Company
AscendEX
Duration
3 Months
Year
2022
Context
AscendEX is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange (CEX) where users can buy, sell, trade, and earn interest on cryptocurrencies. It was launched in 2018 under the name BitMax and later rebranded to AscendEX. The platform was founded by former Wall Street quantitative trading professionals and offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, copy trading, and other crypto investment products.
challenge
AscendEX wanted to launch a new rewards platform that encouraged users to engage with the exchange beyond trading. The first experience introduced BTC Mining, allowing users to earn satoshis (SATs) by completing onboarding tasks and platform activities. The solution also needed to establish a scalable framework that could support future reward experiences, including trading challenges, spin-the-wheel campaigns, and seasonal promotions.
goal
Increase user activation and retention by designing a rewarding experience that motivates users to complete meaningful platform activities while establishing a scalable framework for future engagement programs.
My Role
As lead Product Designer, I led the end-to-end design of AscendEX's new rewards experience, translating business goals into an engaging and scalable product through product design, visual design, prototyping, and QA.
design
100,000 SATs = 0.001 Bitcoin. The BTC Rewards Center introduces a gamified mining experience where users continuously earn SATs while logged into AscendEX. Additional SATs can be earned by completing onboarding tasks, referring friends, trading, and participating in promotional campaigns.
Completing select tasks unlocks spins on The Wheel, where users can win rotating token rewards. The feature was designed to scale, allowing listed token projects to sponsor featured rewards for future campaigns and promotions.
Designed digital out-of-home campaign assets that translated the in-product rewards experience into engaging marketing visuals while maintaining a cohesive brand identity.
As cryptocurrency trading frequently involves extended screen time, supporting both light and dark themes was an important part of the product experience, allowing traders to choose the interface that best fit their workflow and environment.
Built a reusable task card system with documented component variations, interaction states, and developer annotations to support scalable implementation.
Results
Know Your Customer (KYC) is an identity verification process that requires users to verify their identity before unlocking additional platform features and higher withdrawal limits. Increasing KYC completion also helped AscendEX strengthen regulatory compliance while growing its base of verified users.
