SendMeCrypto

SendMeCrypto

SendMeCrypto

Pay anyone, anywhere instantly, securely, and without borders.

Pay anyone, anywhere instantly, securely, and without borders.

Pay anyone, anywhere instantly, securely, and without borders.

Show how I identified the pain points in cross-border payments.

Show how I identified the pain points in cross-border payments.

Demonstrate my process in creating a simple, intuitive platform.

Demonstrate my process in creating a simple, intuitive platform.

Highlight how my design improved trust and usability for businesses.

Highlight how my design improved trust and usability for businesses.

Overview

SendMeCrypto is a payments platform designed to simplify cross-border transactions using cryptocurrency. It enables businesses to send multiple payments at once, whether to employees, contractors, or partners, without the friction of traditional banking. By leveraging the borderless nature of crypto, it makes intercontinental payments fast, secure, and cost-effective.

SendMeCrypto is a payments platform designed to simplify cross-border transactions using cryptocurrency. It enables businesses to send multiple payments at once, whether to employees, contractors, or partners, without the friction of traditional banking. By leveraging the borderless nature of crypto, it makes intercontinental payments fast, secure, and cost-effective.

Background

As cryptocurrency adoption continued to grow globally, it became clear that crypto could be used for more than just investment it could solve real, everyday problems. One of the biggest challenges businesses face is making cross-border payments. Traditional banking methods are often slow, expensive, and restrictive, leaving many companies frustrated with the process.

SendMeCrypto (SMC), a project by MadliVentures in Canada, was created to address this gap by using the borderless nature of cryptocurrency to simplify global payments.


I joined the project as the sole UX designer, working remotely to bring the product vision to life. My role was to design a seamless user experience that made crypto-powered payments feel intuitive, trustworthy, and accessible to businesses.

Some key achievements from my involvement include:

  • Defining user flows → Designed how businesses onboard, set up, and send payments using crypto.

  • Simplifying complexity → Translated the technical nature of crypto transactions into a user-friendly experience.

  • Building trust → Designed with a focus on clarity, security, and ease of use to encourage adoption.

As cryptocurrency adoption continued to grow globally, it became clear that crypto could be used for more than just investment it could solve real, everyday problems. One of the biggest challenges businesses face is making cross-border payments. Traditional banking methods are often slow, expensive, and restrictive, leaving many companies frustrated with the process.

SendMeCrypto (SMC), a project by MadliVentures in Canada, was created to address this gap by using the borderless nature of cryptocurrency to simplify global payments.


I joined the project as the sole UX designer, working remotely to bring the product vision to life. My role was to design a seamless user experience that made crypto-powered payments feel intuitive, trustworthy, and accessible to businesses.

Some key achievements from my involvement include:

  • Defining user flows → Designed how businesses onboard, set up, and send payments using crypto.

  • Simplifying complexity → Translated the technical nature of crypto transactions into a user-friendly experience.

  • Building trust → Designed with a focus on clarity, security, and ease of use to encourage adoption.

The Problem

The freelance economy is booming. Nearly 1.57 billion people worldwide now freelance, almost 47% of the global workforce. In the U.S. alone, freelancers earned $1.5 trillion in 2024, with many charging $28+ per hour, and top professionals earning over $100,000 annually.


But while freelancing creates opportunities, getting paid remains a constant struggle:

  • 74% of freelancers report not being paid on time.

  • Transaction and conversion fees often reach 5–6% of their earnings.

  • International wire transfers average 6.94% in costs, on top of delays that can last weeks.


Organisations face similar pain when paying teams at scale. Sending dozens of international payments manually is slow, error-prone, and expensive. Fees pile up, making cross-border collaboration inefficient for both sides.

In short, freelancers lose money and time, while organisations struggle with cost and complexity. This was the gap SendMeCrypto set out to solve.

The freelance economy is booming. Nearly 1.57 billion people worldwide now freelance, almost 47% of the global workforce. In the U.S. alone, freelancers earned $1.5 trillion in 2024, with many charging $28+ per hour, and top professionals earning over $100,000 annually.

But while freelancing creates opportunities, getting paid remains a constant struggle:

  • 74% of freelancers report not being paid on time.

  • Transaction and conversion fees often reach 5–6% of their earnings.

  • International wire transfers average 6.94% in costs, on top of delays that can last weeks.

Organisations face similar pain when paying teams at scale. Sending dozens of international payments manually is slow, error-prone, and expensive. Fees pile up, making cross-border collaboration inefficient for both sides.

In short, freelancers lose money and time, while organisations struggle with cost and complexity. This was the gap SendMeCrypto set out to solve.

Vision & Solution

The vision behind SendMeCrypto was clear: make global payments as easy as sending an email. We wanted to help businesses pay anyone, anywhere, without borders, delays, or unnecessary costs.

