Are Non-Custodial Platforms the Only Means of Connecting Your Crypto with Fiat?

The top three crypto exchanges today, Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, traded a combined $12.3 billion in cryptos during the last 24 hours at the time of writing. That is a significant volume of assets. Chances are you might be on one of these or a plethora of others that serve millions of traders and holders around the world. 

These exchanges play a crucial part in the crypto-fiat on and off-ramping, acting as a bridge between the two worlds. There is nothing wrong with it though. However, it is the nature of the technology behind these exchanges that is the point of the discussion. Centralized and custodial in nature, they go against the very nature of decentralized cryptocurrencies.

Understandably, you would avoid using centralized platforms if you are a die-hard supporter of cryptocurrencies. It wouldn’t be difficult at all since there are several DeFi and DEX services available where you can swap, lend, borrow or stake your assets, without the need for any intermediaries. After all, that’s the whole concept of DeFi.

But in a parallel, disconnected world of DeFi, you will find you have no other option but to head to a centralized service if you need to buy or sell your assets using fiat. This is a crucial service that centralized entities provide, enabling on and off ramping. Centralized wallets and exchanges also do more than that. With all the complex crypto movements, handling different tokens, switching between blockchain networks and other functionalities done by these services, many crypto users feel it easier to do use these.

Yet, with all their great services, custodial services require users to hand over their assets to the platforms. Non-transparent, these services are then free to use the funds as they please without even informing the true asset owners. When the time comes, these services may not be able to return the tokens. No wonder that trust in centralized services is at an all time low.

This brings us back to the original dilemma. Private wallets, though more secure and (of course), giving you full control of your assets, cannot help you liquidate your tokens. A catch-22, this forces people to keep coming back to central services, no matter how reluctant they may be.

True, one can find several wallet services online today that support fiat conversions, even going as far as to offer debit cards that can be preloaded with cryptos and fiat to spend anywhere. But a little digging always reflects that these wallets are eventually custodial and therefore, centralized.

But in our search, we found an exception. A private wallet that does not have any centralized features and offers the same flexibility of on and off ramping like exchanges and other conversion services.

OWNR offers a non-custodial wallet to its users, while letting them buy and sell cryptos using their traditional bank cards. Like its centralized counterparts, OWNR does offer multi token storage (albeit limited to only 10 different assets at the moment) and but supports buy and sell with over 60 fiat.

With its own VISA powered prepaid card, the decentralized wallet service has the same great ease of spending cryptocurrencies that industry titans like Binance do, but of course without any custodial issues.

The wallet is also expanding at the institutional level, with an affiliate program and an API to allow other platforms to integrate crypto exchange services.

Another aspect (something that many other competitors lack) is the regulatory compliance OWNR Wallet has. Registered across 6 jurisdictions, OWNR ensures its 400,000+ users that it complies with all KYC and AML rules.

While we believe OWNR seems to have the right blend of decentralized and fiat services, it still has a long way to go. Compliance within more jurisdictions can help solidify its position. Offering increased support for cryptocurrencies and fiat, is something worth considering.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.