MARK BERLADYN
CRYPTO EXCHANGE
FINTECH
PRODUCT DESIGNER
2021 — 2023
Dex-Trade
Three problems found, three solutions shipped — KYC drop-off, first-time deposits, and listing automation.
20%
6%
KYC drop-off rate
11.3%
27.8%
First-time deposits
Weeks
1 day
Listing process
CONTEXT
No system.
No ownership.
Start from zero.
I joined Dex-Trade with no design system, no component library, and no clear product ownership over UX. The first thing I did was audit the interface — buttons had three different styles, inputs were inconsistent across pages, every element was coded from scratch instead of reused.
Before touching any user-facing problem, I built the design system from zero: components, variants, auto-layout, design tokens via Tokens Studio, documented in Storybook, integrated directly with frontend developers.
That foundation made everything that came next possible.
PROBLEM 01
KYC
drop-off
A task came in: figure out why users weren't completing KYC verification. Passing KYC unlocked higher limits and key features — so low completion was directly hurting the business.
I started with the numbers: 20% of users who started KYC weren't finishing it. Then I looked at heatmaps, device breakdown, competitor flows. Then I did it myself.
"I felt uncomfortable. The process had no visible end — no progress indicator, no sense of how many steps remained."
I talked to colleagues who had gone through KYC. Nobody had complaints about errors — but nobody was enthusiastic either. "Boring." "Did it, whatever." The pattern wasn't frustration — it was disengagement.
01
Progress bar across all steps
Users could see exactly where they were and how much remained — no more guessing.
02
Friendly copy, not bureaucratic
Replaced "ATTACH PASSPORT PAGES 1-2" with human language that explains, not threatens.
03
Explanation screen before verification
A screen before the process explaining why KYC protects their account — not just threatening limits.
KYC Before
KYC Affter
PROBLEM 02
First-time deposits
The exchange was running airdrop campaigns — giving away tokens to attract new users. It worked for acquisition: 600K+ registered users. But only ~60K had ever funded their wallet. A 10× gap.
I registered a fresh account and followed the flow. After registration — you land on the homepage. Same page you came from. No guidance, no next step.
The exchange had hundreds of features — crypto games, trading tournaments, rare coins, a debit card — but none of it was visible or accessible to a new user with zero balance.
I couldn't run user interviews — budget constraints. So I worked with marketing, the founder, and the sales team. Mapped what mattered to each type of user. Then designed two solutions simultaneously.
NEW USER REGISTRATION SCREEN
11.3%
27.8%
First-time deposit rate. One screen added after registration — three deposit options, skippable, with a clear explanation of value.
INACTIVE USER DASHBOARD
~1% reactivation
But the marketing banner had a 70% click rate among visitors who saw it. The dashboard didn't change habits — but the interruption worked.
"Users build a path through a product and follow it — even if something better appears. The banner worked because it interrupted the pattern."
— Insight from the dashboard experiment
PROBLEM 03
Listing
automation
The exchange listed new cryptocurrencies through direct back-and-forth between sales managers and token project teams. Weeks of emails, negotiations, document exchange. Manual, slow, unscalable.
I worked with the sales team and marketing to map the full listing process — every step, every bottleneck, every document. Then designed an automated flow: token projects apply directly through a structured form, submit required documents, go through verification, get listed.
Sales team reviews and approves — without managing individual conversations.
NEW USER REGISTRATION SCREEN
Weeks
1 day
End-to-end listing time. Fully automated from application to verification to approval.
WHAT I LEARNED
01
Simple interventions beat complex ones. A progress bar and friendlier copy cut KYC drop-off by 70%. One screen after registration doubled deposit conversion.
01
Honest results matter more than good-looking ones. The dashboard had low reactivation — but revealed a real insight about habit and interruption that changed how I think about onboarding.
01
A design system isn't a deliverable — it's infrastructure. Without it, nothing that came after would have been possible at the pace we moved.