Been meaning to dive into Reown’s 2025 *State of Onchain UX* report for a minute, and finally did. It’s long. It’s data-rich. It’s got great charts. And while I vibe with a bunch of it, there are some claims I can’t quite get behind without raising a brow. Here’s the breakdown of what stood out (and what didn’t) 👇 🧵 TL;DR: Reown teamed up with Nansen and YouGov to map out the state of the onchain user experience across wallets, apps, chains, and behaviors. The survey includes over 1,000 active crypto users (mostly from the US and UK), spanning all experience levels—from fresh Newbies to onchain Veterans. They merged this qualitative feedback with @reown_ + @WalletConnect connection data and @nansen_ai’s wallet analytics to surface macro trends around wallet usage, adoption, pain points, and what users think is coming next. Here's what I liked 👇 1. The Multi-Wallet Reality Is Real Nearly 62% of users reported using more than one wallet, and the main culprit was obvious, interoperability issues. Makes sense. Today’s multichain jungle forces us to use different wallets for different chains. Binance Smart Chain? Probably Trust. EVMs? Likely MetaMask. Solana? Phantom or Backpack. Add gaming and NFTs into the mix and the stack gets messy AF...and fast. 2. Mobile Wallets Still Dominate, But Hardware Is Back Mobile remains the preferred form factor, but there’s an uptick in hardware wallet interest, especially from older users and security-focused personas like Farmers and Socialites. This echoes what we’ve been seeing: rising phishing attacks (21% of users hit) and the general uptick in onchain risk are nudging people to secure long-term capital better. 3. Wallet Brand Consolidation Is Inevitable The more experienced a user is, the more likely they are to consolidate around a handful of brands, Binance, Coinbase Wallet, Trust, MetaMask. It’s a sign of maturity and risk aversion, but also tells us wallet switching is real early in a user’s lifecycle. 4. Appchains, Base, and Specialization The report’s analysis on chain specialization is spot-on. Ethereum is still the settlement layer, Solana is eating high-frequency trading, Base is becoming the app lab, and BNB Chain is the centralized highway. Users aren’t really thinking in terms of “which L1 is best” anymore, they’re jumping in and out of chains based on use case. Where I disagree or found a missing nuance 👇 1. Onboarding Isn’t Solved Yet Only 11% of users claimed onboarding needed improvement, but this felt misleading. The data comes from already-active users in mature markets (US/UK), so of course they find onboarding fine. But anyone who's helped a friend set up their first wallet knows it’s still a nightmare. The friction from seed phrases, gas fees, and the mental model of self-custody still scares off most normies. Onboarding isn’t solved, it’s just tolerable to insiders in my opinion. 2. Interoperability Isn’t Just a Chain Problem The report suggests wallet fragmentation is mostly due to cross-chain UX challenges. That’s part of it. But security compartmentalization (keeping DeFi separate from NFTs, for instance), different browser extensions, and user behavior (creating temp wallets for airdrops or farming) all add to the bloat. To me it’s a broader UX problem, not just a tech stack one. 3. Governance Participation Is Low...well...for Good Reason Only 6% of users participated in governance. The report frames this as a lack of awareness or engagement. But there’s a deeper issue: current governance feels performative. Most votes are rubber stamps. Voting power is overly concentrated. And the UX of even participating is clunky. It’s not just about making governance more visible, it’s about making it meaningful. 4. Social Wallets: Low Retention, High Influence I liked the nuance here: social wallets (e.g., Magic, Venly) are driving UX innovation but have low long-term retention. That’s accurate. What could’ve been expanded is their role as UX sandboxes. Features like Passkeys, gasless UX, and seamless onboarding often get tested here first, then migrate to more mainstream wallets. They’re still crucial for the UX playbook, even if they don’t win in TVL. 5. Security Confidence Is Up… But Is It Real? 69% of users say they feel safe onchain, up from 50.5% last year. But phishing is up too. I’m skeptical that this boost in confidence means we’ve “solved” security, it may just mean users are more confident in their risk management habits, not the systems themselves. Until blind signing is fixed and smart wallet adoption improves, we’re still vulnerable. My quick closing thoughts 👀 It’s easy to miss how much room there is for improvement, especially around onboarding, wallet sprawl, and governance. We’re not there yet. The next wave of UX tooling needs to build for the mid-curve user who doesn’t care about chains, wallets, or fees, they just want things to work and enjoy the benefits. That’s the gap. And that’s the opportunity.