Project Spotlight — Kado

MC
Terra
Published in
5 min readSep 26, 2022

In this issue of Terra’s Project Spotlight, we’d like to feature a name that OG Terra users will remember — Kado. In V1 on Classic, Kado was the go-to on-ramp into Terra.

Kado changed the game as the easiest, fastest, and cheapest way to natively onboard fiat into Terra. If you’re new to Terra, you’re in for a treat. Terra builders and users will be happy to know Kado is back and better than before, with new and improved features and use cases.

Background

Kado was born during a Terra hackathon in 2021, with the goal of being able to spend stablecoins in the real world and easily buy more of them. Kado saw incredible growth in its first 2 months of Kado Ramp — with 100+ countries, $20m+ on-ramped, and over 10,000 users — with B2B partnerships being built out across most Terra dApps.

With V2, Kado aims to not just be another fiat on-ramp, but a full suite of web3 payment infrastructure solutions. Not only will users be able to seamlessly move between fiat and the Terra blockchain, but as Kado develops partnerships with cross-chain platforms — users will be able to onboard to any Terra dApp, regardless of the chain they’re on.

Kado enables transactions that send users directly into the applications they wish to use, skipping high fees and unnecessary wait times. They’re steadfast on offering the fastest time-to-wallet and best fees/slippage not just for the Terra ecosystem, but for the Cosmoverse and beyond.

Target User

Kado is built with web3 applications in mind, so builders can best serve their end users and make it as seamless as possible to onboard directly to their application. Getting in and out of web3 is a major pain point for both new customers and for crypto native customers.

Whether building a wallet, DeFi protocol, NFT, game, DAO, or otherwise on Terra — Kado intends to continue offering the best asset pricing, lowest fees, fastest time-to-wallet, and most secure gateway between fiat and crypto. Seamless web3 onboarding = higher conversion rates and more sticky users for your application.

Kado empowers the exponentially growing web3 native user base who wants to do more than just speculate and buy a token on a centralized exchange. With Kado, you can be your own gatekeeper, and buy or sell assets directly with your personal, non-custodial wallet.

Product Strategy

Kado aims to deliver the best onboarding experience for web3 applications in the Terra ecosystem by focusing on:

  1. Trust & Security

There is nothing more important in web3 than customer trust and security. Everything at Kado’s core is built with optimal security best-practices and safeguarding mechanisms, to ensure our customer funds are safe. Gaining trust also means the platform needs to work as intended, getting you the asset you want, at the best rate, at all times. This is core to Kado’s mission.

2. Speed

Kado produces lightning fast fiat-to-crypto transactions, and is focused on providing the fastest time-to-wallet in the space. Terra users can instantly move assets between their bank account and web3 as they wish.

3. Simplicity

User experience in web3 today is one of the biggest friction points when it comes to onboarding new users. The Kado UI/UX is smooth and convenient. The intuitive dashboard allows users to connect multi-chain web3 wallets with just one click. The purpose-driven system eliminates confusion by showing users clear direction, and keeps the interface simple — serving new users and crypto-natives alike.

4. Speed

Kado intends to continue to offer the best asset pricing and lowest fees while also expanding local payment methods around the globe. Kado is here to transform the on-ramp experience by offering its users the lowest fees and price slippage when purchasing digital assets.

5. Convenience

What is more convenient than secure, fast, and cheap transactions on a user-friendly UI/UX? Kado offers everything you need to get in and out of the Terra ecosystem, whenever you want.

Product Vision

Kado aims to be the universal web3 payments solution provider to open the gates for mass adoption of crypto and web3. Kado will empower Terra users, dApp builders, and the entire Terra ecosystem to benefit from next-gen web3 payments infrastructure, starting with the ability to convert fiat to crypto.

Use Cases

Kado will enable seamless fiat payment solutions for Terra through a variety of use cases:

  • DEXs (e.g. Astroport)
  • Wallets (e.g. Terra Station, Leap)
  • NFTs (e.g. Knowhere Art, RandomEarth)
  • DAOs (e.g Galactic DAO)
  • Payments
  • Games, and more!

Kado’s goal is to remove as many onboarding friction points as possible. In the future, Kado will enable direct fiat capabilities into the protocols themselves. Imagine trading on Astroport, buying a Galactic Punk, or off-ramping your stablecoin payments directly with your bank account.

How Projects and Builders Can Integrate Kado

As Kado aims to meet users where they are on their web3 user journey, they make it super easy for Terra dApps to integrate the Kado flow directly on their front end. Kado offers lightweight integration methods today:

Link out experience
  • Link out experience to https://app.kado.money/ramp, with query-string parameters for default states (for network, asset, and Terra wallet address)
Widget iFrame Integration
  • Widget iFrame Integration — implement the Kado On/Off-Ramp directly in your application, so users can stay on your website or mobile app.

Product Roadmap

Kado is just getting started…

  • Protocol Integrations
    Kado plans to partner with all Terra apps who need seamless onboarding, and can easily integrate Kado’s Widget and/or API into their front end
  • Fiat <> Smart Contract integrations on Terra
    E.g. Purchase an NFT on Terra with your credit card
  • API Integration
    Implement the Kado payment rails directly into application’s UI/UX, and have control over the user flow, experience, and branding. No Kado branding or widget necessary.
  • More international, local bank payment methods
  • More cross-chain functionality

As the Terra ecosystem continues to grow, there will be an extensive amount of ground breaking integration opportunities with Kado.

Try Kado Now

  • Jump in and try out Kado today at app.kado.money! If you’re building on Terra and looking to enable seamless onboarding directly to your protocol, reach out directly to Kado at partners@kado.money.

Learn more

Website — kado.money

Twitter — https://twitter.com/kado_money

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