Traditional payroll platforms like ADP, Gusto, or Deel make payments possible, but they remain tied to banks, with high fees, long delays, and limited reach.


SendMeCrypto set out to be the crypto-powered alternative. By leveraging cryptocurrency, the platform enables:

  • Borderless transactions → No banking restrictions.

  • Instant payouts → Payments in minutes, not days.

  • Lower costs → Fees far below wires or fintech intermediaries.


For freelancers, this meant faster, fairer payments. For organisations, it meant a scalable way to send mass payouts worldwide in just a few clicks.

As the UX designer, my focus was on turning this vision into an intuitive experience. Crypto can be complex, so I worked to make the flows simple, the onboarding clear, and the interface trustworthy, ensuring users could benefit from crypto without needing to understand the technology behind it.

The vision behind SendMeCrypto was clear: make global payments as easy as sending an email. We wanted to help businesses pay anyone, anywhere, without borders, delays, or unnecessary costs.

Traditional payroll platforms like ADP, Gusto, or Deel make payments possible, but they remain tied to banks, with high fees, long delays, and limited reach.

SendMeCrypto set out to be the crypto-powered alternative. By leveraging cryptocurrency, the platform enables:

  • Borderless transactions → No banking restrictions.

  • Instant payouts → Payments in minutes, not days.

  • Lower costs → Fees far below wires or fintech intermediaries.

For freelancers, this meant faster, fairer payments. For organisations, it meant a scalable way to send mass payouts worldwide in just a few clicks.

As the UX designer, my focus was on turning this vision into an intuitive experience. Crypto can be complex, so I worked to make the flows simple, the onboarding clear, and the interface trustworthy, ensuring users could benefit from crypto without needing to understand the technology behind it.

Competitive Landscape

Payroll and HR platforms like ADP, Gusto, and QuickBooks Payroll are the primary way companies pay salaries, contractors, and freelancers. Deel, Remote, and Payoneer are also popular, especially for global payments. These tools simplify and automate key processes like compliance and tax reporting.

However, a closer look revealed key limitations:


Traditional Costs:

  • Traditional Payroll Tools (ADP, Gusto): 3–7% fees on cross-border payments; additional bank charges.

  • SendMeCrypto (SMC): Minimal fees through blockchain transactions.


Settlement Speed:

  • Traditional Payroll Tools (ADP, Gusto): 3–5 business days (sometimes longer).

  • SendMeCrypto (SMC): Near-instant (minutes).


Global Accessibility:

  • Traditional Payroll Tools (ADP, Gusto): Limited; excludes freelancers in underbanked regions.

  • SendMeCrypto (SMC): Borderless; anyone with internet + wallet can receive payments.


Infrastructure:

  • Traditional Payroll Tools (ADP, Gusto): Relies on traditional banking rails and compliance-heavy networks.

  • SendMeCrypto (SMC): Built on blockchain; independent of banks.


Scalability:

  • Traditional Payroll Tools (ADP, Gusto): Strong for companies in established markets, weaker in frontier regions.

  • SendMeCrypto (SMC): Easily scalable across continents without banking barriers.

The Process

For this project, I adopted a Lean UX approach. With a slim team and me as the only designer, the focus was on speed, collaboration, and quick learning rather than long design cycles.


Lean UX was the perfect fit because it:

  • Worked best in early-stage startups like ours, where resources were limited.

  • Encouraged continuous feedback from users and stakeholders instead of heavy documentation.

  • Allowed us to test assumptions quickly before investing heavily in development.

  • Kept the team aligned around problems and outcomes, not just features.


This meant my process wasn’t about delivering polished deliverables at every stage; it was about learning fast and iterating until we found what worked.

For this project, I adopted a Lean UX approach. With a slim team and me as the only designer, the focus was on speed, collaboration, and quick learning rather than long design cycles.

Lean UX was the perfect fit because it:

  • Worked best in early-stage startups like ours, where resources were limited.

  • Encouraged continuous feedback from users and stakeholders instead of heavy documentation.

  • Allowed us to test assumptions quickly before investing heavily in development.

  • Kept the team aligned around problems and outcomes, not just features.

This meant my process wasn’t about delivering polished deliverables at every stage; it was about learning fast and iterating until we found what worked.

Research & Discovery

I spoke to freelancers, remote workers, and company founder to uncover pain points. Instead of large-scale research, I focused on rapid interviews and surveys, gathering just enough insights to guide design decisions.


Key learnings:

  • Freelancers lose a significant share of income (5–10%) to fees.

  • Payment delays (sometimes weeks) created stress and mistrust.

  • Companies struggled with clunky banking tools and high transaction costs.

