CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 82.67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money

What is Ethos 2.0? The decentralised wallet relaunches

By Raphael Sanis

15:24, 3 November 2022

The Ethos logo and name on a tablet
Ethos 2.0’s staple product is its secure crypto wallet under the name Universal Vault – Photo: Shutterstock

Ethos, a decentralised wallet and trading platform for cryptocurrencies, was acquired by Voyager in 2019. Now, four months after the collapse of Voyager, Ethos is relaunching, determined to serve its original decentralised mission.

A wealth of different products were announced, including innovative wallet keys, a secure crypto vault, and an incentive scheme with its own ETHOS token.

But the ecosystem is still at the beginning of its new journey. Read on to have everything about Ethos 2.0 explained.

The original ETHOS

Before looking at what is Ethos 2.0 and what Ethos 2.0 means, a study of its first version can provide some important context.

Ethos was created in 2016 with decentralisation at its core. The cryptocurrency was looking to continue delivering crypto’s transparent and accessible goals for the finance industry. It wanted to build an “ecosystem that is open, safe and fair for everyone”.

The Ethos Universal Wallet was the platform’s staple product. It gave users a decentralised wallet with self-custody that enabled anyone to send, store, track and receive cryptocurrencies.

Shingo Lavine, the ETHOS co-founder, said in a blog post: “This vision became enormously successful and, in a matter of months, rapidly grew to over 100,000 users distributed all around the world.”

The Voyager takeover

However, in 2019, Ethos was bought out by the centralised crypto exchange Voyager, which acquired the decentralised wallet along with its decentralised developer platform, named Bedrock.

Lavine boasted: “Bedrock was a sophisticated, decentralized, high-performance, cross-chain blockchain engine that powered all of the Universal Wallet and subsequently Voyager’s crypto systems. Voyager would not have been possible without Bedrock or the Ethos team.”

He also raised the incongruence between Ethos’s decentralised mission and the objectives of Voyager.

Then, in July 2022, Voyager filed for bankruptcy after the collapse of Terra and its being exposed to the failed Three Arrows Capital hedge fund.

Ethos 2.0 definition

Almost four months after Voyager’s collapse, Ethos announced it was relaunching with the same transparent goals.

Addressing the question of how Ethos 2.0 would work, the blog post said: “Our vision is to fulfil the original decentralized vision of crypto to create a future that is for everyone.”

Ethos is returning with unique and familiar products. The Universal Vault will give users a place to securely store cryptocurrencies with up to seven types of encryption.

It is getting rid of the long and complex seed phrases that most wallets use as a passcode. Instead, Ethos will use “magic keys”, which lets users back up and restore their wallets with “bank-grade technology”.

DOGE/USD

0.32 Price
+1.540% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.0015857

BTC/USD

93,630.10 Price
-1.480% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 50.00

XRP/USD

2.23 Price
+0.840% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.01111

PEPE/USD

0.00 Price
+0.790% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.00000009

Another key part of the Ethos 2.0 ecosystem is its trading platform. Investors will be able to execute trades directly between the blockchain and the Universal Vault, without any need for a centralised party.

Its website said: “Ethos searches dozens of Defi exchanges to find you the best price and liquidity. The Ethos app can even split trades across multiple providers to complete your transactions.”

Ethos’s upcoming new feature is its yield seeker, which enables users to discover staking opportunities and launch their own smart contracts.

What is ETHOS 2.0?

ETHOS is the platform’s native token, which was created to encourage investors to utilise its ecosystem. Its website described the cryptocurrency as the “cornerstone of our rewards program”.

There are multiple ways for the Ethos community to earn these tokens. Every time an ETHOS holder makes a cryptocurrency trade using the platform, they will be rewarded with tokens.

The cryptocurrency is also given to those interacting with Ethos’s content, including watching videos and liking posts.

Other ETHOS 2.0 examples of utility include discounts on “premium Magic Key sharding”.

The ETHOS airdrop

While the ETHOS token is yet to go live, the team is already scheduling an official airdrop. Those who have lost funds in the collapse of Voyager will be entitled to receive free ETHOS tokens.

A significant allocation of one billion ETHOS will be dedicated to those who were impacted by the bankruptcy earlier this year. Ethos promised there would be “no strings attached”.

Investors who want to claim tokens from this airdrop will need to complete a form on the platform’s website. The information will later be verified to ensure pariticipants are eligible.

Addressing investors, Ethos said: “You will receive an estimate for the total number of ETHOS tokens you will receive. This number is calculated by your amount of VGX and USD holdings.”

Bottom line

After the collapse of Voyager, Ethos is seeking to get back to its original mission as it sets out a plan to re-establish itself as a decentralised ecosystem for storing and trading cryptocurrencies.

It has already laid out utility for its native token ETHOS. However, the tokenomics and specifics are yet to be announced, including the launch date and total supply.

As such, if you are considering investing in ETHOS or other cryptocurrency tokens, we recommend that you always do your own research. Look at the latest market trends, news, technical and fundamental analysis, and expert opinion before making any investment decision. Keep in mind that past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Never trade with money that you cannot afford to lose.

Related topics

Rate this article

Related reading

The difference between trading assets and CFDs
The main difference between CFD trading and trading assets, such as commodities and stocks, is that you don’t own the underlying asset when you trade on a CFD.
You can still benefit if the market moves in your favour, or make a loss if it moves against you. However, with traditional trading you enter a contract to exchange the legal ownership of the individual shares or the commodities for money, and you own this until you sell it again.
CFDs are leveraged products, which means that you only need to deposit a percentage of the full value of the CFD trade in order to open a position. But with traditional trading, you buy the assets for the full amount. In the UK, there is no stamp duty on CFD trading, but there is when you buy stocks, for example.
CFDs attract overnight costs to hold the trades (unless you use 1-1 leverage), which makes them more suited to short-term trading opportunities. Stocks and commodities are more normally bought and held for longer. You might also pay a broker commission or fees when buying and selling assets direct and you’d need somewhere to store them safely.
Capital Com is an execution-only service provider. The material provided in this article is for information purposes only and should not be understood as investment advice. Any opinion that may be provided on this page does not constitute a recommendation by Capital Com or its agents and has not been prepared in accordance with the legal requirements designed to promote investment research independence. While the information in this communication, or on which this communication is based, has been obtained from sources that Capital.com believes to be reliable and accurate, it has not undergone independent verification. No representation or warranty, whether expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy or completeness of any information obtained from third parties. If you rely on the information on this page, then you do so entirely at your own risk.

Still looking for a broker you can trust?

Join the 660,000+ traders worldwide that chose to trade with Capital.com

1. Create & verify your account 2. Make your first deposit 3. You’re all set. Start trading