DeFi Needs to Be Simpler for Wider Adoption, Uniswap Survey Suggests

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols should be simplified for users if adoption is to grow, a survey from the team behind the Uniswap decentralized exchange (DEX) has suggested.

In a report that summarized the survey results, Uniswap called DeFi an “objectively simpler, more accessible tech stack for financial markets.”

“DeFi is transparent, self-custodial, and runs on publicly verifiable code instead of middlemen who oftentimes are more interested in profits than consumers,” it said.

However, Uniswap also noted that although DeFi in ther eyes of crypto-natives is simple, it is still “as unfamiliar to the average person as the internet was in the 1990s.”

“Bridging to L2s feels like dial-up networking and exploring Etherscan parallels surfing the web before search engines.”

To address this gap in perception among people, more and better DeFi education is desperately needed, the team said.

Half of non-DeFi users want to experiment

In terms of the specific survey results, Uniswap said the most encouraging finding was that nearly half of the respondents were motivated to experiment with DeFi in the next 12 months, despite the bearish market conditions seen over the past year and a half.

Secondly, close to 30% of the respondents who have never before used DeFi said they would like to try it so they could buy a specific token, while a similar number of respondents said they would use it so that they can hold their tokens or keys in their own possession.

DeFi complexity remains an issue

But although many users of centralized finance (CeFi) services – in other words non-DeFi users – said they would like to try out DeFi, the perceived complexity of DeFi is still a problem.

To overcome this, most non-DeFi users said better education and improved user support services is needed in DeFi.

“The entire industry now must work to help educate users about how to use DeFi and the benefits of self-custody. These resources can have a measurable impact in helping users build their knowledge base and grow their confidence,” the Uniswap team cpncluded their report by saying.

The need for better education in DeFi was also highlighted on Twitter by a Uniswap developer with the handle @0xTyllen:

If complexity was a major concern, we asked what we could do to reduce complexity for these CeFi users.

They cited “Better educational resources” and “Increased user support” as improvements that would increase willingness among CeFi users to trade on DeFi platforms. https://t.co/avkmrv8EGx

— tyllen (@0xTyllen) May 17, 2023

1,860 people participated in the survey, with respondents closely reflecting US Census Demographics, according to Uniswap.