Table of Contents

1. TL;DR

2. The Need for Convenience in Crypto

3. The Problem: How to Easily Buy Crypto?

   1. Buying Crypto the CEX Way

      1. Advantages

      2. Disadvantages

   2. Buying Crypto the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Way

      1. Advantages

      2. Disadvantages

4. The Solution: Buy Crypto on Librty using UPI

   1. Librty’s Solution

   2. How to Start using Librty

TL;DR

🇮🇳 Buying crypto in India is a horrible experience. It sucks. We solved it.

🫰 You have 2 options currently- P2P or a CEX. P2P has high markup, not secure and is slow. With exchanges, you don’t own your keys, so you don’t own your crypto and goes against everything crypto stands for.

⏳ Using Librty Games app, you can seamlessly add crypto funds through UPI in less than a minute.

🎮 Librty Games is still in beta phase and is available on Android and iOS. To start using it, fill out this form and you’ll be mailed the download link.

The Need for Convenience in Crypto

Since the early days of mainstream crypto, there have emerged a whole lot of apps and platforms that have made it easier to navigate the crypto landscape, specifically DeFi. Plenty of wallets, services, swaps, exchanges, marketplaces, and more are now in the phones & browsers of millions of people worldwide.

Despite all this progress, there’s still one DeFi hurdle that is yet to be overcome, especially in India - adding crypto funds easily into your wallet for external usage.

When you already own crypto, it’s easy to swap, send, farm, stake, and purchase assets with it. But the challenge lies in getting from 0 to 1, ie, converting your fiat money in your bank account to cryptocurrency in your crypto wallet.

There are a few things to keep in mind when you’re buying crypto, especially for the first time. How easy is it to set up your account? What are the fees you can expect? How long will it take? What are the various platforms available? What’s the liquidity on each of these platforms? Can you easily buy NFTs on the platform?

Most platforms that you may use, still follow the older ways of purchasing crypto, but as the ecosystem of digital payments evolves, so should the ability to purchase crypto using these new, simpler payment methods, ie, UPI.

Librty overcomes this hurdle by offering the best of both worlds - the convenience & familiarity of a CEX combined with the privacy & true ownership of a crypto wallet. Furthermore, with social log in, you can create a wallet simply through logging in with Google - eliminating the hassle of storing your private key and/or seed phrase.

If you want to jump to Librty’s solution, scroll down to “How to Purchase Crypto with UPI in Librty”.

If you want to learn about the current realities of purchasing crypto to truly appreciate Librty’s solution, let’s dive in!

The Problem: How to Easily Buy Crypto?

Today, if you’re in India and want to buy & truly own some crypto, you have 2 main options:

1. Buy crypto through a CEX and then transfer

2. Buy crypto through P2P

Buying Crypto the CEX Way

Purchasing crypto through a CEX (Centralised EXchange) is one of the easiest ways to dive into the world of cryptocurrencies. A CEX is like a fully regulated online bank or marketplace for digital currencies.

A more accurate analogy would be a physical currency exchange booth that you might see in an airport. You can deposit your Fiat money into the CEX and use that money to buy digital currencies. The CEX handles all the complicated stuff behind the scenes, and you get to walk away with your new digital money.

The 'centralized' part means that there's a company running the exchange, much like a bank. This company takes care of managing the transactions, ensuring security, and making sure everything runs smoothly.

Advantages of using a CEX

CEXs such as Binance or WazirX offer a smooth, familiar experience to newcomers. You complete a simple verification process called KYC (Know Your Customer), deposit funds via your debit card, and then you're ready to buy or sell, guided by clear candle charts showing recent price movements.

That's what using a CEX feels like. The experience is familiar and due to the fact that CEXs are centralized, there’s plenty of room for customer support and legal intervention, making them trustworthy for saving your private key or setting up your own wallet.

Additionally, there are generally more cryptocurrency options available on CEXs. This could be seen as an advantage or disadvantage, depending on your perspective.

