TRUEHOLD — Case Study by Pragmica

Crypto cards typically force you to park assets with a custodian or pre-fund a separate balance, extra friction, extra risk, and poor UX. Users want to spend their crypto without sacrificing the principles of self-custody that drew them to the space in the first place. The technical challenge was significant: approve transactions within card authorization windows without ever taking custody of user funds. This required rethinking the entire payment flow from first principles.

With fast-finality L2s and L3s maturing, we saw a path to approve within card auth windows without taking custody. That insight shaped TrueHold: EOA-first architecture, just-in-time conversion, and revocable on-chain allowances. We served as end-to-end partner across brand, product, and software: brand identity and narrative (strategy, naming rationale, voice, modular identity system), product and UX (customer journeys, allowance UX, risk/error states, activation flow), and complete software build (contracts, services, user app, issuer/processor auth simulator). The visual system features a confident dark base with bright accents for action states and card-present cues. Motion design centers around "authorization", swipe to approve, visualizing JIT conversion in an intuitive way.

A coherent brand and product story shipped with complete MVP PRD and UX. Working auth simulator and on-chain allowance prototype demonstrate the technical viability of non-custodial card payments. Partner-ready documentation and program applications position TrueHold for ecosystem growth. Legal starter pack (ToS, Privacy, Cookies) accelerates compliance reviews. Ecosystem conversations are live with MVP pilot path agreed, small cohort, Somnia-first, then Base expansion. The project proves that self-custody and everyday spending can coexist, opening new possibilities for the crypto payments space.