Argent Wallet: Bringing DeFi + Security to the Layman

Before we begin this article, keep in mind that your crypto currencies are only as secure as you make them. If you decide to not double check the URL you just accessed and get phished, or send 1 BTC in the expectation that some random internet user will send you 2 BTC back…. well, what’s that old saying? “A fool and his money are soon parted”.

Just yesterday I tried my very best to create an entirely secure Ethereum wallet. That requires a fresh Linux download, verifying checksums and signatures, then going through the tedious process of creating an offline wallet, and so on. Only then did I have partial peace of mind. This has been a huge sticking point that has plagued the cryptocurrency community since inception.

How can we expect the layman to go through these steps, when they hardly even know what Linux is?

We can’t. Most people nowadays have a brief attention span. If it’s not as easy as pie, they’ll drop it and move on.

The Problem: Cryptocurrency wallets are difficult to manage, secure, and recover.

The Solution: Argent Wallet, a non-custodian wallet. Setting up your wallet is as easy as downloading an app. Recovery options, otherwise known as “Guardians” in the Argent system, are easy to configure and truly make your wallet principally secure and easily recoverable.

Why wallets are insecure today.

Well, it’s not the wallets per-say that are insecure, it’s the user & their methodologies. Even moderately advanced users may not jump through every hoop to secure their crypto. The reason for this is that it’s too tedious. Even after jumping through the hoops, you might be exhausted one night and click on the wrong link and get phished for your entire crypto net worth. A scary thought.

You have examples like the Winklevoss twins that have a multisig wallet with the recovery phrases split up into safety deposit boxes around the USA. Then again, they’re securing billions of dollars worth of Crypto. Surely it’s worth the effort to jump through every single hoop at this scale.

What makes Argent so secure?

Argent Wallet – Adjustable Daily Wallet Limits

Argent Recovery Seed

Recovery seeds are vulnerable unless you follow all of those tedious steps mentioned above. The seed (in our case the private key) is generated and stored locally on your phone. By design, it never leaves your phone. On your phone we encrypt it with (a slow hash of) your PIN and if available the Secure Enclave, then stored in the local Keychain (the most secure element of your phone). So you might ask, how do I recover my crypto in the event of a disaster? Look no further, Argent Guardians!

Argent Wallet Guardians

The guardian system is the core of the Argent wallet. In a nutshell, it’s an advanced 2 factor authentication system. There are quite a few unique types of “Guardians”- let’s break them down. They call the default “Argent Guard”, which is two pieces, a phone number and an email address, both needing to authentication before fully activating this single “Argent Guardian”. Your standard 2FA, more or less, but on your non-custodian wallet, neat!

Another example of an Argent Guardian is being able to add a hardware or software wallet such as Metamask, or even a hardware wallet like a Trezor or Nano! There are a few more examples as seen in the screenshot below. You can add a friend or family member who also uses the Argent wallet to help secure your wallet further. For the ultimate security, I would suggest to have 3 guardians enabled.

Argent Wallet Guardian System

In the event of a disaster, these guardians work together to come to a consensus that you are the true owner allowing you to recover your crypto. They achieve this consensus with a simple majority rule.

If you have 1 Argent Guardian active, you will need said guardian to recover. 2 Argent Guardians, you would need 1 to recover. 3 Argent Guardians, you would need 2 Guardians to recover.

“The recovery takes 36 hours. Why? This is a deliberate security layer as it gives you time to cancel any unwanted recovery attempts.”–Source

Disaster Recovery Argent Wallet

Elaborating further as the Co-founder of Argent, Matt stated in this thread:

“We’ve built Argent to be fully non-custodial and censorship resistant. The ultimate test of this is being able to disappear completely with no loss of assets to users. This is a crucial contrast with centralized wallets/exchanges.

We cover the two scenarios:

1. If our App is removed from the Appstore: This does not affect existing users as the App would still be on your phone and you can keep using it.
2. The extreme scenario where Argent, the company, suddenly disappears, including our infrastructure: We have built the Argent Emergency Kit just for that. You can sign a transaction on your phone but submit it to the blockchain through any other wallet such as MEW or Metamask.”

Argent Wallet – Access to Easy Liquidity Farming

With the Argent wallet you have one-tap access to what is quickly becoming known as “liquidity farming”. You can easily & securely lend out your crypto and earn rewards by providing liquidity to several pools & platforms. This can be lucrative compared to traditional APY’s you might earn from the failing legacy system.

Side note, I love Kyber and inside the Argent wallet you can natively swap coins on the Kyberswap platform! Talk about an all in one solution.

Similarly, you can purchase crypto directly inside the wallet using a credit card or bank transfer. Argent uses Moonpay to allow users to purchase crypto within the Argent wallet. Personally, I have my KYC on-ramp that I use to get fiat into crypto. Exposing my personal information to another company that requires KYC is a no-go for me. For smaller amounts, or if you don’t mind losing some privacy, this might be a quick option for you.

The Argent wallet is light years ahead of other solutions. It appears Argent has figured out how to easily & entirely secure your wallet while simultaneously bringing DeFi to the layman on a silver platter. With built in integrations like Kyber Network and other platforms, I truly can’t ask for much more from a crypto wallet.

If you would like to support us, use our link to download the app here – If you don’t want to use our referral link, go to argent.xyz.

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