Disadvantages of using a CEX

While CEXs might feel comfy and secure, you don't actually own the crypto you buy. A phrase often echoed in crypto circles is, "Not your keys, not your crypto".

When you buy crypto through a CEX, you don't own the private and public keys that prove ownership of your digital assets – the exchange does. This is called a custodial wallet. It’s like leasing a car - you can drive it, but the car isn’t really yours.

On the other hand, a self-custodial wallet is yours and truly yours. You own the wallet, the keys, and the crypto.

Custodial vs Self-custodial wallets

Custodial Wallet Wallets provided by exchanges like Coinbase and Binance are custodial wallets. They manage and secure your keys. While you can access your assets, you don't directly control them. Custodial wallets are usually easier to use, especially for beginners, as they offer user-friendly interfaces and support.

Self-custodial Wallet Wallets like MetaMask or Trust Wallet are self-custodial. You're responsible for storing and protecting your keys. You own both public and private keys, giving you full control over your assets. If you lose your keys, your assets are lost, since there's no third party that can recover them for you. Self-custodial wallets can be slightly more complex as you need to manage your keys. However, they offer more freedom and control over your assets.

The problem with CEXs became crystal clear with the unfortunate FTX fiasco. Though they were trustworthy, they can go down anytime and it goes against the core value of crypto - don’t trust, verify. Sure, exchanges can provide proof of reserves to say they hold a certain amount but they can easily spoof or change it following an audit.

As FTX tanked, $8 billion of customer funds evaporated into thin air. And the customers were left empty-handed. Why? Because they didn't have control over their funds.

The next downside is that exchanges are expensive. They run on charging users trade fees, transaction fees, and taking their crypto to make risky bets (loaning).

Another downside with CEXs is their incompatibility with dApps (decentralized applications) and blockchain games. Most CEXs don't provide this option. So if you want to use your crypto to play games or interact with dApps, a CEX won't do. You’ll have to withdraw your crypto from your CEX to an external (EOA) wallet, like Librty or MetaMask.

So, if maintaining control over your funds, keys, and wallet is essential to you, it's best to steer clear of CEXs.

Buying Crypto the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Way

In the digital world, P2P stands for Peer-to-Peer. It's like a digital farmers’ market, where you can directly connect with other individuals to buy or sell crypto without an intermediary.

Just as a farmers' market allows direct dealings between buyers and sellers, P2P crypto platforms cut out the middleman. Instead, these platforms rely on smart contracts and escrow services to keep things secure and fair.

When a transaction is initiated, the seller's crypto is placed in a secure holding area, similar to a safety deposit box, until the buyer pays up. Only when the payment is confirmed is the cryptocurrency released to the buyer, protecting both parties against fraud.

Advantages of P2P Trading

1. Freedom from a central authority: Just like using cash instead of going through a bank, this independence means more privacy and control over your transactions.

2. More payment options: Unlike CEXs, P2P platforms offer many payment methods for the user, from bank transfers to PayPal, credit cards, and even cash.

3. Resistance to regulatory action: Since there's no centralized authority, P2P platforms can keep running even when CEXs run into regulatory issues.

Disadvantages of P2P Trading

1. Poor UX: To successfully buy crypto through P2P, there are multiple steps & hurdles a user has to go through.

   The Poor UX of P2P

   This is how a user can buy crypto through Binance P2P:

   1. Download the Binance App

   2. Complete your KYC

   3. Go to P2P section & enter the amount you want to buy

   4. Select the trader (there are so many; who do I choose?)

   5. Enter the amount again

   6. Pay the amount

   7. Text the trader after you paid and mark it as paid (when am I going to get my crypto already)

   8. Now, wait until the trader sees your message. This may take hours if your trader isn’t online.

   9. Now you did all the 8 steps. You can buy crypto through the market, so make sure to shift your USDT from your funding wallet to your spot wallet (wtf is funding & spot wallet, I just want some Bitcoin)

2. Risk of scams: Even though these platforms use security measures like escrow and verification, the risk of fraud isn't completely eliminated. It's crucial to do your homework before choosing a trading partner or platform. Make sure they’re trusted.

