Kraken · 2025 · Senior Content Designer
Introducing traditional equities to a crypto-native audience
Kraken had been a crypto exchange for 12 years. Then it decided to launch stocks and ETFs.
MY ROLE
Content Design Lead
TEAM
PM, PD, UXR, ENG, Legal
TIMELINE
Q2 2025
The challenge
Introducing equities on a crypto exchange meant navigating internal uncertainty around user reception and trust. We had to design an experience that introduced traditional financial products in a way that felt like a natural expansion rather than a distraction.
Writing for distinct audiences
Before I could start writing, I needed to understand who we were writing for.
I worked with UXR to create user personas to identify our core audiences, clarify the most relevant value props for each group, and shape the messaging framework that guided the rest of the experience.
Then I wrote tailored onboarding variants for each persona.
For crypto-first users I focused on friendly, non-jargon messaging about how stocks could support long-term goals. For agnostic investors I leaned into optionality, one place for crypto and stocks. For pro traders it was about capability: zero commission, advanced functionality, and support.
Crypto-first
Agnostic investors
Pro traders
Explaining complex financial concepts in plain language
Equities come with a whole new vocabulary that many crypto users had never encountered: earnings calls, cash dividends, forward splits.
I wrote contextual explanations for each corporate event type that felt conversational without dumbing things down.
The forward split explanation is a good example. Instead of a dry definition I included the benefit: more affordable shares means more people can buy them, which can push the price higher.
Building content standards
Launching stocks meant adding a lot of new terms to Kraken's glossary and surfacing new UI patterns across the product.
I added terms and definitions to our guidelines that clarified when to use stocks, versus equities, versus shares. Clear rules consistently applied across the team. And while writing corporate events copy I noticed the Bottom Sheet component had no content guidance at all, so I wrote lightweight standards directly into the design system.
