Progressive Disclosure as a Principle for Onchain Apps

One of the most underappreciated principles in crypto product design is progressive disclosure.

Most onchain apps today either drown the user in complexity or infantilize them with too much simplicity. Both mistakes come from the same misunderstanding: assuming there is such a thing as “the user.” There isn’t.

When you design for crypto, you’re really designing for at least two very different audiences: the casual retail participant who might stake $100, and the professional allocator moving millions. They both open the same portal, but what they need from it could not be more different.

The $100 user wants reassurance. They want to know if they’ve made money, and if so, how much. They don’t want to learn a new accounting system just to check. The million-dollar allocator, on the other hand, wants visibility. They need to know not only where yield is coming from, but what operational risks lurk under the hood. For them, reassurance without evidence feels like marketing.

The challenge is: how do you build a product that serves both without confusing either?

The Principle

Progressive disclosure is the answer.

The idea is simple: don’t show everything at once. Instead, design information in layers. Each layer should be sufficient for one level of user sophistication, but also provide a clear path to the next.

For example:

• Layer 1 (casual): “Your portfolio is up 5% this month.”

• Layer 2 (inquisitive): “Here’s the breakdown: 70% of returns came from U.S. treasuries, 30% from private credit.”

• Layer 3 (professional): “Here are the onchain proofs: token contracts, redemption histories, asset-level liquidity profiles.”

Notice that each layer is both self-contained and expandable. The casual user can stop at the headline. The allocator can drill all the way down to the raw evidence. Both feel respected.

Why It Matters in Crypto

Progressive disclosure isn’t just a UX trick. In crypto, it’s existential.

Traditional finance survives by opacity. Investors are told “don’t worry,” and if they ask questions they’re handed PDFs. Crypto, by contrast, survives by transparency. If you can’t show where the number comes from, you don’t deserve trust.

The paradox is that transparency is often overwhelming. Dumping raw data on a retail user doesn’t build trust; it alienates them. The design challenge is to keep the chain visible without making the experience unusable. That’s what progressive disclosure does.

It turns transparency into a ladder instead of a wall.

What I Learned

When I was working on Nest at Plume, this problem was constant.

If we showed vault composition the way engineers looked at it, we’d terrify casual users: endless token addresses, obscure tickers, liquidity ratios. But if we hid everything behind a single APY number, we’d alienate the serious allocators who were exactly the people we needed to attract.

The breakthrough was realizing we didn’t need to choose. We needed to layer.

At the surface, a clean summary: “Stake here, earn X%.” Click once, and you see where the yield is coming from. Click again, and you see transaction histories and asset pipelines. Each step down revealed more, but only if you asked for it.

It worked because it respected different levels of curiosity.

The Psychology Behind It

There’s a deeper psychology here.

Casual users are not necessarily less intelligent; they’re less motivated. They don’t want to become experts in vault mechanics just to see if they’re making money. Professionals, on the other hand, are motivated by responsibility. They need the details, because they’re accountable for bigger allocations.

Progressive disclosure works because it doesn’t force either group into the other’s posture. It lets casuals stay casual, and professionals stay professional—using the same product.

Designing the Layers

If you’re building an onchain app, the key is to ask: what is the minimum story this user needs to feel safe, and what is the next piece of evidence they’ll want if they choose to go deeper?

Think in terms of levels:

1. Headline level: Simple, affirmative statements. “You earned $5.”

2. Mechanics level: The explanation of how. “That $5 came from a pool of tokenized T-bills.”

3. Proof level: The evidence. “Here’s the transaction hash.”

A good product allows you to navigate these levels seamlessly.

The Opportunity

Most crypto apps today still haven’t internalized this. They either design for degens who want raw data, or for retail users who want simplicity. The result is either a Bloomberg terminal cosplay or a cartoon interface. Both leave money on the table.

The real opportunity is to design systems that can onboard the casuals and satisfy the allocators. That’s how you scale: by building bridges between sophistication levels, instead of silos.

In other words: the future of crypto UX won’t be simpler or more complex. It will be layered.

Closing

Progressive disclosure may not sound glamorous. It’s not as exciting as inventing a new protocol. But it’s the kind of principle that makes protocols usable.

In crypto, trust doesn’t come from saying “trust us.” It comes from giving people a clear path to verify for themselves.

That’s what progressive disclosure is: a way of designing truth so that anyone, at any level, can walk down to it.