Crypto’s longstanding user-experience hurdle, the dreaded seed phrase, is facing a serious challenge. As wallet providers experiment with programmable smart accounts and simplified recovery, the debate about self-custody is shifting from technical responsibility to everyday usability.
In this week’s episode of The Clear Crypto Podcast, host Nathaniel Whittemore, Cointelegraph’s Gareth Jenkinson, and Ready (formerly Argent) CEO Itamar Lesuisse address how privacy, self-custody, Bitcoin-backed borrowing and seed-phrase-free wallets are converging to reshape how people store and spend digital assets.
One recurring concern among crypto newcomers and veterans alike is the fragility of seed-phrase security. As Jenkinson noted, users often underestimate how easy it is to lose access:
There’s hundreds of different anecdotes of people either losing control of their wallets… Your house could burn down. There’s lots and lots of different reasons why you would want options other than just having to keep a seed phrase safe.
Smart Accounts and the Rise of the “Crypto Neobank”
Ready’s model brings a fundamental shift: accounts that don’t depend on a single secret. Instead, they are programmable, offering recovery methods, built-in spending tools and the ability to leverage Bitcoin (BTC) without selling it.
One feature gaining traction is the ability to borrow against long-term BTC holdings and spend via card without relinquishing custody.
Lesuisse emphasized the difference from traditional custodians, drawing a clear line between centralized and self-custodial control:
It’s don’t be evil versus can’t be evil. We cannot take your money. We cannot try to be evil.
Bridging the Gap for the Next Billion Users
With smart-account architecture, Ready says it aims to function less like a traditional crypto wallet and more like a crypto-powered neobank, one where users can deposit, grow, borrow, and spend without ceding control to intermediaries.
As Jenkinson noted, simplifying the crypto experience is critical for adoption, especially as mainstream users expect intuitive, web2-like design paired with true ownership.
For many, combining ease of use with self-custody may resolve long-held fears around loss, complexity, and trust.