Coinchange. Crypto high yield platform
Coinchange is a Toronto-based crypto yield platform that makes DeFi accessible to everyday users and institutions. The platform lets people deposit crypto or fiat and earn compounding returns through algorithmically managed yield strategies across multiple DeFi protocols and blockchains.
I led product design across the desktop platform and native mobile apps for iOS and Android, managing both an internal design team and an outsourced design team.
Problem
DeFi yield farming in 2020 and 2021 was a wild west. Users had to manually evaluate protocols, understand liquidity pools, manage gas fees, and constantly rebalance positions across chains. The people who stood to benefit most from high yield returns were the same people least equipped to navigate that complexity.
Coinchange started as a crypto brokerage and was pivoting into yield, which meant the product needed to serve two very different jobs: a trading account for buying and selling crypto with fiat on/off ramps, and an earn account that abstracted away all the DeFi mechanics behind a clean, trust-building interface.
The challenge was making something that felt as familiar as a savings account while being powered by sophisticated multi-protocol yield strategies under the hood. On mobile, the constraints were even tighter. Users needed to check balances, track daily compounding, and move funds between accounts in moments, not minutes.
My role
I led the design across both platforms from the ground up, coordinating an internal team and an outsourced design team to ship consistently across web and mobile.
On the desktop platform, I designed the core experience: onboarding and KYC flows, the trade account for fiat deposits and crypto purchases, and the high yield earn account where users could track daily compounding returns. A key design decision was separating the trading and earning experiences into distinct mental models while keeping the transitions between them seamless. Users needed to understand they were moving money, not just clicking between tabs.
For mobile, I led the design of native iOS and Android apps that brought the full Coinchange experience to a smaller screen without dumbing it down. The earn account needed to communicate trust and growth at a glance: daily yield accruals, portfolio performance, and clear deposit and withdrawal flows.
Across both platforms, I focused heavily on making DeFi invisible. No protocol names in the UI, no gas fee warnings, no wallet addresses. Just a clear picture of what you have, what you're earning, and how to put more in or take it out
Outcomes
The platform shipped across web, iOS, and Android as a cohesive product that let users go from fiat deposit to earning yield in minutes. Coinchange's Earn product became the company's flagship offering and has now been running for over four years, evolving into the institutional-grade Yield-as-a-Service infrastructure that powers their current B2B API business.
The design system and product patterns I established across desktop and mobile became the foundation that the company still builds on as they've expanded into API integrations, vault widgets, and white-label solutions for fintech partners. The mobile apps brought the full trading and earning experience to a format that felt native and trustworthy, not like a shrunken web dashboard.
By abstracting away the DeFi complexity and focusing on clarity and confidence in every interaction, the product helped Coinchange build a user base that trusted the platform with their funds through multiple market cycles, including the 2022 crash that took down several competing CeFi yield platforms.
