Blasting the barriers: from user experience to mainstream dApp use

Auctionity collaborates with Portis for greater UX

It has now been several months since the release of Auctionity, our decentralized, real-time, auction platform for NFTs. Everyday, our dev teams keep focusing their efforts on improving the platform and making it as user-friendly as possible. Our aim is to provide a product that is easy to use and relevant, in order to facilitate and achieve mass adoption.

Well, truth be told, when it comes to Decentralized Apps, the concept of mass adoption can get fuzzy around the edges, I’ll grant you that.

The reality of blockchain and mass adoption

CryptoKitties are empirically cute, there’s no question about that. Ask most people what they think of them: they will tell you that they’re cute. Ask them if they would like to own one: a good portion of them may very well tell you they would like to. Tell them they could even buy them at English auctions on Auctionity: great! But tell them that to do so they would need to install a wallet, get ETH, switch between networks and understand the basics of blockchain to do so: they will tell you to go take a hike. And you probably deserve it.

Joke aside, we cannot deny that blockchain is a real obstacle to mass adoption. We cannot expect people to suddenly get into blockchain just because kitties are cute. Mass adoption will happen when users can get an experience they are familiar with.

That was one of the elements that led us to implement English auctions on the Auctionity blockchain instead of Dutch auctions. Just go on eBay for example, you will not see any Dutch auctions. People are used to English auctions, and that’s what we wanted to bring to them, with the added benefits of blockchain.

We want to bring Auctionity to the world and allow people to buy Non-Fungible Tokens such as CryptoKitties and Etheremon, at English auctions, without them needing to know they’re interacting with a blockchain. For now this is just cute digitals animals but, in the future, it is greatly possible that anything could be tokenized and sold using blockchain technology: from titles of ownerships, to services, to a signed copy of a book or a unique antique necklace. Blockchain technology adds undeniable benefits for the user but he should not have to understand blockchain to take advantage of these benefits.

One day, interacting with blockchain will be a breeze, just as we use the internet or pay for items online, without needing to understand TCP/IP protocols or how encryption works. But for that, we need to simplify users’ interactions with blockchain.

Collaborating with Portis

That’s when our collaboration with portis comes into play. Portis is an SDK (Software Development Kit) which aims at simplifying users’s interactions with Dapps and, by extension, blockchain. They believe that interacting with the blockchain should be seamless and offer a similar experience to what users are accustomed to with regular apps. They put it like that:

We believe that you can’t expect people to accept an experience which is inferior to what they already know. Which means that until they can use DApps just as easily as they use all of their “regular” applications, mass adoption will never happen. — Portis

Our dev team has been working with the Portis team to implement their solution on Auctionity and make it simpler to use for the average, non blockchain-savvy, user. Portis offers an in-browser experience that allows users to have a wallet that does not require them to install anything to work. This also means that any device that can handle a browser will be compatible with Portis, allowing cross-platform compatibility from desktop to mobile, so users only need one account.

Another feature from Portis that works well with what we are trying to achieve with Auctionity is a feature called ‘trust this app’ that removes the need for users to confirm every single action they make when this only involve gas fees. Sweet. In their endeavors to facilitate interactions with decentralized apps such as Auctionity, the Portis wallet is also credited with $1 in ETH to help user begin with cryptocurrency and to cover their first gas fees. Last but not least, it is compatible with most crypto-collectibles, so your kitties bought on Auctionity will be stored safely on the Portis wallet.

Jean-Charles from the Auctionity team, working on the integration of the Portis wallet[/caption]

“Our team has really enjoyed working with Portis. Their team is very responsive and willing to adapt to our specific needs, making the collaboration all the more successful and promising for future developments.”

This video by Portis, explains in a very simple way how their product works.

 

Here’s a small glimpse of what Auctionity will look like with the integration of the Portis wallet, on mobile and on desktop

And then?

On the road to mass adoption, we can’t walk alone. That is why we believe that one of the key factors that will lead to Auctionity’s success is our partners. The Auctionity team is at work every day to forge strong relationships within the NFT industry and support as many relevant blockchain projects as possible. Joining the Non-Fungible Alliance was part of our endeavors to become an active part of a bubbling community fueled with ambitious projects and endless perspectives. We do believe that through these actions, we are gathering the best conditions for Auctionity to take off and for the non-fungible market to thrive as it should 🚀

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. If you found it useful, sign up to the Auctionity Newsletter to receive a roundup of our latest stories.

To learn more about Portis, please visit portis.io.
To stay tuned for real-time updates from the Auctionity team, explore the links below:

Twitter | Medium | Youtube | Linkedin | Github