3. Slower transactions: Since they depend on both parties, P2P transactions can be time-consuming. Imagine waiting for a check to clear in a traditional bank; that's a possible scenario here. You have to wait for traders, text them, wait some more, and hope your trader is online. It can take up to 15 min, 1 hour, or even several hours.

4. Higher fees: The increased risks and the extra services like escrow can lead to higher costs than centralized exchanges.

   Let’s talk about fees If you want to buy as little as INR 100, they can charge you almost INR 97 for 1 USDT. That’s 7.78% more. If you want to buy over INR 1,000, they can charge you INR89-90 for 1 USDT. And if you instantly try to sell, you will have to sell at INR 76.20. You just lost 15.56%

In short, P2P offers a solution to some of the problems of centralization, but it has its own challenges, particularly when it comes to security and user experience.

But what if there's a solution that combines the best of both worlds? That's where buying crypto through UPI with Librty comes in.

The Solution: Buy Crypto on Librty using UPI

Librty Games is a digital playground for gamers who want to explore and engage with web3 games. To play, compete, and earn in many web3 games, gamers will need to create & connect a crypto wallet, and possibly purchase some game NFTs. We’ve made it extremely easy & straightforward for new & experienced gamers to jump in.

Here's what you can do in Librty:

• Set up a new self-custodial wallet or bring in your existing one. (Remember, in a self-custodial wallet, you hold your keys, meaning you truly own your crypto)

• Explore new games and tournaments (with actual cash prizes up for grabs)

• Browse, buy & list NFTs and digital collectibles.

• Add crypto to your wallet.

Although each of those 4 points warrants its own section, for this discussion, let’s focus on that last point - adding crypto to your wallet.

If you're in India, filling up a self-custodial wallet with crypto can be extremely challenging and tedious. Sure, you have options like Ratio, MoonPay, and Ramp, but these typically require a US bank account for debit card & bank purchases.

Another alternative is to use a CEX like Coinbase that allows transferring funds from the CEX to your self-custodial wallet, but this process isn’t quick:

First, you need a KYC-verified account on the CEX. After buying crypto there, you'll need to move the funds to your self-custodial wallet.

It might seem like only 2 steps but something as simple as buying crypto shouldn’t take multiple apps.

Librty's Solution

Librty has made the crypto-buying process quick and smooth, through social log-in, thanks to Web3Auth.

Web3Auth* is a web3 wallet infrastructure providing social log-in options for self-custodial wallets.

Website
Twitter*

We’ve combined the advantages of a CEX (convenience & ease of log-in) with the true ownership of a self-custodial wallet (you own your keys).

Log & sign in to your Librty wallet using Google, just like you would any other web2 app. You don’t have to remember your private key every time you sign in anymore.

We’ve partnered with OnMeta for a smooth & secure buying experience.

Onmeta* is a leading provider of fiat-to-crypto onramp solutions, offering users a seamless and secure way to buy/sell cryptocurrencies using their fiat currencies.

Website
Twitter*

All you need to do is create a new wallet or import an existing one, go to the wallet section, and pick your preferred token to purchase using UPI. Right now, we support these tokens: ETH, USDC, USDT, MATIC, and DAI.

At Librty, we firmly believe that a smooth user experience is the key to mainstream adoption & acceptance. The more difficult it is to do a simple task, the more friction users face, and the lesser people get to experience what the future has to offer.

With the ease of buying crypto using UPI, it's as simple as shopping on Amazon - a process that most people are comfortably familiar with.

How to Start Using Librty

Librty Games (beta) is available on Android and iOS. To get the install link, please fill out this form and you’ll be mailed the links and a quick onboarding guide to get you started!

Keep in mind that Librty Games is still in its beta phase, which means we are constantly building & testing, and there might be some bugs here and there. So we would suggest you not purchase large amounts of tokens until we officially launch to the public.