Gas Tank.

Origin

While dogfooding the Kraken Exchange and Wallet app I sent my BTC from the Exchange to the Wallet as Wrapped BTC (because it was quicker and cheaper!). Little did I know that wrapped BTC or wBTC isn't real BTC but a tokenised version of it on the ERC-20 blockchain. When I tried to send it back to the Exchange I was told I didn't have enough to cover the gas fees. (WTF?!) After numerous failed attempts I realised I needed to own ETH (Ethereum) to send my wBTC back to Kraken Exchange… I knew I couldn't be the only person that gets confused by this.

The problem

Gas fees are paid in the native token of the network you are transacting on. Send USDC (a USD backed stablecoin pegged to the US dollar) on Ethereum and you still need to have ETH (Ethereum token) in your wallet to cover the fee. Want to send all your ETH in one go? Sorry, no bueno. You need to work out how much gas you need in a fluctuating market. Talk about mental load.

For a non-crypto native, this creates a barrier to entry. Something that makes you afraid that you'll lose all your crypto if you make a mistake. Not good for any company that wants to increase the amount of crypto users in the world.

The problem isn't the gas cost. It's the mental arithmetic at the moment where the user thinks they can lose money. It's not a risk most people are willing to take.

The reframe

Instead of asking the user to do the math — what if the system allows the user to have a reserve that the system can use to allocate funds to cover the gas fees. Moving the risk and the heavy lifting from the user to the platform that they trust. A gas tank for all intent and purposes.

The screens. One system.

The wallet view

Gas Tank appears as a system resource within the wallet. Visually distinct from your assets. Another token that forms part of the infrastructure to make your money move. It's an asset you handle like the petrol in your car. Topping it up when it runs low. Moving your ass(ets) around as you need it to. You don't need to do math. You just top up your gas tank when it runs low.

The gas tank dashboard

The gas tank dashboard shows your balance in dollar and approximate transactions. That is because dollar amounts don't tell you if you have enough to transact. Stats also allow you to better understand how your wallet is working. Just like miles per gallon on a car. Transaction stats give you a clear idea about the amount of transactions made, total gas spent and average fee per transaction.

Funding the tank

By funding the tank we abstract the idea of gas fees for the user into a manageable resource that allows them to do what they want. Move crypto. Without the heavy lifting.

Why it matters

Crypto already has a bad reputation amongst some people. Someone dipping their feet in for the first time shouldn't have their uncertainty confirmed by a failed transaction, because a critical event like that will just mean that the user never comes back. Crypto is the future and for it to be the future it needs to be easy to use by crypto natives and luddites. Abstracting away something like gas fees is just a way to do that.

What I'd want to test

This is a concept. A hypothesis. An idea thrown into the wide open world.

Before committing to it I'd want to test it and answer some questions which are:

• Does the transaction framing actually reduce pre-send anxiety compared to a dollar amount?
• Do users understand that Gas Tank covers fees across chains, or do they assume it's network specific?
• Does auto top-up reduce failed transactions in practice, or does it create anxiety about unexpected charges?

A moderated usability test with non-crypto native users would be the right way of understanding whether this actually reduces anxiety or not. That's where the model holds or breaks.

Personal concept project. Built in Figma Make, January 2026.