporting systems.

The ripple effect of this is that over time, it reduces and weakens users’ trust in such platforms, hereby affecting their credence and reputation.

What We Aim To Achieve

With this case study, we aim to understand and discover how to:

  1. Understand users’ thought processes when interacting with smart contracts using their wallets.
  2. Discover users’ challenges in identifying suspicious/safe transactions.
  3. Report suspicious/malicious transactions.
  4. Notify non-custodial wallet users of scams and phishing attempts in real-time.

Solution