Over the years, crypto has been marketed as an easier financial system.

There are elements of truth to that.

Transfer assets without the use of a traditional bank. It is possible to trade right from a wallet. Financial applications can be interacted with without having to open an account at each financial institution.

However, there is another aspect.

Even when utilizing crypto, it is possible to end up with an incredibly complicated situation.

One chain has the asset that you like. Another one has the liquidity. A different application has the trading pair. Then there are bridges, wallets, networks, gas fees and completely different interfaces to deal with.

It's normal for experienced users.

Everyone else is suffering from a headache.

This is precisely where the next-generation of cryptographic applications might get intriguing.

The Blockchain Shouldn't Be the User Interface

Consider using a regular financial application.

You choose what you want to buy or transfer, and the complex infrastructure is hidden.

The payment isn't something that you typically select to use a database for.

Crypto is different.

Users are frequently required to be familiar with the infrastructure.

Ethereum or another chain?

Which bridge?

Which DEX?

Which liquidity pool?

Which network to use for the wallet?

Technology is great, but the experience could be like you operate a machine room just to make a simple transaction.

Jumper is trying to move in the opposite direction.

Initially the project was very much concerned with cross-chain assets but is now broadening out to become a much larger financial interface. It has processed over $40 billion in volume to date, and has over 100,000 monthly active users, according to the company.

The idea is simple:

Remove the burden of the blockchain from the user's shoulders.

From Bridge to Financial Hub

Bridges addressed an important issue.

They assisted in transferring assets across various blockchain networks.

As more and more financial products develop onchain, there's more to moving assets than just that.

They want to trade in tokens as well.

They hope to have access to yield opportunities.

They want to trade.

They desire exposure to actual possessions tokenised.

And more and more, traders are considering perpetual futures.

Jumper's next big product release will be Jumper Perps, which promises to be the platform for multiple perpetual-futures venues under one roof, Jumper says.

An interesting direction change.

Whereas in the past the vision was to create an app around a particular crypto function, the new vision is to create an interface around their entire onchain activity.

Why This Could Be Important

There's a weird issue that crypto has.

There are thousands of applications that attempt to address different aspects of finance, but the user must link them up.

Think of one app to buy stocks, another to send and receive money, another to earn interest and the other to check your portfolio.

Now just think of those apps running on entirely different networks as well.

That's about the fragmentation problem that crypto has caused.

A financial “super-app” is trying to turn that around.

One interface gives to the user.

The infrastructure can be undercurrent complex.

This does not mean that the underlying blockchains go away.

It does not imply that the user has to consider them at every moment.

The Real Battle May Be UX

The blockchain technology has come a long way.

The adoption of technology is not guaranteed, however.

For an average person, it doesn't matter which bridge sent a transaction.

They are concerned about the success of the transaction.

They don't necessarily care which liquidity venue was used.

They pay attention to the amount they received.

Hence, user experience may be among the most crucial competitive fields in crypto.

Not all of the winning applications will be the most technologically advanced.

They may be the ones that make complicated technology invisible.

Jumper's growth is rooted on that concept.

JUMP Changes the Story

The company also announced its plans for the first JUMP token sale via Legion as it separates from LI.FI becomes an independent company. The sale is expected to help the company develop its product, acquire users and distribute it, the announcement said.

The planned token launch is not a part of the fundraising process.

Additionally, Jumper has outlined a token-first approach that would involve users, contributors and investors in one ownership round, instead of separate ones. This is the company's announced organization, not a prediction of the model's performance.

That matters, too.

Just because a token is in use doesn't mean that a product can be successful.

The base application still requires customers.

It requires helpful products.

It needs liquidity.

And it must have an experience people want to repeat!

The Bigger Trend Is Bigger Than Jumper

This is a trend unfolding in crypto overall.

The early industry emphasis was on developing protocol protocols.

Then came the infrastructure that linked them together.

Now a new level is becoming apparent:

Applications that are layered on top of the infrastructure.

Rather than educate users on each individual blockchain, these applications try to connect different networks and financial products.

In the future, this might render the blockchain completely invisible.

Personally, this could be a requirement if crypto really wants to get past the people who aren't already used to wallets, bridges and gas fees.

The Interesting Question

The main question is whether one further crypto application is capable of providing additional features.

Whether all these features can come across as an entire product.

It is great sounding on paper, swaps, bridges, trading, yield and tokenized assets.

However, it is not as easy as blending all into one interface to make a good financial application.

The challenge is in ensuring that all of those pieces gel as one, without clogging the user up.

That is the true experiment that's taking place here.

It took years for Crypto to establish its infrastructure.

The industry is now more and more attempting to create the front door.

If that front door is working fine, users may eventually forget about what blockchain they use, altogether.

They will just download an application, select their desired function and leave the infrastructure to handle the rest.

Perhaps the next stage in crypto is to add layers.

Perhaps it's a question of erasing from their memories the number of chains they have.