The NFT market was saturated with static, speculative assets, and mainstream users — particularly families and younger audiences — were largely excluded due to blockchain complexity, security concerns, and lack of engaging experiences.
Cryptoys set out to redefine digital collectibles by blending interactive, playable NFTs with a seamless, Web2-friendly UX.
Make blockchain invisible to users by eliminating wallets, gas fees, and crypto friction.
Ensure regulatory compliance (COPPA, GDPR) while keeping the platform engaging for all ages.
Deliver on the promise of true Digital Ownership for all without sacrificing safety or compliance.
As Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer, I led the product vision, UX strategy, and platform design. My responsibilities included:
Designing the entire Cryptoys ecosystem, including collectibility mechanics, marketplace interactions, and gameplay experience.
Creating a platform that could support major IPs like Mattel, Disney, and Lucasfilm while maintaining a unified UX.
Aligning design, engineering, art, game design, and legal teams to create a seamless product.
Ensuring Cryptoys met COPPA and GDPR standards while remaining intuitive and engaging.
Blockchain transactions are complex, requiring users to manage wallets, gas fees, and private keys — barriers that alienate mainstream audiences, especially families and kids.
We hid blockchain complexity behind an intuitive UX, introducing custodial wallets (“Backpacks”) where users stored their toys without needing to manage private keys.
Gas fees were rolled into transactions, and users could purchase collectibles using traditional FIAT (credit/debit cards) — an industry-first for NFT-based digital toys.
The result was a frictionless onboarding, making Cryptoys accessible to both crypto-native and mainstream users.
3%
52%
16%
66%
37%
87%
Cryptoys successfully expanded beyond Web3-native audiences, progressively onboarding a more mainstream user base. While only 3% of users in Year 1 had no prior Web3 experience, that number grew to 16% Web2-native users by Year 2 and 37% by Year 3, even before launching Guardian Controls.
This demonstrates that Cryptoys became an on-ramp for new users into digital ownership, effectively bridging the gap between traditional collectors and blockchain technology.
Additionally, as users became more invested in the platform, multi-toy ownership skyrocketed — from 52% of users in Year 1 to 87% by Year 3. This suggests high retention, strong collector engagement, and confidence in the platform’s long-term value.
To deliver the best digital toy experience, Cryptoys come in 3 states — First in Cryptoys Cubes for surprise unboxings, which when opened reveal a Wrapped toy in a digital Blister Pack, which you can then unwrap to reveal the full Cryptoy you can use to play games.
Interestingly, the majority of toys (44%) were kept in their Blister Packs in digital "Mint Condition".
Web3 technology lacks built-in safety features for children, making it difficult to create a compliant, secure experience without limiting access.
Traditional parental controls assume a nuclear family structure, failing to account for more modern shared custody or multi-guardian setups.
We created Guardian Controls, a patent-pending decentralized custodianship system that allows multiple guardians to manage a child’s account, controlling access and purchases while ensuring COPPA & GDPR compliance.
We also partnered with the ESRB and KWS to develop a bifurcated sign-up process, directing younger users to a verified guardian flow for a safe onboarding experience.
Cryptoys earned a Provisional Patent for its Guardian Controls, becoming the first COPPA-compliant Web3 platform, setting a new industry standard for family-friendly digital ownership.
100%
COPPA
100%
GDPR
We worked closely with our legal and content design teams before reaching out to the ESRB to help us achieve full compliance. With their help we iterated on our sign up process, account settings, communication touch points, and data retention policies.
The ESRB provided invaluable guidance as we navigated the evolving landscape of digital privacy. By proactively aligning with COPPA and GDPR regulations — even before they were officially enforced — we ensured Cryptoys was ahead of the curve.
This future-proofed our platform, minimizing the need for major legal or development overhauls while maintaining the highest standards of security and privacy for our users.
Web3 promised true digital ownership, but existing marketplaces were unsafe for younger users, riddled with scams, doxing risks, and speculative trading.
Cryptoys needed a secure, child-friendly way for kids to buy, own, and sell their digital toys without being exposed to Web3’s financial risks.
We created an On-platform Marketplace where users could buy and sell their Cryptoys within a protected environment, using Toyken, our in-platform currency, instead of real money or cryptocurrency.
We also innovated on a new process we titled Teleportation which enabled adults to transfer toys from their Backpack to their third-party wallets, allowing them to trade Cryptoys externally on third-party NFT marketplaces, ensuring real digital ownership without exposing younger users to speculative trading risks.
Cryptoys delivered a first-of-its-kind Web3 marketplace where kids could participate safely, fulfilling the true promise of digital ownership for all ages. Additionally, via Teleportation, adults can participate in off-platform, 3rd-party NFT Marketplaces.
This makes Cryptoys the first and only partner for brands like Mattel and Disney where they have allowed their web3 assets to travel off platform into non-custodial wallets.
96%
24%
87%
43%
The internal marketplace launch saw rapid adoption, with 96% participation in the first 30 days, indicating high anticipation and seamless integration into user habits. Most sellers (87%) listed duplicates, showing a strategic approach to offloading extras without losing set completeness, while 43% of buyers already owned at least one of the listed toy, suggesting they were curating, upgrading, or completing collections rather than just acquiring new items.
With 24% more users completing sets post-launch, this confirmed that the marketplace enhanced collector motivation and long-term engagement rather than just enabling one-off trades.
99%
1%
At the same time, 99% of users relied on Cryptoys’ custodial wallet (“Backpack”), proving that users preferred a seamless, Web2-like experience rather than managing external wallets. When Teleportation (self-custody) was introduced, after 6 months only 1% of assets were off-platform, reinforcing that Cryptoys’ infrastructure was trusted and convenient.
At Cryptoys, we weren’t just designing a digital collectible — we were building a new kind of platform that merged Web3, gaming, and interactive play. To achieve this, I established a user-first, data-driven design process that balanced market insights, technical feasibility, and compliance.
Market & Competitive Analysis: We conducted extensive research into digital collectibles, gaming mechanics, and NFT ecosystems, analyzing what worked (and what didn’t) in similar markets. This helped us refine collectibility models, UX patterns, and pricing strategies to maximize engagement.
Rapid Iteration & Testing: Given the evolving nature of Web3, we embraced fast iteration cycles, using prototypes, user testing, and data analytics to refine features before development.
UX Research with the Community: We leveraged our 20,000+ member Discord community as an active UX research lab, gathering insights on collectibility preferences, usability pain points, and feature requests to refine the product experience.
Building Cryptoys required seamless coordination across multiple teams to create an experience that was engaging, scalable, and regulation-ready.
Product Design worked closely with engineering, art, game design, and many more, to bring the platform to life while aligning with business goals, marketing strategies, and community insights.
This deep collaboration ensured that every aspect of Cryptoys — from gameplay to marketplace interactions — felt intuitive, polished, and built for a wide audience.
Cryptoys achieved millions in direct NFT toy sales before launching its internal and external marketplaces, creating a safe, scalable digital economy.
Webby Honoree for Best User Interface, recognizing Cryptoys as a leader in UX innovation.
Successfully launched Guardian Controls, setting a new industry standard for family-friendly Web3 platforms.
Designed a scalable system that secured partnerships with Disney, Mattel, Lucasfilm, Nascar, and more, proving Web3 could be mainstream-friendly.