The Moment for a Schwab of Web3

Charles Schwab is one of the largest asset management companies, with over $7 trillion in client assets. Forty years back it ushered groundbreaking change in the brokerage industry by using technology, online trading, low costs, and transparency to democratize access to equity markets. Schwab's success was built upon its commitment to investing in computer systems and software, which streamlined the trading process and reduced costs. Schwab also lowered costs by eliminating fees and commissions that had been standard in the industry. Besides, Schwab established trust with its customers by providing clear and transparent information about pricing, fees, and investment options.

We are witnessing a similar step change in the form of decentralized finance (DeFi), which uses technology to simplify financial processes and reduce costs, making it possible for anyone with an internet connection to participate in a broad range of financial activities for crypto or digital assets. Unlike Schwab, DeFi goes beyond traditional asset classes, providing access to a wider range of financial instruments. DeFi is built on blockchain technology, which offers a high level of transparency and security compared to traditional financial systems. Furthermore, DeFi is globally accessible, providing financial services to people worldwide, regardless of their economic status or location, unlocking immense economic potential and granting financial inclusion to millions.

With DeFi, we are witnessing a new wave of innovation with the potential to not only democratize access to financial services, but also, financial innovation in ways that were previously unimaginable. Simplifying DeFi UX complexity: However, DeFi faces significant challenges that impede its adoption, such as complexity and fragmentation, perhaps the most significant challenge being  user experience (UX). 

The DeFi ecosystem is spread across multiple platforms with varying user interfaces and designs, making it challenging for users to navigate and comprehend the various protocols and products. Similarly, some DeFi interfaces can be intimidating and confusing, deterring new users from entering the DeFi space. DeFi's underlying technology is complex, relying on smart contracts that are difficult to interact with for non-technical users; therefore, simplifying the technology and enhancing user experience are crucial for promoting DeFi's growth and adoption.

To address these challenges, the DeFi community must prioritise developing high-quality user interfaces that are intuitive and user-friendly. Creating educational resources and user-friendly documentation is also crucial. Building more integrated platforms that consolidate multiple protocols and products into a single interface can simplify DeFi, reducing fragmentation and making it more accessible to users.

Complexity, fragmentation, disorganized intelligence, and UX - the combination renders DeFi inaccessible for most. aarnâ protocol is designed to address this large problem by creating a native on-chain asset management platform that makes it simple & informed for users to participate and invest in DeFi, and manage their full digital assets (crypto) wealth life cycle. 

aarnâ has taken an ecosystem approach - building both: the infrastructure, and the marketplace for enabling decentralized asset management. The multi-sided platform has three participant groups - the product creation and fund management side, the user or client side, and the tokenization side. The three groups form the community of the protocol and come together to participate in it’s governance. The infrastructure side enables a decentralized platform for crypto fund managers, and data scientists with AI expertise to collaborate and  create strategies, and the tokenization infrastructure then effectively tokenizes the strategies into aarnâ finance or â_fi vaults, which are then made accessible to users via a sophisticated, yet very UX focused aarnâ dApp. The marketplace thus connects the alpha creators with users - completing an alpha discovery protocol. The architecture of the protocol is decentralized, non-custodial, and is composable (or inter-operable) with most other important protocols - thus being a DeFi on-chain asset management platform. 

aarnâ is the decentralized and on-chain Schwab of web3, and will make DeFi access simple, well-informed, and guided by expertise, both humans and AI. We’re excited to begin this journey as we release our beta in phases.

Visa collaborates with Ethereum's Goerli testnet to explore the potential of account abstraction, aiming to enhance privacy and scalability in blockchain transactions. know more >Crypto.com examines the Bitcoin ecosystem's expansion into Layer 2 solutions, decentralized finance (DeFi), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). know more >Tornado Cash, an Ethereum privacy tool, faces criticism and regulatory scrutiny amid the Biden administration's crackdown on cryptocurrency trading. know more >Top tweets from the world of DeFiVery soon you will not have to worry about remembering your seed phrase. Here’s Account Abstraction by @DeFi Saint

Ledger's social recovery of seed phrases, encrypted in shards, reconstructed after ID verification. Horrendous, says @Mudit

Secure your investments, follow DEFI HYGIENE for safety. Don't risk, explained in this thread by @Stacy Muur 

Last month was a ton of dev works at aarnâ, going through the security audit of our smart contracts and much more. Check out our April update >T