The advent of crypto and DeFi came about partly to inject decentralization into everyday finance, so users could truly take control over their funds into their hands. However, centralized exchanges and solutions still emerged for a bit of hand-holding for not the most tech-savvy in the world of crypto- after all, the UI and UX of decentralized applications still leave some things to be desired. We could debate round and round about centralized vs. decentralized in the crypto space, but our actual objective this time is to evaluate a DeFi platform that gives ‘freedom of ownership’ to Indian users to test the true ‘decentralized’ waters – Avici.
Say you have traded crypto through the many user-friendly centralized exchanges out there, and now you are prepared to explore the other side. DeFi wallets firmly believe in you being the sole person responsible for the safety of your assets- so you have to manage your wallet’s private key yourself.
This may be a fearsome endeavor (who doesn’t like blaming others for their own faults), which is where solutions like Avici claim to step in. Let’s find out more.
What is Avici?
While centralized exchanges are more popular for the user-friendly reasons mentioned above, if you think about it, they are everything crypto is supposed to not be- they are controlled by someone, your transactions require to be approved, and you do not have full control over your assets.
However, going decentralized means compromising on user experience, figuring out and managing your DeFi wallets, and navigating different networks while also paying different fees. For those at unease over taking this leap, Avici promises better user experience, compliance, and privacy.
The platform is a decentralized crypto exchange based on Ethereum that stands for freedom of ownership, with these primary goals:
- Eliminate the need for centralized instruments like bank accounts
- Decentralize credit and monetary policy and lower the influence and necessity of central banks
- Promote decentralization and tone down the sheer lead centralized exchanges have taken over decentralized exchanges, despite going entirely against the principles of crypto
- Make self-custody easy for crypto users, especially those new to the decentralized domains
- Popularizing ‘cypherpunk’ values (for those not in the know, cypherpunks are basically crypto bros with strong respect for the underlying technologies. Jokes apart, they are people vouching for cryptography and other privacy-enhancing tech as a key component for a sociopolitical shift towards a more decentralized future)- including privacy of speech and freedom of money
The Key Components of Avici’s Self-Custody Soltuion
To achieve these goals, here are the components Avici has brought into play:
- A Smart Account:
Before you know this, ‘what is a DeFi wallet?’ is a good question to answer. These wallets store public and private keys for you to make transactions, with one key quality- the transactions you make are not overseen by anyone but you and you are the only one responsible for the safety of your assets.
Now, an Avici account is what they call a ‘smart account’ on the Ethereum chain. So as opposed your traditional DeFi wallet that requires a private key (for you to sign transactions you initiate and access your crypto funds) and a public key (to be shared with others to receive transactions), smart accounts do something new and remove the whole affair with the keys, as there’s much scope for mismanagement and losing keys.
Smart Avici accounts are smart contract-powered DeFi wallets that lay down a set of rules to set up an account on Ethereum. You can:
- Include transaction limits, which means you can connect this DeFi wallet to a decentralized application (dApp), but it won’t have the power to take all your funds without your knowledge for any particular action. You can set up two-factor authentication or 2FA so you always authorize any transactions.
- You can set up recovery measures so you can recover a lost/hacked account.
- Avici DeFi wallets allow for gasless transations- which means you do not need to buy ETH/ another native token for a dApp to pay transaction fees (gas).
The goal here is to offer an experience as smooth as a centralized exchange to users while still offering self-custody.
- Passkeys:
Avici has introduced this feature as a more secure version of traditional passwords. Passkeys are based on public key cryptography: when you sign up on a platform, it will generate public and private keys, the first to be stored on the server and the second to be stored on your device.
Now, when you log into the same platform, a challenge will be sent to your device. The challenge will be signed with the private key, and if it matches the private key on the server, the authentication is completed successfully.
However, you do not need to remember the private key in this process. The authentication is usually done simply with biometrics or a local PIN. The security benefits of passkeys are plenty while still being easy to use. Passkeys are not susceptible to phishing as authentication is done locally on your device, plus the private key does not leave your device, which means no unwanted leaks.
Further, each application you use will have a different pair of keys generated, so even if one set is compromised, it does not affect the other accounts.
- Transaction Limit:
Once you have set up passkeys for a certain account, you will be asked to set a transaction limit for the same account as well. This way, no dApp can drain your funds from the DeFi wallet without your knowledge. The feature makes self-custody easier than ever.
- Purchase Digital Assets:
In India, Avici makes it easy to buy digital assets with UPI integration, through onramp partners in compliance with relevant Indian regulations. You can buy USDT through UPI from one of these partners, which is then converted into whatever asset you want to buy through Uniswap (with API assistance). Right now, you can buy USDT, digital 24K gold, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, and Chainlink through Avici, with more to come.
Of course, Uniswap requires you to hold the native token to initiate transactions, but Avici takes care of this part.
- Auto Offramp:
Avici plans to elevate UX to a greater level through this feature- any crypto received is converted into fiat automatically. For more details, visit their official documents.
How Can You Onboard Avici?
Avici is still in private beta; you can access the beta version through an Andriod app through Google Playstore and Apple TestFlight. The platform is available to users from India and the USA, but you can enter through invite only. If you are interested, you can reach out to the team for an invite code.
Avici is available on Instagram, X, and Telegram.
What Do We Think about Avici?
The FTX incident is only too fresh in our memories, and every now and then you still see snippets of whatever is going on with SBF in the aftermath. The fiasco gave fresh rise to a decade-old conversation about the extent of decentralization in crypto. While the core asset preaches complete overhaul of traditional financial mechanisms and centralized authorities, for the sake of accessibility, it had to resort to centralized exchanges. People need to start somewhere, and more often than not, they seek out the comfort of centralized platforms where someone tells them what to do and takes care of the valuables.
To counter this, what decentralized platforms need to do is bring improved UX, and interfaces where users find the same level of familiarity and guidance as centralized platforms. This is easier said than done, because decentralized platforms involve figuring out DeFi wallets, independent decision-making, and more. Avici is one of the up and coming DeFi platforms to zero in on the issue of accessibility, and the features promised are undoubtedly a good start to simplifying true DeFi. it remains to be seen what Avici achieves in the coming times, especially after its public launch.
As time goes on, people asking ‘is DeFi wallet safe?’ still must know that self-custody and DeFi wallets are the future of finance, if progress is the goal. As developers work on simplifying these features, we as users must also continue to educate ourselves and navigate the DeFi learning curve, away from the predictability (and associated threats) of centralized exchanges. This is not to say that centralized platforms do not have their use, however- they are in fact always a good place to start.
What do you think about the centralized and decentralized debate, and how do you think the future shapes up? We would love to know in the comments below.
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