Zero Design Preview #1 - Getting started

Welcome to the first of several design previews we have planned which show off the new web app we are working on. The designs shown will be “final-ish” and may still change prior to release, either based on work yet to be done or in response to feedback received. Some of the flows will be simplified in these posts for the sake of brevity.

The focus of today’s preview will be the “getting started” flow that new users will go through. Let’s dive in!

We call the page that you first land on the “dashboard”. The focus of the dashboard is the Zero protocol. You can see Zero and Zero ecosystem statistics, as well as a chart showing information about open lines of credit, ordered from the lowest collateral ratio to the highest collateral ratio. If you don’t have a line of credit yet, a banner at the top of the screen draws attention to a big “Get started” button. You will click this button to start using the app.

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You may notice that the new web app refers to the collateral held in Zero as “BTC”. This is a notable departure from the current Sovryn Alpha app, which refers to BTC on Rootstock by its technical name “RBTC”.

In the bitcoin and wider cross-chain/cross-layer app ecosystem we have noticed a UI design trend away from showing branded asset names for bridged assets (e.g. “RBTC”) to simply referring to assets by their common name (in this case, “BTC”) and adding detail about the network the asset is being used on where that information is relevant. See the apps featured below for examples:

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We experimented with using “BTC” instead of “RBTC” in the Perpetuals app and were happy with the results. So in this new web app, we have adopted the same design pattern. Where needed, we specify the network that BTC is being used on, otherwise it is implied that the BTC referred to is Rootstock BTC.

For the choice of wallets to connect, the default is to use a hardware wallet. We have prioritized hardware wallets because they offer the most secure and convenient user experience: just plug the wallet in, enter your PIN, select your address, and you’re connected. No need to install new software in your browser, and your private keys are kept in cold storage by default. The hardware wallets that will be supported are Ledger and Trezor.

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Once a Rootstock address is connected, the app will check if the address has a BTC balance. The Rootstock blockchain uses BTC as “gas” to pay miners for smart contract execution, so BTC is needed before being able to make any transactions. If the connected address does not have any BTC then you will be prompted to fund your wallet.

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To fund your wallet, the default option is to transfer BTC from the bitcoin network to Rootstock using the FastBTC protocol. You can use FastBTC to transfer up to 3 BTC to the Rootstock network. The process of using FastBTC is easy: scan the deposit address, send BTC, and wait one or two confirmations for the BTC to arrive in your Rootstock address. (If you want to transfer more than 3 BTC, you can use the Powpeg app.)

The minimum debt allowed by the Zero protocol per line of credit is 200 ZUSD, and the minimum collateral ratio in normal mode is 110%, so you need to start with at least 220 USD worth of BTC. To avoid liquidation during recovery mode, you need to keep your collateral ratio above 150%, so with the minimum amount of 200 ZUSD debt you may want to start with at least 300 USD worth of BTC.

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Once you have funded your address with at least the minimum required amount of BTC, the action button will change to a prompt to open a line of credit.

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And with that, we conclude the preview of the “getting started” flow of the new web app.

In the next preview, we show what it will look like to open and manage a Zero line of credit in the new web app.

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Stay Sovryn!