{"id":13334,"date":"2020-05-19T16:55:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T16:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/?p=2559673"},"modified":"2020-05-19T16:55:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T16:55:00","slug":"buzzy-ethereum-wallet-app-argent-comes-out-of-stealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/05\/19\/buzzy-ethereum-wallet-app-argent-comes-out-of-stealth\/","title":{"rendered":"Buzzy Ethereum wallet app Argent comes out of stealth"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Argent<\/a> is launching the first public version of its Ethereum wallet for iOS and Android. The company has been available as a limited beta for a few months with a few thousand users. But it has already raised<\/a> a seed and a Series A round with notable investors, such as Paradigm, Index Ventures, Creandum and Firstminute Capital. Overall, the company has raised $16 million.<\/p>\n

I managed to get an invitation to the beta a few months ago and have been playing around with it. It’s a well-designed Ethereum <\/a> wallet with some innovative security features. It also integrates really well with DeFi projects.<\/p>\n

Many people leave their crypto assets on a cryptocurrency exchange, such as Coinbase or Binance. But it’s a centralized model — you don’t own the keys, which means that an exchange could get hacked and you’d lose all your crypto assets. Similarly, if there’s a vulnerability in the exchange API or login system, somebody could transfer all your crypto assets to their own wallets.<\/p>\n

At heart, Argent <\/a> is a non-custodial Ethereum wallet, like Coinbase Wallet<\/a> or Trust Wallet<\/a>. You’re in control of the keys. Argent can’t initiate a transaction without your authorization for instance.<\/p>\n

But that level of control brings a lot of complexities. Hardware wallets, such as Ledger<\/a> wallets, ask you to write down a seed phrase so that you can recover your wallet if you lose your device. It requires some discipline and it’s hard to understand if you’re not familiar with the concept of seed phrases.<\/p>\n

Even Coinbase Wallet tells you to back up your seed phrase when you first create a wallet. “We see them as advanced tools for developers,” Argent co-founder and CEO Itamar Lesuisse told me.<\/p>\n

That’s why a new generation of wallets tries to hide the complexity from the end user, such as ZenGo<\/a> and Argent. Creating a wallet on Argent is one of the best experiences in the cryptocurrency space. Your wallet is secured by something called ‘guardians’.<\/p>\n

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Trust your friends<\/h2>\n

A guardian can be someone you know and trust, a hardware wallet (or another phone) or a MetaMask account. Argent also provides a guardian service, which requires you to confirm your identity with a text message and an email. If you lose your phone and you want to recover your wallet on another phone, you need to speak to your guardians and get a majority of confirmations. If they can all confirm that, yes, indeed, your phone doesn’t work anymore and you want to recover your crypto assets, the recovery process starts.<\/p>\n

Let’s take an example. Here’s your list of guardians:<\/p>\n