I spoke to freelancers, remote workers, and company founder to uncover pain points. Instead of large-scale research, I focused on rapid interviews and surveys, gathering just enough insights to guide design decisions.

Key learnings:

  • Freelancers lose a significant share of income (5–10%) to fees.

  • Payment delays (sometimes weeks) created stress and mistrust.

  • Companies struggled with clunky banking tools and high transaction costs.

Defining the Experience

From the start, my focus was to design SendMeCrypto so that paying with crypto felt as simple as using a payroll tool. The research showed that freelancers cared most about getting paid quickly and safely, while companies wanted efficiency and structure.


From our research, we translated findings into core user stories that shaped the MVP:

  • See the bigger picture: As a company admin, I want a clear dashboard so I can quickly view payment activity and track overall crypto transactions.

  • Pay individuals with ease: As a manager, I want to send a single payment to a freelancer so I can handle ad-hoc or one-time work smoothly.

  • Handle payroll at scale: As a company, I want to send payments to multiple freelancers at once so I can manage team payroll efficiently.

  • Plan ahead: As a company, I want to schedule payments so I can automate recurring payouts without worrying about delays.

  • Approve freelancer requests: As a freelancer, I want to send an invoice for approval so that payments feel transparent and trackable.

  • Save useful contacts: As a user, I want to store wallet details with names and photos so I don’t have to request wallet addresses each time.

  • Standardise payroll groups: As a company, I want to create templates for different employee levels so I can send consistent, structured payments.


These user needs shaped the MVP features: a home dashboard, multiple payment flows (single, bulk, scheduled, and invoice-based), contacts management, and payment templates. The focus was on simplicity and ease of use, delivering just enough functionality for companies and freelancers to manage crypto payroll reliably while leaving room to scale in future iterations.



From the start, my focus was to design SendMeCrypto so that paying with crypto felt as simple as using a payroll tool. The research showed that freelancers cared most about getting paid quickly and safely, while companies wanted efficiency and structure.


From our research, we translated findings into core user stories that shaped the MVP:

  • See the bigger picture: As a company admin, I want a clear dashboard so I can quickly view payment activity and track overall crypto transactions.

  • Pay individuals with ease: As a manager, I want to send a single payment to a freelancer so I can handle ad-hoc or one-time work smoothly.

  • Handle payroll at scale: As a company, I want to send payments to multiple freelancers at once so I can manage team payroll efficiently.

  • Plan ahead: As a company, I want to schedule payments so I can automate recurring payouts without worrying about delays.

  • Approve freelancer requests: As a freelancer, I want to send an invoice for approval so that payments feel transparent and trackable.

  • Save useful contacts: As a user, I want to store wallet details with names and photos so I don’t have to request wallet addresses each time.

  • Standardise payroll groups: As a company, I want to create templates for different employee levels so I can send consistent, structured payments.


These user needs shaped the MVP features: a home dashboard, multiple payment flows (single, bulk, scheduled, and invoice-based), contacts management, and payment templates. The focus was on simplicity and ease of use, delivering just enough functionality for companies and freelancers to manage crypto payroll reliably while leaving room to scale in future iterations.

Design

We focused on moving quickly from research insights into a practical design solution. Instead of going through multiple design cycles, I prioritised creating one strong iteration that reflected both user needs and business goals.

The guiding principle was simplicity: payments had to feel seamless, even for users new to crypto. Every screen was designed to reduce friction and make complex actions (like bulk payments or saving wallet details) feel familiar.

Development

It was important to make sure that the design-to-development handoff was seamless. To achieve this, I created high-fidelity prototypes that clearly mapped out user flows and interactions. This gave the developers a working reference that reduced ambiguity and sped up implementation.

Once the product moved into development, I stayed closely involved by conducting quality assurance (QA) sessions. Using detailed redlines and annotations, I flagged inconsistencies between the design and the build, helping the engineers quickly address issues before release.

Conclusion

Designing SendMeCrypto was an opportunity to explore how crypto can solve real-world payment challenges for freelancers and global teams. By focusing on simplicity and speed, I created an experience that mirrors the familiarity of payroll tools while embracing the borderless power of blockchain. Although the team was lean and the design went through only one iteration, we were able to ship an MVP that demonstrated clear value: fast, reliable, and scalable crypto payments.

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Chidubem Chinwuko

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Chidubem Chinwuko

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chidubemchinwuko 2025

Let's Connect

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I'm available for new projects or just for chatting.

Book a Call

Send an Email

Follow on LinkedIn

chidubemchinwuko 2025

Let's Connect

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I'm available for new projects or just for chatting.

Book a Call

Send an Email

Follow on LinkedIn

chidubemchinwuko 2025