Decentrabnb

DecentraBNB

Crypto travel app designed so people new to wallets can book stays, pay, and find places to spend their tokens. Won Most Innovative Project Utility at Crypto Expo Dubai 2022.

Timeline

February - Oct 2022

Role

UX designer

Type

Contract Project

Collaborators

2 software engineer

The context

My role

Research

Wallet

Local discovery

Designing trust

Outcome & reflection

The context

DBNB was a peer-to-peer travel app that let users book vacation homes and pay with cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the platform’s own DBNB token. The founder brought the idea to Nilasoft, a software company where I worked as the sole UX designer. The goal was ambitious: design and ship iOS and Android apps within 8 months, then demo a working product at Crypto Expo Dubai 2022. We did both. The apps launched on both platforms and were showcased at the expo.

This case study covers the guest side of DBNB. The app shut down in 2023,

so it's reconstructed from my original design files, prototypes, and project documentation.

This case study covers the guest side of DBNB. The app shut down in 2023,

so it's reconstructed from my original design files, prototypes, and project documentation.

This case study covers the guest side of DBNB. The app shut down in 2023,

so it's reconstructed from my original design files, prototypes, and project documentation.

My role

I owned the product design from start to finish. I joined stakeholder meetings to turn the initial idea into a clear scope, then translated it into wireframes for approval and worked with developers to estimate the work. I built the design tokens and customized native iOS and Android components to create a consistent experience across both platforms.

We worked in sprints, moving quickly from design to development. As soon as I finished a flow, developers picked it up while I moved on to the next. I prototyped and tested each flow before handoff, then reviewed every build to catch and resolve design issues before release.

I built the design tokens and customized native iOS and Android components to create a consistent experience across both platforms.

0→1

MVP Scoping

iOS + Android

Cross-Functional Collaboration

0→1

MVP Scoping

iOS + Android

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Insights that shaped the design

There wasn’t time for in-depth research, so I leaned on two sources. The marketing team had already researched the audience, and I built on their reports. For my own secondary research, I read crypto articles from UX communities and went through what people were saying about crypto apps in App Store reviews and online comments. Three insights kept coming up, and each one shaped a part of the app.

Sending crypto feels risky, even for experts

One wrong address and the money is gone, with no bank to call and no undo. New users and experienced holders were equally careful about it. People wanted to pay with crypto but hesitated when it came to moving it.

People want to spend crypto, but can’t tell who accepts it

In a June 2022 Paysafe survey of 3,000 crypto holders, 80% wanted to pay for goods with crypto but were held back by a lack of acceptance. Finding out who accepts crypto meant guessing, or digging through websites and maps.

With no platform in the middle, nobody bear the risk

Renting from a stranger is risky, and on most platforms the company carries that risk by checking people, running the process, and stepping in when something goes wrong. DBNB had no one in the middle, so the product had to do those jobs itself.

A wallet built to prevent mistakes

Since sending crypto felt risky, the wallet’s job was to make mistakes hard to make. I scoped it to what travelers actually needed, topping up and paying for a stay, and left everything else out. Then I worked on three things:

Familiar patterns. The wallet looks and behaves like the banking apps people already use. Travel is stressful enough without learning a new interface.
Plain explanations. Every transaction shows its status in simple words. Where a crypto term couldn’t be avoided, a short description sits right next to it.
Nothing extra on screen. Wallet addresses and QR codes only appear when someone needs them.

Trade-off: In an MVP there was no room to invent new patterns, so I didn’t try to. Familiar was the safer choice for trust anyway.

Familiar patterns. The wallet looks and behaves like the banking apps people already use. Travel is stressful enough without learning a new interface.
Plain explanations. Every transaction shows its status in simple words. Where a crypto term couldn’t be avoided, a short description sits right next to it.
Nothing extra on screen. Wallet addresses and QR codes only appear when someone needs them.

Trade-off: In an MVP there was no room to invent new patterns, so I didn’t try to. Familiar was the safer choice for trust anyway.

Local discovery: showing where crypto works

People had crypto to spend and nowhere obvious to spend it, so we extended the app beyond stays. The Businesses section lists verified restaurants, cafés, and local services near the traveler’s destination.

Each listing shows the tokens it accepts, its location, a description, its social accounts, and reviews from other users. In an unfamiliar city, that social proof gives people the confidence to walk in.

Trade-off: We wanted listings to do more, like paying a restaurant deposit or buying tickets with crypto. That would have doubled the scope, so we cut it from the MVP.

Designing trust without a middleman

With no platform in the middle, I designed the product to cover the three jobs a middleman usually does:

Know who you’re dealing with. Every host and guest went through identity verification (KYC).
Somewhere to go if it goes wrong. A support ticketing system inside the app.
A process you can rely on. Every booking moves through the same five steps: waiting for host approval, ready to pay, booked, staying, and finished. Each step says what’s happening and what comes next. The host approves before the traveler pays, and cancellation rules show up before anyone commits.

The host approves before the traveler pays, and cancellation rules show up before anyone commits.

With no platform in the middle, I designed the product to cover the three jobs a middleman usually does:

Know who you’re dealing with. Every host and guest went through identity verification (KYC).
Somewhere to go if it goes wrong. A support ticketing system inside the app.
A process you can rely on. Every booking moves through the same five steps: waiting for host approval, ready to pay, booked, staying, and finished. Each step says what’s happening and what comes next. The host approves before the traveler pays, and cancellation rules show up before anyone commits.

The host approves before the traveler pays, and cancellation rules show up before anyone commits.

Know who you're dealing with

Somewhere to go if it goes wrong

A process you can rely on

What happened & what stuck

The app launched on both stores on schedule, and we demoed it live at Crypto Expo Dubai in October 2022, where it won the Most Innovative Project Utility award. I kept iterating for the next five months, using input from customer support and marketing reports, until I left the project to move to Canada.

Most Innovative Project Utility award, Crypto Expo Dubai 2022

The biggest lesson came from the pace. Developers picked up every flow as soon as I finished it, so any gap in my files turned into a question and cost time. I started annotating my files with sticky notes covering spacing, states, and edge cases, so developers never had to guess. The questions dropped, and I’ve prepared every handoff this way since.