KYC New User Onboarding

Redesigning Identity Verification to Drive Registration & Revenue

A mobile-first redesign of Coinmama's identity verification experience focused on document capture and cross-device continuity. It cut abandonment at the highest-friction point and drove a 14% increase in completed registrations and a 5% increase in first-time buyers within 30 days.

Company

Coinmama (Fintech)

Role

End-to-end design ownership, UX UI, UX writing, design system creation

Team

Product manager, CTO, engineer, data anaylst

Deliverables

Registration flow for web and mobile

Core Problem

Anonymity vs. KYC

As a regulated financial service, Coinmama requires full identity verification at registration. This includes submitting sensitive personal data such as full name, address, and date of birth, plus a government-issued ID (passport or driver's license).

Many people are drawn to cryptocurrency because it feels anonymous. Asking them to hand over sensitive personal data before they could transact created a trust barrier, and a lot of users abandoned the process right there.

Key Change

Meeting Users Where They Already Are

To address the friction at the document upload step, we redesigned the onboarding and KYC experience around two core shifts:

Mobile-first document capture
A faster, clearer upload experience built around how people already handle documents: on their phone.
Desktop-to-mobile handoff
A way for users who started on desktop to keep verifying on their phone without emailing files or digging through folders.

Both changes reduced cognitive load at the moment of highest friction and matched how people already handle their documents, on their phones.

To address the friction at the document upload step, we redesigned the onboarding and KYC experience around two core shifts:

Mobile-first document capture
A faster, clearer upload experience built around how people already handle documents: on their phone.
Desktop-to-mobile handoff
A way for users who started on desktop to keep verifying on their phone without emailing files or digging through folders.

Both changes reduced cognitive load at the moment of highest friction and matched how people already handle their documents, on their phones.

Product Strategy

Clear Problem, Deliberate Decisions

I was the first design hire at Coinmama and owned this project end-to-end: research, flows, UI design, UX writing, design system components, and release QA.

I started by signing up for competing platforms (Coinbase, Blockchain, CEX.io) across desktop and mobile, to understand how others handled verification sequencing, document upload, and trust messaging. From there, I mapped the full user flow on the wall with product and engineering before moving into digital wireframes. This surfaced system constraints early and helped shape key decisions: when to ask for personal data versus document upload, how to structure the steps progressively, and whether a mobile handoff was technically feasible.

We wanted the redesign to reduce hesitation at every point of uncertainty. That meant being upfront about the time and steps required, adding clear messaging around security and privacy, and building the document capture experience around mobile-first users.

This project also became the first real production use of an emerging design system. The existing UI lacked consistency across typography, buttons, and input patterns. Rather than redesign everything, I standardized existing patterns into reusable components, keeping the focus on shipping a consistent, functional experience.

Outcome & impact

Steady Rollout, Strong Results

We released in stages to reduce risk and build confidence in results before full rollout:

30/70 rollout: +5% completion rate, +2% first-time buyers
50/50 rollout: +6% completion rate, +5% first-time buyers (including emerging markets)
Full release: +14% registration completion, +5% first-time buyers overall

The staged approach also helped surface bugs and edge cases early, and confirmed the improvements held across non-Western markets before committing to full release.