Cryptocurrencies have revolutionized the world of finance by offering a decentralized alternative to traditional fiat currencies. Despite some challenges in terms of usability and accessibility, the market is growing steadily and blockchains are attracting more and more users every year. In fact, according to a16z crypto’s 2023 state of crypto report, active addresses have doubled in just two years, reaching an all-time high of 15 million in March 2023. And at the time of writing, there exist more than 23,000 unique cryptocurrencies.
The industry’s growth is, in part, the result of a new and growing ecosystem of apps and services that make it easier for people to engage with cryptocurrencies. There are also more people getting paid in crypto, and major brands like Burger King and eBay are even experimenting with accepting crypto as payment.
Despite the progress, one of the biggest obstacles for cryptocurrency holders is finding a simple and accessible way to convert their digital assets into fiat currency. Since government-minted tender, or “fiat currency,” still dominates the world of finance, the need for a reliable and accessible off-ramp solution has become urgent.
There are many solutions today that let you convert your crypto into good old-fashioned fiat currency. But the process often involves a lot of hoops to jump through. It's like trying to navigate a maze while blindfolded - not impossible, but definitely not easy or fun.
Why is it so difficult, you might ask? Well, for starters, the whole point of crypto is to decentralize and disrupt the traditional financial system. This means that there's no central authority or institution that controls the flow of money, which is pretty cool but can make things a bit tricky. Plus, with so many different cryptocurrencies out there, each with its own value and volatility, it's hard to keep track of what you have and how much it's worth.
Centralized crypto exchanges (CEXs), peer-to-peer platforms and crypto ATMs are the most common options to cash out crypto. But these options are often difficult to use, heavily centralized, have extremely high fees, have poor security and privacy or are simply not available for everyone.
Enter Skyteller: a solution born from a group of crypto-loving friends, including one BFF founding member, Gauri Sharma. The Skyteller team is passionate about creating tools to make people's lives easier — after all, that’s the point, right?
Originally, the team wanted to create a debit card that would let people swipe from their self-custody wallet. However, they soon realized that crypto and banks weren't exactly getting along. So, they reprioritized their roadmap and focused on something simpler, putting the debit card on pause.
Thanks to this experimentation, they landed on a unique perspective and decided to focus on crypto off-ramp solutions so people could use their crypto in their daily lives. And that's how Skyteller was born.
“Skyteller is, in very simple terms, a personal off-ramp that lets you really easily convert crypto to fiat straight into your bank,” said Jordan Ho, co-founder of Galactic and Chief of Growth at Skyteller.
A decentralized off-ramp solution not only aligns with the core principles of cryptocurrencies, but also offers a more secure and transparent process for users, provides them with more control over their funds and is often cheaper and faster than traditional centralized options.
"We really believe that everybody should be in control of their own off-ramp, as much as they can be,” said Ho. “So your Skyteller smart contract sits on-chain and any of your funds can get aggregated until you want to off-ramp them. It’s easy and you get way more control”.
The process to use Skyteller is simple:
Once these steps are completed, you can deploy your own smart contract through Skyteller's decentralized application (DApp) using your Ethereum wallet. When it’s time, you can just execute the sweep and receive your funds directly in your bank account. It may seem complicated, but it is all done inside their platform in a very straightforward way.
Read More: WTF Is… A Smart Contract
Safety and compliance is also very important for the company. Skyteller audits all their contracts and make everything available for public review. They also employ a Chief Compliance Officer to ensure they're staying in line with regulations.
“Our whole team has a background in the [traditional] payments world. And so for us compliance is an asset, not a liability,” said Ho. “We think it is a thing that we need to be very upfront about.”
Unlike other off-ramps, Skyteller offers some unique benefits that can make your life in the crypto world a lot smoother.
For instance, users can set up their accounts to send all their NFT royalties to one location. No more juggling multiple wallets or worrying about lost royalties. With Skyteller, all of your royalties can go straight to your smart contract and aggregate there until you're ready to cash out. You can use your Skyteller wallet as the endpoint for OpenSea or any other marketplaces that offer royalties.
Another great use case is for payment splitters. If you're a DAO contributor and receive crypto earnings, you can connect Skyteller with a payment splitter and have your earnings automatically split between Skyteller and your wallet. This way, you can off-ramp your earnings instantly and at the cost basis that you received them. Plus, you can decide how much to allocate to Skyteller for taxes and how much to keep in your wallet for other purposes.
Last, Skyteller's decentralized approach and focus on user control set it apart from the rest. While there are many existing solutions for crypto-to-fiat conversions, Skyteller users have their own smart contract, bypassing the need for custodial wallet and giving individuals control over their crypto. This innovative approach to cryptocurrency off-ramps is a big step towards making crypto more accessible and user-friendly.
Currently, Skyteller is in alpha, but the BFF community has been given early access and will be instantly added to the allowlist when signing up to join Skyteller! Click HERE to get on the allowlist.
Click HERE to get on the Skyteller allowlist.
This is not financial advice. If you don't want to spend money investing in crypto or Web3 — you don’t have to. The intent of this article is to help others educate themselves and learn.
While BFF has no financial or other interest in Skyteller, for full transparency Gauri Sharma is a member of the Founding BFF community.
Sabrina Bonini is the Founder of Cripto Es Cultura, a community and creative agency that helps brands and creators adapt to the Web3 and NFT space. She pays special attention to the education and empowerment of Spanish-speaking artists, women and underrepresented groups and is fully committed to helping make the blockchain ecosystem more diverse and inclusive. Connect with her on Twitter @criptoescultura.
