Creating A New Wallet & ETH Address

The biggest challenge with this workflow is explaining the public/private key concepts on Ethereum without getting too technical and creating confusion.

A new wallet user must also know that they must keep their device safe, protect their private keys, and that the password for a Keystore file cannot be reset.

It’s a lot of information to process and understand in a short window. In the user testing group, we had everyone create a new Ethereum wallet and provide feedback on this workflow. The suggestions for improvements we got were very helpful.

Some of them include adding more visual icons to explain the process, finding more relatable examples to explain what a public address vs private key is, and minor functionality changes such as allowing someone to copy their public key after creating it.

SelfKey ID Registration Flow

During the test sessions, we also had everyone that participated create a new SelfKey ID and add their own attributes or upload a document. To get started, you could either create a new profile or import an existing zip file if you were whitelisted for the SelfKey token sale back in January, 2018.

This importing process will auto-populate your wallet with the KYC info you already submitted. It includes data such as your first and last name, ID documents, and more. We’ve gotten feedback to improve this workflow by helping someone identify if they went through the token sale KYC.

SelfKey Crypto Dashboard

A core function of the SelfKey Identity Wallet is to support sending and receiving ETH, KEY, and any ERC-20 token.

Before you can do this, you need a central dashboard to manage all your assets and separate the workflows. We’ll be improving some UI changes in the display of your crypto assets based on the feedback we received.

For any asset that has the price also displayed in USD, we will limit it to two decimal points (for example, $2.23 USD instead of $2.23125 USD). For Ethereum and other custom tokens, we will not limit the amount of decimal displays.

SelfKey ID Wallet Dashboard

The SelfKey ID is built upon two factors of your identity: attributes and documents.

Attributes are information about your identity such as birthday, address, email, or phone number. Documents could be government-issued IDs, utility bills, or notarized paperwork. In the testing sessions, we got some feedback on improving the workflows of editing attributes and uploading documents.

One comment we got is that different countries have different names for certain ID attributes. For example, EIN (Employer Identification Number) is a business identifying number issued in the United States, where in Australia they call it ABN (Australian Business Number).

Reconciling the different attribute names based on geographic location and their implications is something we will consider in the future, but currently, it’s not a relatively high priority compared to other features we need to keep working on.

Sending ETH and ERC-20 Tokens

Sending and receiving assets on the Ethereum blockchain is still quite a complex process, and there are many details that go into a transaction.

For this workflow, we had some good input on the transaction history feature which populates your transactions of ETH, KEY, and ERC-20 tokens. Currently, the wallet automatically refreshes as transactions from your address are posted onto the blockchain.

We’ve also added a manual refreshing option in case a wallet user wants to trigger an update at their own discretion. This was necessary because transactions on the network don’t happen instantly, and sometimes it takes longer than we expect. Taking inspiration from a few mobile banking applications, we also updated some icons in the sending workflow to make it more user-friendly.

Testimonials

Some SelfKey Wallet testing group participants have written for us a final evaluation of their experience using the application. In line with our commitment to transparency, we have decided to share it with the entire community.

“Last month I was honoured to be selected to take part in the first SelfKey Wallet testing group. From the onset, the co-ordination of the phone hook-up, and then the eventual presentation by Terry Lin was very professional and without a glitch. As simple as this may sound, it is the compounding effects of these simple things that make a great product, and to me this was a great start. During the presentation, Terry was open to any suggestions, and was in no rush to move forward until he totally understood any potential improvements that I had suggested. The wallet itself was quite aesthetically pleasing, and seemed to have all the functions and a portfolio available without cluttering the screen. Again, the brief browsing experience was glitch free, and Terry showed a particular interest in how I was interpreting the words displayed during the setup process. Apart from some minor suggestions, it worked quite well for me as I have had prior experience with other digital wallets which had a similar setup procedure. One thing that I highlighted to Terry about my preference in terms of a graphical user interface, is that I am a true believer in “simple is better”, in that in order for any product to be adopted by the masses, it must be absolutely user friendly. The example of how a grandmother should be able to transfer money across the world from an account which can be set up with just a few clicks was used, and that in order for things to progress on a grand scale, this philosophy needs to be adopted. The only suggestion I have for future testing groups (possibly once this is near total completion), is that it would be great to eventually be given a simulated version to play with, and to ultimately test that it is glitch free and usable. Users of today will not tolerate a product which does not work correctly and especially so if there are alternatives available, so in my eyes there is no other option but to get this right the first time. An example of how this exercise could be protected, is by the test group staking a set amount of their personal tokens, so as to not leak the wallet publicly. These tokens will then be returned on completion. In the event that the user does not have the set amount of tokens available, perhaps a token reward system could be used instead. To conclude, the initial SelfKey Wallet presentation showed just how much work has already gone into this project. It is easy to criticise a project’s performance based on a simple market price, but in my eyes this price in no way reflects the efforts and progress that this team has made in such a short time frame. Full credit to the team, especially for seeking the feedback from “a second set of eyes”. I’m sure that all suggestions highlighted by the test group will contribute to making this a user friendly, workable product”. Joe (Australia) “It was great to get a peek at SelfKey’s new wallet in the Alpha testing stage. The dashboard is uncluttered and easy to conceptualize, although a couple of icons are misleading. For example, the store or vault icon looks like a dustbin, which is universally the “delete” icon! The way Terry let me navigate my own way around the wallet, with no leading prompts, gave me the impression SelfKey really want this wallet to be the best user experience out there. When initially setting up SelfKey, the EULA should be a humorous, geeky and tongue in cheek introduction, informing users that their data is their responsibility; and you cannot “pass Go” until you’ve read and understood the information! There are a lot of ill-informed crypto people out there roaming the world with absolutely no idea what it’s all about.” Dave (Australia) “Its been great to see how the SelfKey wallet development has been progressing. The team are really focused on making the user journeys through signup and day to day usage as easy as possible. It’s a product I can see myself using in the future, especially as it will be able to hold not just my identity but also my tokens too if I wanted. The marketplace looks like it is going to be a great feature and make integrations between different services nice and easy!” Chris (United Kingdom) “This is a great wallet in terms of functionalities and usability, not only help us manage our ERC-20 tokens portfolio but also give us the full control of our identity data. I like the theme and UX design in general. But there’re some points you guys can improve to make it simpler to use and more user-friendly which I already gave feedback to Terry, the product manager.” Phuc Vo (Vietnam) “The Selfkey wallet is a work of art. The clean lines, and feature forward interface are intuitive and not in the least intimidating. I’m very tired of wallets that expect us retired people to learn to push code before we can use them comfortably. I am excited for Selfkey to go live, because I will be moving all of my many crypto-assets into one, very usable wallet. Keep up the good work you people!” Marguerite (US)

What’s next

After implementing these changes and other features to the application, such as the hardware wallet and the marketplace, we will carry out a second testing round that will be followed by a controlled distribution among the more than a thousand people who applied for the SelfKey Wallet Testing group. Stay tuned!

As always, if you have questions or just want to chat about SelfKey with the core team, we invite you to be part of our Telegram community. To stay up to date on the latest news, join our announcement channel or subscribe to our mailing list.