How I solved a $140B "unsolvable" problem in my spare time
The same framework that improved adoption at Apollo and Slack just helped me file a patent in crypto. Here's what happened.
In my last newsletter, I wrote about finding opportunities at system boundaries—those friction points where products meet but don’t quite connect.
Adoption go brrrr
The most significant impact I’ve ever had came from identifying what I call "product opportunities," opportunities that transform user experiences and drive business growth with far less effort than traditional net new feature development.
Last week, I applied this same approach to cryptocurrency. The result? A patent filing that could solve a $140 billion “unsolvable” problem.
I wanted to share this story because it perfectly demonstrates how systematic thinking and innovation transfer across domains. Even in areas where you’re a complete beginner!
The setup
5 weeks ago, I’d never touched a hardware wallet.
I started exploring crypto again after friends suggested holding some digital currency, given economic volatility. I’m a big fan of “Rethinking” as coined by Adam Grant, so I decided to revisit the space after initially dismissing it back in 2022.
I got my first hardware wallet. The purchase experience was great, the packaging was excellent, and buying my first Bitcoin was smooth.
But the seed phrase recovery setup? Rough UX. 😭
After 20 years in software engineering (including eight in developer relations) and having a product mindset, I can’t help but notice friction in user journeys. This friction, however, was particularly noticeable because everything else about the experience was so polished!
The research phase
I spent weeks diving into device recovery UX and system architectures across different industries. Every solution had the same fundamental trade-offs.
Then, on a normal Wednesday evening after work, during a Discord conversation with friends about existing recovery options, everything clicked. 🧩
Everyone had accepted these trade-offs as an “unsolvable” problem.
The “unsolvable” problem
The crypto world lives by “not your keys, not your coins.” This principle has forced users into an impossible choice for over a decade now:
Keep your keys = risk losing everything forever
Let others keep them = not really your coins
Complex backups = too hard for most people
Pick two: security, recoverability, or convenience. Never all three.
The entire industry had accepted this as immutable.
But “unsolvable” problems have always intrigued me. I started questioning WHY we could only have two of the three. 🤔
The mad dash
That night, I posted to our friend group in Discord: “I’ve been getting deep into the device recovery UX world these last few weeks and think I actually landed on a pretty novel approach. Nothing exactly innovative, but a unique combination I've not seen yet.”
Classic engineer understatement.
The next few evenings went something like:
Surely someone's tried this? (prior art analysis)
Wait, will this actually work? (implementation feasibility)
Okay, this is genuinely non-obvious! (rigorous evaluation)
Can I explain it and its relevance to the industry? (documentation sprint)
Patent filed
Roughly 48 hours from insight to filing. 😅
The lessons learned
1. Fresh eyes see different solutions: I wasn’t constrained by “how crypto recovery works.” I just saw a systems problem that needed solving. 👀
2. Friction patterns repeat across industries: The same framework that found opportunities at Apollo, Slack, AWS, and Major League Soccer also revealed one in crypto. The pattern: everyone accepting suboptimal trade-offs as inevitable. 🔁
3. Domain expertise can create constraints: The crypto experts had internalized the trilemma. They optimized within constraints instead of questioning the constraints themselves. 🙋🏻♂️
4. Speed matters when you find something: That 48-hour sprint wasn’t about being first; it was about capturing the idea while it was clear in my mind. 📝
The impact
What started as mild curiosity about UX friction turned into a solution for a $140 billion “unsolvable” problem. That's not hyperbole either, that's how much Bitcoin is currently lost due to recovery failures.
Sometimes the best innovations come from refusing to accept “pick two” as the final answer.
What’s next
The patent is filed. The solution exists. Now begins the harder work of bringing it to market.
But that’s a story for another newsletter. 😉
The takeaway: Your systematic thinking is more transferable than you may realize! Lastly, question everything, challenge every assumption, and fight sunk-cost fallacy with everything you have! 🥊
The next time someone tells you, “That’s just how it works,” remember that they might just be waiting for you to prove them wrong!
What “unsolvable” problems have you been accepting in your industry?
P.S. – For those curious about the technical details, they'll be public when the patent is published. For now, all I can say is that it involves rethinking the fundamental premise of recovery trade-offs, not just optimizing within existing constraints.