The development of the decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem offers a way to spend, borrow, lend and move crypto assets around in a trustless and non-custodial fashion. The main use case for the Ethereum network, DeFi has ushers in a new era for finance, one where people can claim full control over their funds. Unlike traditional finance, anyone with an Internet connection can start using Ethereum and benefit from the magic of DeFi. Here at Monolith HQ, we provide a portal enabling you to seamlessly interact with DeFi. Our offering includes two using:
- An Ethereum Wallet, which acts as your gateway to the decentralised finance ecosystem.
- A Visa Debit Card (shipping to the EEA) for spending your Ethereum-native assets anywhere.
This article will walk you through the process of setting up your Monolith Wallet and ordering your card.
Step 1 — Installing and On-boarding 📲
You interact with Monolith through our mobile app. You can use it to order and manage your card and receive, swap, and trade your crypto assets.
When you first open the app, you will be asked to secure it using a 6-digit PIN code. The PIN code is specific to your phone — if you forget it, you can still recover your account as long as you have your seed phrase back up (more on this below).
Your Monolith wallet uses two types of authentication:
- A PIN code to access the wallet. It can also be changed to fingerprint touch ID by unlocking ‘Biometrics’ in the Settings tab.
- Device-level authentication for confirming transactions. This is either your PIN code or fingerprint touch ID.
Step 2 — Accessing your Wallet 🔐
Once your app is secure, you will be able to access your wallet. To do that, you need your Seed. The Seed adds another level of security to your wallet, and it can be used to recover access to your assets in case you lose your phone.
First-time users can simply go through and tap Create New Seed. Users who already have a Monolith wallet can restore it using the Recover Existing Seed option. Your seed phrase is displayed the first time you access your wallet, and you can access it later via the Settings tab.
When you access the wallet, you should write down your Seed and store a copy in a safe place that only you have access to. It’s important that you keep it safe because you will need it to recover the funds in your wallet if you ever lose access.
Remember: store a copy of your Seed in a safe place, and never share it with anyone.
The Seed is the key to unlocking your wallet. Read more about it here.
The Contract Wallet — Additional Security Features
If you joined us before April 2021, you will also have an additional Contract Wallet. As it lives on a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain, the Contract Wallet gives you access to enhanced security features to further protect your assets. The contract’s code is open-source and accessible on Github.
The enhanced features include a Daily Spend Limit to set a cap on the value of assets that can be sent from your wallet. There’s a similar Daily Gas Limit feature, which caps the amount of gas you can spend on transactions in a day. You can also set a list of Whitelisted Addresses so that you can send any amount of your holdings to another address.
Step 3 — Verify Your Identity (KYC) 🛂
Now that you can access your wallet, the next step is ordering your Visa Debit Card.
As the card enables you to sell tokens for euros (€) or sterling (£), we are required to verify your identity.
To get started, click the Card (‘💳’) tab.
Our KYC procedure is standard: you’ll need an official document (government ID, passport or driver’s license) and you will have to take a selfie.
We will be use third parties to perform checks on your identity, such as validating your address. In addition to validating your identity, we also run checks on your source of funds. Using other third parties we can validate that the crypto you are moving into the wallet is clean as we do not want this product offering to be used for money laundering.
Learn more about our KYC process here.
Step 4 — Verify Your Address and Order your Monolith Card 🛸
In some instances, we may require further information to prove that you live at your specified address. Our compliance team may reach out to you and ask for a proof of address document.
You may be asked to submit a document including your name and address. We can accept the following documents:
- Bank/card statement (three months old or less).
- Home utility bill, such as Internet, electricity, or gas. Please note we cannot accept mobile phone bills (three months old or less).
- Government/Tax letter. your tax report, or any official government document that contains your name and address (1 year old or less).
Generally, a bank/card statement is best.
When you order your card, you must decide the base currency it will use: sterling (£) or euros (€). The card base currency has an impact on the fee structure, so be sure to take this into account when ordering your card.
Step 5 — Activate Your Card 💳
For safety reasons, your card is disabled when shipped. Once you receive the card, you’ll be able to activate it in-app.
You can activate it by visiting the Card (‘💳’) tab and typing in the last 4 digits of your card number.
Step 6 — Your First Top-up
Now that you’ve activated your card, you’re ready to make your first top-up.
To add funds to your wallet, tap the blue (➕) icon followed by Receive to display your wallet address and QR code. This will allow you to receive tokens from another account.
For more information, read our guide on how to add crypto to your wallet here.
To make any transaction on the Ethereum network, you’ll need to have some ETH in your wallet to pay the gas fees. Learn more about buying ETH here.
Once you have funds in your wallet and ETH to pay for gas, you can now top up your Monolith Card.
Read our guide on how to top up your card here.
Step 7 — Spending With Your Monolith Card
Your card will work anywhere that accepts Visa worldwide. Your first purchase must be Chip and PIN, but after that, you should be free to use your card just as you would normally — in-store, online (“Verified by Visa”), contactless, or for an ATM cash withdrawal.
The card also works with Google Pay and Curve.
You can view the full details about limits and fees associated with the card in the Card tab of the app and on our website.
Congratulations, you are now ready to download Monolith and begin experiencing the magic of decentralised finance. Your journey into the world of Ethereum starts here.
As a final reminder don’t forget to BACK UP YOUR SEED PHRASE — you won’t be able to recover your wallet without it.
Need More Help?
No problem — join the community discussion on Telegram, Discord or Twitter.
Going further
- Learn more about decentralised finance: read our beginner’s guide to DeFi.
- Stay safe and be smart: read our guide on 5 rules you need to follow to stay safe on Ethereum .
