Custody for people who cannot afford a wrong click
Digivault was EQONEX’s institutional custody for digital assets, for clients from family offices to crypto hedge funds.
A separate brand and business from the exchange, sharing much of its audience but none of its density.
Where things stood
Hardly any of the features the clients needed, and no way to scale what was there.
It had to be rebuilt, not extended.
A digital-asset movement cannot be reversed once it is initiated, and the amounts on institutional custodies are very large.
Every transfer had to be secured before it happened.
Who may move what depended on asset type, amount, destination and user role, and every combination of them.
The rules were as complex as the clients’ own structures.
How it went
A complete overhaul in one go. Multi-wallet and multi-user management, permissions and maker/checker approval for transfers were designed and built together, on a new front end, by the same team that was rebuilding the exchange, with a UI that not only did not need trading density, but should definitely not have it.
Flows in drawers, wallets in view
Custody users work through many transactions and permission requests in rapid succession. Sending each one to its own page would have meant lengthy, visually taxing back-and-forth navigation. So those flows went into overlay drawers that kept the underlying wallet visible the whole time. It flattened the platform’s navigation and gave people the orientation to move fast without losing their place.
Maker / checker on every transfer
Because nothing could be undone, no single user could move assets alone. One user prepares a transfer, another with the right permission approves it, and the permission itself is scoped by asset, amount, destination and role. The interface had to make that visible at a glance, so a checker could see exactly what they were approving and why they were allowed to.
My role
I led user experience and design at EQONEX with a team of five across Singapore and Hong Kong, covering the spot and derivatives exchange and Digivault as its second product. Digivault kept its own brand and interface; the team, the research and the way of working were shared.