Working on the Bitcoin Core App as a Bitcoin Design Foundation Grantee
I'm Michael, a UX designer contributing to the Bitcoin Core App and currently working as a Product Designer at Trezor. This post reflects on my experience as a Bitcoin Design Foundation grantee and the work I've been doing on the Bitcoin Core App project.
It all started with the Bitcoin Design Community
I first got to know about the Bitcoin Core App in late 2022, when I came across the Bitcoin Design Community. After some lurking around on their Slack (now Discord), I created a new Figma file and started contributing to the project. At the same time, I took part in the community’s first Designathon. Together with Gene, we worked on a design concept for an inheritance wallet. Surprisingly, we ended up in 1st place.
These two experiences nudged me further to pursue a career in the Bitcoin space. I received a design grant from Spira, to contribute inheritance-related content to the Bitcoin Design Guide. Apart from the family inheritance wallet I authored a reference design for a wallet that provides users with a time-based recovery option, along with a simple explanation about custom spending conditions in Bitcoin.
As the grant was nearing its end, I was looking for ways to stay in the Bitcoin space and decided to apply for a part-time grant from the Bitcoin Design Foundation, which allowed me to dedicate more time to the Bitcoin Core App. In this post I'm reflecting on the project and my experience as a grantee.
About the Bitcoin Core App
The Bitcoin Core App is a project that aims to migrate the current Bitcoin Core-Qt application to a new technological framework. Bitcoin Core-Qt is the current reference GUI (Graphical User Interface). Over the years, the application became harder to maintain and extend with new features that would be technically supported by the codebase. In collaboration with the Bitcoin Design Community, an initiative was started to modernize the application not only technologically, but also from a UX perspective.
The goal is not to simply migrate existing features 1:1, but to also create a more modern and intuitive user experience that is easy to use, so that it has the potential to attract and incentivize more users to run their own node. This helps to further decentralize the network.
The main target audience are Bitcoin enthusiasts who are interested in sovereignty and an integrated user experience that combines a Bitcoin full node with a wallet in one app. They are people who are not necessarily very technical or developers. At the same time, the app still aims to provide these advanced users with all the bells and whistles that they need.
Grant focus
By the time I started contributing to the project, the node functionality was already well-defined from a design perspective and in development. So the main area of work shifted to designing user flows for the wallet part of the application.
My original plan was to contribute across design work (concepts, prototypes, specifications), development support (testing features and PRs), and project coordination (planning activities and serving as the design point of contact). It turned out that the latter role was much better filled by Christoph, one of the founders of the Bitcoin Design Community and the Bitcoin Design Foundation. He has been involved with the project from the very beginning.
That’s why I focused more on iterating design concepts for the wallet user flows. Some variations of early concepts and explorations existed already for many flows. But there wasn’t a fixed direction yet and, as you might imagine, there are a lot of use cases to think through.
Because Figma files are messy we try to capture the latest state in the design docs. Among other things, we needed to finalize user flows for creating or importing wallets for example. There’s also a lot of nuance to seemingly straightforward use cases like making a payment.
While the focus was on delivering the essential flows in order to get a working MVP with limited scope going, we also explored features that are further out on the roadmap. Like contacts or silent payments, which make address management more important.
Working with the Bitcoin Design Foundation
The entire process, from grant proposal to getting started, was remarkably straightforward. After some light back-and-forth to refine my proposal, it took about a week to finalize the paperwork. What stood out immediately was how responsive and constructive the team's communication was - diligent but pragmatic, and always quick to respond. This collaborative approach continued throughout the entire grant period.
The foundation handles payments through Open Collective, a platform that acts as their fiscal host and ensures all contributions and expenses remain transparent. Getting set up was simple: I created a profile on Open Collective at the start of my grant, then submitted monthly expense reports. The team made this process painless by providing clear instructions and example invoices upfront, so there were no surprises or confusion about what was expected.
Challenges
The freedom to set my own hours, location, and priorities was incredible - I felt privileged to have this opportunity. But for the first time in my career, I was the only one defining the work and giving direction. After 15 years in corporate jobs, this took some getting used to. Since the grant was part-time, I also needed another income source to make ends meet. Balancing two jobs and family life wasn't always easy, and my attention sometimes got pulled in different directions. This is something I'll be more mindful and rigorous about, going forward.
Looking ahead
It might not be on a grant basis but I will definitely continue to contribute to the Bitcoin Core App. The decision to get involved with the Bitcoin Design Community was a turning point for me and I want to see the project succeed.
There is so much still to do and many details to figure out until the app is ready for prime time. As more and more features get implemented, we will learn more about what works and what doesn’t. Working on Trezor Suite alongside this project has been helpful - we're often working on similar features across both applications, so I can draw on insights and experience from both projects when thinking through wallet workflows. Design, prototyping and usability testing with limited prototypes only get you so far.
We’re building it out, one feature at a time. Come join us.