Disclaimer - This is part of our outside perspective series. Curious Cosmonaut Research is not the author we are simply highlighting some good threads and perspectives on the Cosmos ecosystem with their permission. We also, therefore, do not guarantee their accuracy.

Author:  Archway Team

Source: Blog

Skip the CEX

Date: September 8, 2022

Getting Into DeFi Isn’t Easy

Folks typically onboard to web3 by using a centralized exchange (CEX) like Binance or Coinbase, given the wide range of available assets and the simple, in-app connected fiat on-ramp experience. This onboarding process certainly has its downfalls, too.

Once you receive your fiat to the exchange, you need to trade to your desired asset (fees + slippage), wait multiple days (sometimes 5+!), and then you can withdraw assets (and pay more fees!?), just to fund your non-custodial or hardware wallet. Then, finally, you are able to interact with DeFi and web3. Starting to sound clunky? If you rent your apartment or house, which someone else pays the mortgage on, this might resonate with you.

Kado is building solutions to help users realize the ownership of decentralization — we understand and embrace the need for a user to fully own their web3 journey, their assets, the interactions, and the experience. No longer are the days of needing a CEX to enter/exit crypto. With Kado, you can now easily move between web2 and web3, directly from your wallet.

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We Send You Directly to Your End Destination

Kado meets you where you are: at your final web3 destination. We don’t want our users to spend up to 5 days to get there. We have two core objectives — to be the fastest time-to-wallet and most seamless, global gateway — from fiat and crypto.

Not only is onboarding through a CEX a slow, fee-filled experience, there are also countless risks giving over control of your assets. In our recent article Why Self-Custody Matters, we took a deep dive into the risks of dealing with Centralized Exchanges and the importance of non-custodial and hardware solutions.

Kado is built for this web3 native self-custodied future.

• Want to capitalize on that high APR Osmosis pool?
• Want to buy NFTs on different chains?
• Want to swap into an asset that only exists on DEXs?
• Want to quickly manage your DeFi loan to avoid liquidation?
• Want to stake your crypto and earn airdrops?

Entering crypto should be easy, and it shouldn’t break the bank…

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We Don’t Control Your Assets

We don’t manage your money, you do. We don’t halt withdrawals, because we don’t hold your assets. Kado empowers fiat-to-wallet transactions. We don’t have the power to keep your money, and we don’t want to. We believe that self-custody is the future, and we’re here to enable your financial freedom.

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We Have Lower Fees and Don’t Set the Spread

When you buy and sell crypto on a CEX, a spread is the difference between the current price of an asset and the price you buy/sell that same asset. They profit the difference. CEXs act like foreign currency exchange desks and airport ATMs. There is simply no better option to exchange than the place you land. Knowing this, the exchange rate for fiat is severely inflated and users get price gauged. CEXs do the same. Even some on-ramps will catch you slipping and sell you 1 USDC for >$1.10.

With any new industry, barriers to entry are high, understanding is low, and user experience is sacrificed. In the past, there was no better option. Now, Kado allows your funds to go directly to the asset you wish to obtain, at the correct price.

Kado offers significantly lower fees than other platforms. Move from your bank to your self-custody wallet for as low as $2 for ACH bank transfers. When moving on and off centralized exchanges, there are many more steps and fees. Not to mention trading to the end asset you desire…

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We Let You Get Your Money Out

Once you enter DeFi, what about getting out? Many fiat on-ramps in the space today are just that — an ON-ramp. This means most crypto-native users are still off-ramping through a CEX. All of the issues you faced ramping into crypto on a CEX also exist when you ramp out. Off-ramp with Kado and move your assets directly from your web3 wallet to your bank account within minutes.

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Skip the CEX Right Now

Right now you can register for Kado and travel into and out of web3 when you see fit. Soon you’ll be able to ramp your fiat into a number of assets and ecosystems including USDC, USDT, ETH, SOL, AVAX, and more.

Kado V2 Beta Overview

Date: August 2, 2022

Our Roots

We have been steadfast on building the cheapest, easiest, and fastest way to move between fiat currency and crypto in a single transaction — no extra apps, steps, or wait times. Being able to move seamlessly between fiat and crypto in a timely, cost effective manner is crucial to capturing new users and capital to the web3 ecosystem.

Kado will soon be launching a seamless on/off-ramp for all leading web3 ecosystems, starting with Cosmos IBC, Solana, Avalanche, and Ethereum. On the Cosmos IBC front, we have already engaged in strategic partnerships with Juno, Osmosis, Terra, and Kujira, with many many more in the works.

