It’s time to build the solution.

Your Keys, Your Crypto, Your Ethos

Today is a sad day for crypto. In many ways, it is the end of an era that was marked by increased centralization, risk taking and disregard for consumer protection that has led to massive meltdowns that have affected tens of millions of people and hundreds of billions in assets. 

It is well past time that we, as a community, come together to demand better. Crypto wasn’t founded upon the idea that centralized actors would take customer assets and take reckless risks. Crypto wasn’t built to enable yet another corrupt, centralized financial system – crypto was built to be different and to enable us to take back control of our money from those that would seek to abuse that power. 

At Ethos, we believe that crypto can be better. We believe that crypto can be used as a force for good and that DeFi can be used to empower people to take back control from those that have abused the trust of so many. We are not building Ethos to build yet another centralized company, but we are building Ethos to capture the core “ethos of crypto” and build a future that belongs to everyone.

Take Back Control of Your Crypto

In the wake of these centralized meltdowns, taking control of your crypto is more important than ever. One of the strongest core beliefs of Ethos is something everyone involved in cryptocurrency has heard time and time again. “Not your keys, not your Crypto.” You deserve control of your crypto at all times. That’s why Ethos is never allowed to touch, move, or control your crypto in any way, shape or form. Together with the Ethos community we can build a platform to help protect against future centralized meltdowns. Ethos is built to be decentralized from the ground up, and every single feature on Ethos is always fully under your own control. 

Bitcoin was originally created to defy sovereignty in 2009 after the wake of the financial crisis. From financial bailouts, to subprime loans destroying the economy. Throughout history we’ve learned that complete sovereignty can be seriously harmful due to the lack of oversight.   Sovereignty is the supreme power and authority. Sovereignty is strengthened when you’re not in control and you’re stuck to the subject to the whims of authority.

Unfortunately, that same sovereignty made its way to Crypto. During these past few months many centralized exchanges, lenders, and hedge funds snuck into the Crypto universe, ignoring the core decentralized beliefs expressed in the original Bitcoin whitepaper. Crypto was created to opt out of this system and put the power directly into your hands. We stand by the original bitcoin philosophy and want everyone in the Ethos community to keep that power in their hands. We want to use our Ethos ecosystem to help advance the power of self-custody. We want to make sure centralized meltdowns stop, and that we keep the power to the people. 

Even now, people involved in the centralization bankruptcies have lost utter control. Not only by not having a say in how their Cryptocurrency was handled and used, but by continuing to spend the creditors money–even after losing billions of dollars in funds. These centralized collapses today in crypto are similar to the centralized collapses of the financial system that inspired bitcoin originally. Now, more than ever, it’s time to defy centralization and embrace DeFi. Not only to keep power in your own hands, but to stop the spread of power from those seeking to destroy Crypto.

Hearing news that a platform holding your crypto is unable to process withdrawals—or that a platform you used for years is now bankrupt— is horrific to hear. We’ve come to learn at Ethos that Crypto problems require Crypto solutions. Self-custody is the only solution and self-custody is the only way people should be using Crypto. 

Trust yourself.

Unlike centralized companies, Ethos isn’t asking for your trust. We will never be able to access your coins. We will never be able to access your private keys. We will never have a say of if or when you can withdraw your coins. You will be in control and have full ownership of your assets, at all times, verified by the blockchain. Instead of trusting in Ethos, you’re trusting in the blockchain, miners around the world, you’re trusting the thousands of people staking Ethereum securing the network. You’re trusting in Crypto as a whole. 

You don’t have to trust a CEO saying everything is “safe and secure” and hoping they’re not lying. You don’t have to trust a company to verify your funds. You don’t have to trust a company using your assets without your permission. You can verify this yourself, be safe and secure by yourself, and can keep the power for yourself.

Your Keys, Your Crypto, Your Ethos.

So with all of that, we want to remind everyone. This is one of our strongest core beliefs, that Ethos is decentralized and always will be. Ethos cannot access or control your funds in any way. Your funds will exist on the blockchain, entirely independent of Ethos, and will always be under your own control. This is how we believe Crypto should be done, and now, more than ever, is a model for creating robust consumer protection and a consumer-centric system.

Our team is composed of many users who were affected by these horrendous collapses of the Cryptocurrency system. Our team has one goal in mind: to never let this happen again. One of our CEO’s Adam Lavine once mentioned, “This is something Crypto needs. If we need to build it, we will.” So here we are. We want to make sure you will never have to deal with a tragedy like this again.

Both Security and Convenience – No compromises. 

Our goal at Ethos is to make self-custody as easy as any centralized custody. Key sharding and backup lets you restore your keys–even if you lose them. But Ethos can never restore your keys independently because Ethos will never have access to your keys. 

You will be able to trade directly from the Ethos App when we launch early next year. With competitive prices and an easy and accessible UI that you all know and love. All without Ethos ever touching your funds. 

You will have all the benefits of decentralized security, without the downsides of centralized risk. You will be in control. 

As everyone has been hurt and scared by Crypto this past year, Ethos’s mission is to bring the power and control back to the people. You would never give away the keys to your home, so why would you do it with your Crypto?

If you want to be a part of Ethos’s mission to Defy with DeFi, please sign up for our mailing list. Or if you’re a creditor eligible for the Voyager and VGX creditor Recovery Airdrop, sign up here. If you just want to stay in the know follow our twitter, facebook, or join our Discord and Telegram community.

We’re looking forward to building a decentralized future together.