Overview
I designed, collaborated on and launched BitGo’s first mobile approvals app.
- Role
- Lead Product Designer, Semi-PM
- Team
- 1 Designer, 1 Product Manager, 5 Engineers
- Timeline
- 8 Weeks to Launch, 8 Weeks to Scale
Many transactions and business opportunities need two people.
Admins
Set policies, approve requests
Traders
Request funds to act on markets
An admin sets a policy to safeguard funds.
A trader spots an opportunity and requests a withdrawal.
The admin must approve before any funds move.
Problems
I interviewed 13 admins and traders at a16z, JPMC, and SoFi.
To understand how approvals happened in practice, when admins reviewed requests, and the patterns shaping their workflows. These insights informed key product decisions moving forward.
Admins had to be at their desks to approve, across timezones.
Requests lacked the key information admins needed to decide fast.
Traders lost business opportunities while waiting on approvals.
Slow approvals put revenue on hold.
$40B+
Assets under custody
Friction
In every approval workflow
Reduced Revenue
Less fees collected by BitGo
Process
Claude prototypes became the team’s single source of truth.
I led it from interviews, to launch, aligning engineering, product, data and leadership with Claude prototypes.
Before
On BitGo web, admins approved one request at a time, at their desks, without the information they needed.
After
With BitGo Verify, admins approve anytime, anywhere, cutting the wait between request and approval.
After
After many iterations and interviews, we cracked the exact information admins need to approve with confidence.
After
I pitched nudges, so traders can ask for a priority approval over other pending requests.
New features shipped fast, because prototypes helped lay the foundation.
I first designed every request on one screen, a technically viable approach.
Security review showed it made approvals more vulnerable, not safer, so I dropped it and explored other ideas.
Through interviews, I learned admins batch requests, then approve them all at once.
So I designed a cart: one final check before the approval process begins.
One password, many wallets: easy for the backend, hard to show on mobile.
Institutions manage dozens of wallets, often with a shared password. Typing it 50 times is tedious, but unlocking everything at once left admins unsure what happened.
- A loading animation confirms each wallet as it unlocks.
- A second animation shows what’s done, and which wallets still need a password.
- A dynamic input always shows the next step.
Feedback
What admins and traders said.
“I like how Verify makes complex approval flows feel clear, and structured.”
“I can say our business velocity has improved, approvals are faster and there is lesser back and forth on approval requests.”
“This looks like a pretty polished side of BitGo, excited for what’s coming next!”
Interview, ship, repeat. BitGo became the only custodian with a mobile-first approvals app.
Admins now act on opportunities faster, bringing more funds and business onto BitGo.
$12B+
Approved in the first 6 months
90%
Of admins moved approvals to mobile
20,000+
Approval requests in 6 months
Some of the initiatives are being developed at BitGo. Please reach out for more information.