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Time is the Only Constant

Getting into web3 for the first time as a new user is technically advanced and hard to understand out of the gate. A big reason for this is because builders are focused on innovation first, rather than designing for the lowest common denominator in user knowledge.

Keeping up with seed phrases and wallet extensions can be both exhausting and intimidating for first time users. Learning from the best of our predecessors in web2, we have created a solution to break down those barriers and create a seamless experience that both beginners and experts can appreciate. Web3 needs infrastructure that demystifies the complicated world of moving in and out of crypto, while staying on the front lines of innovation.

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A Sneak Peak

The new Kado Dashboard allows users to easily connect an existing web3 wallet (MetaMask, Phantom, Keplr etc,) or create a new wallet without having to deal with seed phrases. Kado users will be able to keep track of their digital assets across blockchains, and seamlessly move funds between fiat and our numerous web3 partners like Osmosis, Avalanche, and Solana.

On-ramp to crypto with:

• Credit/debit card
• ACH/bank transfer
• Wire transfer (to stablecoins, int’l coming soon)

Off-ramp to fiat through

• ACH/bank transfer
• Wire transfer

For web3 to be adopted by the masses, traffic between web3 and traditional fiat infrastructure needs to be seamless for every participant in the ecosystem, no matter their maturity level or understanding. That is why we have created the most user friendly and fastest on/off-ramp in web3.

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Wen Launch?

Right now you can sign up with your email for early access to V2 beta launch and enjoy 25% off Kado Ramp fees during the beta period.

We’re excited to unveil even more with our public launch. Wen? Cosmoverse is just around the corner…

Kado V2 — The Future Is Bright

Date: July 27, 2022

As Kado came to life a little over one year ago, it’s time to look back at where we’ve been, what we’ve built, and where we’re going.

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Around the World and Back Again

Kado was born in May 2021 during a Terra ecosystem hackathon, with the goal of being able to spend stablecoins in the real world, and easily buy more of them. As the first platform that enabled users to on-ramp directly into Terra and spend their stablecoins on Amazon, we saw great traction in a short amount of time. 100+ countries, $20m+ on-ramped, and over 10,000 users — in just 2 months of being live, with many B2B partnerships built out across leading Terra dApps.

While launching in the Terra ecosystem, we’ve always been building towards a multichain infrastructure. We’re excited about bringing our proof of concept to every web3 ecosystem — to enable seamless onboarding, connecting fiat rails, and fiat-to-crypto API solutions that builders can develop on top of.

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The Vision

The world needs a digitally native payment infrastructure, built for web3, to take us into this new financial future. Kado envisions a world where every financial transaction occurs on the blockchain, enabling a constant flow of instant, programmable, cross-border, peer-to-peer transactions. The ability to transact instantly across the globe will unlock massive productivity in the economy and significantly reduce poverty around the globe.

This vision doesn’t just happen on its own and go from 0 to 100. There needs to be payment infrastructure to make it easy for everyone to access this new financial system, and get from 0 to 1; with the ability to scale up to 100.

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Challenges to Adoption and How We Solve It

Kado aims to solve the two key challenges that users and businesses face on the journey to mass adoption of crypto and web3 — Access + Utility

• Access — The ability to move between fiat and crypto is far too complicated, costly, takes too much time, and is full of friction.
• Utility — Today there is significant unrealized potential of crypto and web3’s utility in the real world. Kado is here to close the gap and drive real-world utility, whether that be in the form of merchant payments, off-ramping to your bank account to pay bills with crypto, remittances and many more untapped use cases.

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Looking Ahead

The launch of Kado V2 will bring upon us new innovations in multichain infrastructure necessary for mass adoption; removing the UI/UX complexities of multiple blockchains and countless friction-filled steps in navigating the complex, fragmented world of web3 today.

Users will soon be able to move between fiat and all blockchains with ease. As we develop partnerships with cross-chain platforms, Kado will not only be a fiat ramp, but also a cross-chain ramp. This opens up a whole new design space for on-ramping directly into smart contracts, removing manual steps for the user, with the smart contracts doing the hard work on the backend. The possibilities are endless:

🔜 Send funds cross-chain in one click

🔜 Buy a NFT using your credit card

🔜 Top up your LP pool with a bank transfer

🔜 Off-Ramp to your bank account to pay credit card bills

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A Multi-Chain Payment Infrastructure Layer for the Web3 Economy

Kado will be the one-stop solutions provider to empower users, businesses, and developers to benefit from next-gen web3 payments infrastructure and simple fiat <> crypto gateway solutions. The future of finance is bright, and Kado will be here to usher in a new era.