Welcome
The Need for Exchange
Onboard Exchange addresses the need for accessible onchain ramps, especially in the global South.
By providing an open, non-custodial and composable infrastructure, Onboard empowers users and developers from anywhere in the world to participate in the onchain economy without fear of discrimination, while upholding the principles of self-sovereignty and censorship resistance.
Challenges with existing ramps
Existing exchanges & ramps, especially custodial ones, have several limitations that make them less accessible for users and developers. Some of the common ones include:Geographical constraints
Geographical constraints
For many exchanges and on-ramps, setting up in new countries incurs significant time and effort, thereby excluding users from those countries. Additionally, exchanges may abruptly exit from certain jurisdictions, leaving users scrambling for alternatives.In contrast, Onboard’s protocol, which powers Exchange, is permissionless and open, and is designed so that anyone with sufficient experience can easily set up a secure marketplace of buyers and sellers.
Custodial risk
Custodial risk
Centralized exchanges hold user funds, exposing users to the risk of exchange insolvency, frozen or lost funds.Onboard’s non-custodial approach eliminates this risk and frees the developer from the liability of managing users’ funds. Even in cases of disputes, withdrawals can only be made to either the buyer or seller, and not to 3rd party addresses.
High fees
High fees
Crypto-to-fiat ramps that support self-custody wallets often charge prohibitive fees, especially for users of limited means in emerging markets.The Onboard protocol adopts a peer-to-peer model, therefore the only fees required at the protocol level are gas fees paid to the blockchain network. Developers have the flexibility to charge additional fees, both on the protocol and Connect integration level, but are encouraged to maintain competitive pricing to be more inclusive.Recent updates to the Onboard protocol have introduced the concept of gasless transactions, which in most cases, eliminates the need for native tokens for gas fees.
Closed source & non-composable
Closed source & non-composable
For dApps targeting users from emerging markets, integrating on & off-ramping solutions is challenging. Besides the significant fees, existing solutions are closed-source and only offer integration at the API level, thus making them less flexible to build on.Contrast this to protocols like Uniswap, which demonstrate crypto’s inherent composability. Uniswap’s contracts can integrate with other modular protocols, thus unlocking new use cases.Onboard Protocol, which powers Exchange, adopts a similar modular approach, as it can be integrated at the protocol level within decentralized apps. Being EVM-based also ensures compatibility with a wide range of wallets.