Gnosis Pay IBAN

Bridging Fiat & Crypto (Without Losing Your Mind) Turns out, blending self-custody and traditional banking isn’t as easy as it sounds.

My roles

UX Design

UI Design

Motion

There’s just one small problem…

Gnosis Pay is among the first fully self-custodial crypto wallets offering real-world financial instruments like personal IBANs and Visa cards. Sounds cool, right? Traditional banks love tying your cards to a single IBAN automatically. You’d expect the same in a decentralized world, right? Well, no luck. Thanks to regulatory and technical realities, connecting your Gnosis Pay card with a traditional IBAN involves several extra steps. Initially, when the ticket to implement IBAN integration landed on my desk, I thought, “Easy!” After all, how complicated could adding a bank account to a crypto wallet possibly be? (Spoiler alert: Very complicated.)

KYC Nightmares & API Adventures

IBAN integration required users to have an active EURe Safe account, complete KYC verification, live in a supported country, and create a Monerium account which involved a second, separate KYC process. Yes, you heard right two KYCs!

I wondered whether this complexity was unique to Gnosis or a shared pain across the ecosystem. Competitive research revealed that most so-called “self-custodial” wallets offering IBANs actually relied on traditional banking licenses behind the scenes. The onboarding might have looked easy, but users weren’t truly self-custodial. Their funds were still tied to centralized institutions.

In contrast, Gnosis Pay’s extra setup made sense, it actually delivered on the promise of decentralization. But from a UX perspective, the challenges were clear: How do I explain the double KYC to users without them being confused, rage-quit midway, or frisbee their phone across the room?

Embracing Simplicity

Since I couldn’t simplify the backend complexity, I focused on making the on-screen experience feel simple, intuitive, and human. I began by designing upfront verification checks to confirm user eligibility early, avoiding surprise rejections later. Message signing was rewritten in plain language to reduce intimidation, turning a cryptic process into a simple affirmation of ownership.

For users with existing Monerium profiles, I redirected them to an OAuth flow with concise, confident messaging. When users had to wait several minutes for IBAN creation, I introduced calming visuals, status indicators, and copy that reassured them we were still on it. No jargon, just clarity. Once linked, a subtle virtual card animation confirmed that everything worked and that security was in place.

Cross-Team Execution

This wasn’t a solo mission. I worked closely with backend engineers to verify API behavior, aligned with PMs to ensure UX and business goals stayed in sync, collaborated with Monerium and compliance partners to handle the dual-KYC logic and OAuth flows, and tapped into user research and growth feedback to ensure the flow met real-world expectations. Not assumptions.

A Frictionless Bridge Between Fiat and Crypto

After a sync with Vanshika, our backend engineer, I learned that Monerium would accept our existing KYC via Sumsub to issue an IBAN. No need to redirect users to create a separate Monerium profile. This was a huge UX win in terms of reducing friction. However, it also meant that my initial flow was now outdated. I had to rethink the entry points, error handling, and fallback paths for users with pre-existing Monerium accounts, ensuring both edge cases and the happy path felt seamless and trustworthy.

This project set a new standard: a fully self-custodial IBAN, transparently delivered through design that respected both user cognition and technical constraints. The backend might have been complicated, but the front end felt effortless and that’s where trust is earned.

After a sync with Vanshika, our backend engineer, I learned that Monerium would finally accept our existing KYC via Sumsub to issue an IBAN. No need to redirect users to create a separate Monerium profile. This was a huge UX win in terms of reducing friction. I could now go ahead an simplify the entire flow!