What do I need Cashu for? Why do I need it?
During nostr:nprofile1qqsd0f68dvf98gvs9am9dp0lu0f4r7xzu2k89rm9tt448axf5tu6wlgphpy4c Dev/Hack/Day I gave a talk on the State of Cashu Design. I'm sharing the presentation here along with a few key points.
I covered 3 common problem areas that Cashu applications face, what wallets are currently doing to address them, what we could be doing better and how Multinut Payments helps address some of these points.
Discoverability & Onboarding
One of the most common hurdles users experience when they first download a Cashu wallet is the "How do I find a mint?" question.
Some wallets that have made progress in addressing this. Cashu.me and nostr:nprofile1qqsw3u8v7rz83txuy8nc0eth6rsqh4z935fs3t6ugwc7364gpzy5psce64r7c They have a built in a mint discovery feature, the data is pulled from bitcoinmints.com. Cashu.me does a great job of keeping the discovery flow in wallet.
https://blossom.primal.net/e96d5951f877bb6e2b01614a6f4c388fcf62c001345208d2d0ddf3c78d8964bd.mp4
What could we be doing better?
Bitcoin Mints is a great resource but the current mint list display still requires significant cognitive effort on the users behalf.
Here's a design idea that could reduce that cognitive bottleneck.
Note: There is a centralization risks associated with this design. By showing a limited number of highly rated mints we could be reducing the variety of mints people are using across the Cashu ecosystem.
Rug Protection & Risk Mitigation
Another common problem users face is knowing the risks associated with a mint.
How can users make a more informed decision when picking a mint? bitcoinmints.com shows community ratings (e.g. 4.2⭐) for each mint, but is that enough?
We can combine a mint auditor https://audit.8333.space and mint swaps to increase rug protection and reduce risk.
Let's talk about the mint auditor. It provides detailed information about the performance, uptime, and reliability of Cashu mints.
Cashu.me and nostr:nprofile1qyv8wumn8ghj7cmg9ec82unsd3jhyetvv9ujucm0d5qjjamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu33xcmnvve38y6nvde3xuczuctswqh8yatwdahxvmr40qhxjmcqyq0986gqcwaut6kjj5s4al38ktydt773t7eamqgd5vrrvaxtwgfmyh20a8l have integrated the mint auditor. In Cashu.me the user can see the mint audit information in a modal before they decide to trust a mint.
https://blossom.primal.net/7fda6bb247f1bc9b8e14dca82654a1fc79233891334f3e5b646a23632d5648d3.mp4
What could we be doing better?
Combine the community reviews from bitcoinmints and the audit data from a mint auditor. This could make it easier show the user the most important info in plain english.
Next up, Mint swaps.
Mint swaps allow users to receive ecash into their trusted mint. Reducing the need to hold ecash from unknown mints. Cashu.me and Macadamia https://macadamia.cash both support mint swaps.
https://blossom.primal.net/d2590b304abeb1658f125c0a1499b8ec7902c1774b6f6932e51c61562b79cd70.mp4
Lastly, I want to talk about Multinut Payments. A feature I am very fond of and I think will play a huge role in risk mitigation in the future.
Multinut payments is still in the very early stages. http://Cashu.me is the only GUI wallet that supports it as of right now.
When making a LN payment for an amount larger than your current mint balance, Multinut Payments allow the user to pay using the balance from multiple mints.
https://blossom.primal.net/dc53789b9408c4de987f7b5b60e60deb49a26a444d9c684bbc0fd640cc9c4224.mp4
As bullish as I am on Multinut Payments, I know that the UX (right now) is not where it needs to be. If I told you that executing a Multinut payment is simple, you would be right to call me a liar.
The current user cognitive costs outweigh the benefits. Users have to manually choose mints, decide how much to send from each, and manage multiple balances. It feels like doing accounting or using an abacus just to pay an invoice.
What the user actually wants is simple: Pay while being able to spread risk across mints, without losing the convenience of ecash.
I think this Steve Jobs quote nails where we are. The groundwork is here, but we haven’t had enough time to design it so it feels like magic.
The goal isn’t to make users feel smart. It’s to make them feel like it was easy all along.
We have to make it simple. The more time and energy we spend, the better the tools will be.
YOU can help us. You don't need to be a developer or a designer. One of the biggest ways to help is to just USE the tools and give us your thoughts. Tells us what you found confusing, what words didn't make sense. What you felt could be better. Your feedback is a gift.
Link to full presentation: https://www.figma.com/deck/nR0U6iQklDvngKQdHumBlo/State-of-ecash-Design?node-id=1-779&t=C4dfhrCUssAO5qHl-1
Discussion
Private payments.
More private than KYC-less Lightning?
Yup.
So military-level privacy. I'd say, Lightning is private enough for me (= normie not buying anything illegal).
I still don’t understand exactly what KYC-less Lightning is. I think it means standing up your own node, using your own BTC for setting up channels - maybe KYC-less but still surveillable.
Any LN setup where you can't link private data to an LN address. Doesn't matter how it's hosted.
Much more private than lightning, offline transmission, you can use SMS NFC or bluetooth to send ecash, instant settlement (requires no lightning network path routing), very low fees and Cashu is fully interoperable with lightning.
Trade off is that the users are trusting a mint to act as your custodian, but if you need privacy or if you're in an area with spotty internet access (like Cuba) then Cashu will work.
You can check out CubaBTC on twitter for real world examples of how the offline functionality is particularly useful for them.