Overview
The core value proposition is simple: spend now, keep your upside. If ETH goes up while your collateral is locked, you still benefit. Traditional crypto purchases mean selling your position and triggering a tax event. GuanPay sidesteps both by turning crypto holdings into a collateral-backed credit line, with the merchant paid instantly in USDC by the protocol.
Outcome
GuanPay went from a whitepaper with a novel DeFi mechanic to a fully branded product with a clear identity and user model. The character-driven brand gives the protocol a distinct voice in a space full of generic DeFi interfaces, and the Framer landing page gave we a live marketing presence while the product was still in development.
The vault dashboard gives users real-time visibility into their positions, risk levels, and spending power. The marketplace and checkout flows make a complex financial interaction feel approachable for crypto-native users who are used to DeFi but not used to buying physical goods through a protocol.
What I learned
The biggest challenge was designing for a mental model that doesn’t exist yet. Stake-to-own isn’t a credit card, it isn’t a DeFi lending position, and it isn’t layaway. It borrows from all three. Every screen had to teach the user what was happening without turning the UI into a tutorial.
The branding work reinforced that DeFi products don’t have to look like DeFi products. Giving each actor in the system a face and a personality made the mechanics easier to explain on the landing page and easier to reference in the product UI. It’s a small thing, but “the Vault keeps your crypto safe” lands differently when there’s a character attached to it. Working from a whitepaper also meant constantly testing assumptions.