While cryptocurrencies have found their way into the investment portfolios of over 28 percent of American adults, less than 40 percent of these holders have actually used their coins to make a purchase or transfer funds to friends or family. One reason may be that crypto is still not widely accepted—but another is simply that it’s not that easy to use.
Anyone who has ever sent a crypto transaction, whether with Bitcoin or Ethereum, knows that it can be a nerve-wracking experience. After all, wallet addresses can range anywhere from 26 to 63 characters long—and if even one of these letters or numbers is entered incorrectly, those funds may be lost forever. Only Satoshi knows how many millions have vanished this way.
Let’s explore how crypto businesses are addressing this long-standing problem and what the most promising solutions look like.
From speculation to real use
Achieving true mainstream crypto adoption—where people actually use their digital assets for everyday transactions—requires simplification on multiple fronts. Fortunately, progress toward ease of use began many years ago.
Before 2017, just getting your hands on crypto wasn’t easy. There were only a handful of exchanges, and fiat on-ramps were rare. Today, anyone can create an account on Coinbase, Binance, or countless other platforms and start buying crypto with a credit card in minutes. Even neo-banks like Revolut now allow users to buy, hold, and send crypto directly from their apps.
Similarly, self-hosted wallets used to be fragmented. Early users will remember juggling multiple wallets—one for Bitcoin, one for Ethereum, one for Litecoin, and so on. That mess has since been consolidated into single apps by services like Trust Wallet and Bitcoin.com Wallet.
But one major problem remains: sending crypto from one wallet to another still means copying and pasting a random string of characters and hoping nothing goes wrong. That is, until domain-based wallet addresses came along.
From random letters to human-readable names
One of the first projects to give wallet addresses a new identity was the Ethereum Name Service (ENS). ENS allows users to register so-called Web3 domains ending in .eth, which can then be linked to Ethereum wallets.
This concept has since expanded beyond .eth thanks to companies like Freename. The ICANN-accredited registrar offers both unique Web3 domains (for example, name.sat) and the ability to link traditional .com domains to specific wallets. Customers can use domains on proprietary extensions like .yourbrand and link them to wallet addresses.
Freename domains can currently be connected to wallets on MetaMask – the largest wallet in the defi ecosystem – as well as Bitcoin.com Wallet with other 75M downloads, which supports Ethereum, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, BNB, Polygon, and several other blockchains.
This marks a significant step toward true mainstream adoption, as users can now connect the familiar Web2 system with the emerging Web3 world.
“By integrating human-readable domains into our wallet, we’re making self-custody and peer-to-peer payments as intuitive as possible,” said Bitcoin.com CEO Corbin Fraser in a recent press release.
“Partnering with Bitcoin.com brings human-readable domains into millions of wallets, helping people turn their digital identity into something they own and use everywhere,” added Mattia Martone, COO and Co-Founder of Freename.
The future is simple and connected
As with most technologies, to anchor themselves in the daily lives of billions around the world, digital assets need to become as simple and intuitive as possible. Smartphones became a global success not because of their impressive use-cases, but because even the average grandma can now confidently use WhatsApp or FaceTime.
Unified wallets, simple onboarding, biometrics, and now human-readable wallet addresses are gradually lowering the barriers. But even these advances are just stepping stones on the road to mass adoption. With AI solutions poised to further simplify crypto transactions—and companies like Freename reinventing how we interact with the internet—the Web3 ecosystem is set for a wave of innovation as it moves closer to critical mass.
