How to Get Started Using Crypto

Understanding new technologies can be a daunting task. That’s why we’ve made it our goal to make crypto and blockchain onboarding as seamless as possible. Our goal at Numio is to abstract away all of the complexities, and have the Numio mobile wallet act as a simple interface for public blockchains such as Ethereum, zkSync, and others.

What are the most important core features of a crypto wallet?

• Non-custodial – no third party has custody of a users crypto assets
• Keyless – a user doesn’t have to interact with seed words or private keys
• The ability to purchase crypto with fiat money (e.g. USD, GBP, EUR, IDR)
• Trading of cryptocurrency
• Earning Interest on your cryptocurrency
• Taking out loans
• The ability to prove your identity in a safe way

Let’s look at these in more detail;

Non-custodial

There is a famous saying in crypto that goes “not your keys, not your crypto”. This means that if you do not have access to your private key, the key that allows you to interact with the wallet without relying on a third party provider, you are most likely using a custodial wallet. While a custodian is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s definitely not recommended. In many cases these custodians are not insured and don’t fall under financial regulations, so if those funds are hacked or stolen from that provider then your assets are gone forever.

With Numio’s non-custodial mobile wallet we don’t control your private key so you are always in control of your crypto assets.

Most people understand the concept of a password when logging into an account, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other banking platforms. However, when using a cryptocurrency wallet, in order to send transactions, and interact with your wallet you “sign” and unlock your account with a private key. Generally this key is a combination of letters and numbers – nearly impossible to memorize! Keyless cryptocurrency wallets, like Numio, look to offer customization based on your knowledge and preference in order to provide you with the best possible experience.

With Numio, you can either choose to have keyless security, which backs up your account using an encrypted version of your 3D facial biometrics. Meaning, if you lose access to your account or wallet, you can easily recover your account by just scanning your face. Even though we cannot access any of this information, we have added an option to bypass this keyless registration and create a pseudonymous account that requires no personal information whatsoever. It’s entirely up to you.

Purchase Crypto

The general onboarding process for people using, and purchasing, crypto for the first time means that they will often do so through a centralized exchange, such as Coinbase, Gemini, or Binance. The big downside is that all of these companies are custodians, meaning you don’t have control over your money.

Previously, the general flow that people had when purchasing crypto was:

1. Pay fees to purchase on a service such as Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken, or Binance
2. Pay fees to withdraw to a non-custodial wallet
3. Funds arrive in your wallet
4. Pay additional gas fees to send your crypto to Layer 2 (optional)

It is understandable that this can be quite troublesome, so to make it easy for you to skip the first two steps, we have made it possible to purchase crypto directly from your non-custodial wallet with a credit or debit card. To make things even better, you can receive those funds directly on Layer 2 (zkSync).

Trading in a non-custodial manner is incredibly innovative. You can trade between different types of assets without ever going through a brokerage, and can do so at any point in time. We make this incredibly easy inside of the Numio app, where you can trade on both Ethereum and zkSync. We obviously recommend trading on zkSync, where network fees are 100x less expensive, trades are instant, and are still covered by the security of Ethereum.

Earn Interest

With the best bank accounts around the world, you might be able to earn 0.50% APR, if you are lucky. Most banks only offer up to 0.10% APR on your assets, which is a joke. In crypto and DeFi, you are able to “put your money to work”, and earn significantly better returns on your funds. On the lower end, you can earn 2% APR on your assets, and the returns are paid constantly, as opposed to being paid out every month.

In the Numio app, we want to provide you with the best DeFi experience where you can earn APR on a variety of assets, via an easy to understand dashboard.

DeFi Loans

One of the coolest things about DeFi is how you can use technologies without ever needing to do any type of paperwork. In traditional finance, in order to take out a loan, you have to go through a ton of due diligence and fill out reams of paperwork, only to hope you *might* get approved for a loan. In DeFi, you can take out a loan without ever needing permission from anyone, not even Numio. The reason why is that all loans are fully collateralized by the assets you hold.

As an example, let’s say you have Bitcoin ($wBTC) or Ethereum ($ETH) in your wallet, but you don’t want to sell it as you would have to pay capital gains on the transaction. You can use those assets as collateral to take out a loan in USDC, USDT, DAI, among other assets without ever selling your initial collateral. This loan is taken out from other people’s funds, and the interest paid back is sent directly to those individuals. This removes the middleman, and helps to provide you a better APR for your loan. It also gives depositors a better return on their capital. In order to receive your initial collateral back, you just need to pay back the loan.

Identity

One of the most core facets of blockchain is the concept of your identity. Every interaction you do on a public blockchain is recorded and helps to build your “onchain resume”. Your transactions help to explain who you are and the history of everything you have done in crypto. This also relates towards the entire craze of NFTs. The NFTs (or even tokens) you own in your wallet can give people an understanding of your interests, passion, and essentially what excites you.

Your cryptocurrency wallet is essentially your digital identity. We want to make it as easy as possible to manage these types of things directly inside of the application.

About Numio

Buy, sell, trade, earn crypto with DeFi, collect NFTs, and more, while saving you up to 100x on Ethereum fees. Numio gives you more control over your digital assets in one convenient app. Numio can be used pseudonymously, or with an optional zkProof powered identity verification system. All Numio products are non-custodial.

Available on , Numio was the first zkRollup powered mobile payments app to be released on Google Play.