Exploring Numio, the Next Generation of Crypto Apps

May 17, 2021 | Business

Ethereum has been the powerhouse of the crypto space for quite some time, fueling a majority of dApps and projects within the ecosystem. Users and developers alike continue to flock to it, as it has become a household name in crypto that continues to grow. The problem is that, although Ethereum has a strong underlying infrastructure already built, it has many flaws that leave people constantly searching for a better alternative, with scalability being the main concern.

Processing transactions on the Ethereum blockchain has become extremely undesirable – gas fees are through the roof, often amounting to hundreds of dollars just to approve or make a simple transaction, a misfortune that can no longer sustain the booming decentralized finance (“DeFi”) market. Moreover, transaction efficiency is still unsatisfactory, thereby making Ethereum less efficient for micro and ongoing transactions.  

People are frustrated and are looking for a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s obvious what the problems are, but what’s the solution? Technical advancements in recent years have made it easier for blockchain networks to scale, with layer-2 solutions leading the way in this regard. Despite their many benefits, layer-2 solutions often entail a learning curve that makes them undesirable to most users. This is where crypto apps come in, with Numio leading the way in facilitating fast, cheap, and secure layer-2 payments for users worldwide. 

What is Numio?

Numio is a revolutionary mobile app that puts Ethereum on-the-go, offering everything users need in crypto, all in one place. It’s built on Ethereum and uses zkRollups as a layer-2 scaling solution, addressing Ethereum’s scalability concerns, without sacrificing security. 

Customers can use Numio’s mobile app to buy and sell ERC-20 tokens using debit/credit cards, securely hold their crypto assets, and manage their digital identities. Its system is designed in a non-custodial manner, meaning that it’s only users who may access their crypto assets. The mobile app launched in late 2020, and has already surpassed over 10,000 downloads.

Numio Vault is the web-app crypto wallet with a sleek and intuitive dashboard. Users can view their portfolio, initiate deposits and withdrawals, set permissions to allow people to recover funds, and set up joint accounts. Numio Vault is set to launch later in 2021, or early 2022.

Core Features

Transactions 

Through the implementation of zkRollups, transactions occurring on Numio’s infrastructure are set to be both quick and low-cost. Rather than settling for Ethereum’s 15 TPS (transactions per second), Numio’s service is able to process thousands of transactions per second (currently over 2,000, and the tech will be able to scale to hundreds of thousands of TPS), making it a suitable option for both retail and enterprise needs. Speaking of fees, these are estimated to be ~100x lower than those charged by the Ethereum mainnet, making Numio a cost-effective service as well. 

Supported ERC-20 tokens (PHNX, wBTC, ETH, and USDC) can also be imported from existing Ethereum wallets, so they’re easy to migrate and trade. Within the short-team future, support for hundreds of other tokens will be added as well. 

Identity and Security

Users have a choice to verify their identity through a secure zkProofs identity management system, giving them quick and easy access to exchange partners. This, in turn, helps prevent Sybil attacks, where a node assumes multiple identities to take control of a network.

The great thing here is that identity verification is always optional – users can elect to remain anonymous, maintaining the foundation of privacy and transparency that crypto was originally built on, but if they choose to take advantage of the benefits of digital identity management through the mobile app, they are welcome to do so.

All data and information is completely encrypted and stored in the NumioCloud, a system that can hold private key backups, credit/debit card data, and personal identity documents. The Numio Authenticator is a built-in mechanism giving users the ability to easily view data and authorize payments. 

Numio has also implemented an advanced 2FA authentication system by using public-key cryptography, on-device biometrics, and QR codes to access different websites or apps. 

What’s Next in Store

Numio has already built a strong technological infrastructure and trustworthy ecosystem, but what lies ahead will further enhance its capabilities.

The company behind Numio plans to implement in-app layer-2 crypto purchases, trading functionalities, swaps, lending and borrowing, and pooling for staking rewards. These upcoming features are critical to enhance its ecosystem and its use cases within DeFi, allowing it to go toe-to-toe with larger competitor exchanges. The team is also planning to add hundreds of additional digital assets to the mobile application in the near future. 

Numio’s partnerships with well-known market titans like zkSync, BTI Verified, PhoenixDAO, MoonPay, Liquid, Crevatal, and the Florida Blockchain Business Association will lead to further enhancements down the road, with the end goal being to elevate the overall user experience and ensure users don’t ever need to leave the platform. Implementing many of these highly-anticipated upgrades will help transform Numio into the go-to all-in-one crypto app for any and all crypto payment and identity management services. 

Contact Details

Name: Joel Kite

Email: [email protected]

Company: Numio One

Numio Makes Use of Ethereum Layer 2 to Deliver Cheap and Scalable Crypto Services

Apr 7, 2021 | Business

Delaware, United States (via ZEXPR) – The dawn of decentralized finance has fuelled a rapid growth in Ethereum’s daily transaction volume, with rising sustainability concerns due to the blockchain’s scalability shortcomings and unreasonable transaction fees. While the deployment of Ethereum 2.0 has commenced, it’ll likely take years before the update is fully integrated, causing unnecessary delays in the reshaping of the financial landscape as we know it.

Ethereum is currently able to handle no more than 15 transactions per second, a figure that’s downright unacceptable in today’s bull market. Luckily, technical masterminds worldwide have figured appropriate solutions that provide scalability without compromising on security and decentralization. Such is the case with layer 2 solutions, which are technical innovations that scale the network through transaction processing off Ethereum’s main chain.



Overview of Layer 2 Benefits

dApps that entail significant ongoing transactions are destined to fail if they don’t make use of a layer 2 solution. Moreover, if mass adoption is the goal, then gas fees over a few cents per transaction make little sense. Layer 2 deployments are a valid fix to both of these challenges, whilst also making no sacrifice in terms of decentralization and security – after all, layer 2 solutions are built on top of Ethereum’s mainnet.

Projects like Numio are actively integrating layer 2 solutions like zkRollups within their value proposition, allowing fast, cheap, and safe cryptocurrency transfers that retain all benefits provided by Ethereum, yet eliminate the network’s current shortcomings.

Inside Ethereum’s Main Layer 2 Solutions

In general, layer 2 solutions make use of server clusters, commonly referred to as validators or nodes. Rather than having transactions submitted to the mainnet, these are processed off-chain by layer 2 validators, then clustered together and anchored to Ethereum’s layer 1. There are technical particularities that differentiate popular layer 2 solutions from one another, but for the most part, their operational principles remain similar – to scale Ethereum’s network.

Today’s most popular layer 2 implementations include zkRollups, State Channels, Plasma, and Validium. Since this article includes a case study of Numio, we’ll focus our attention on zkRollups, the layer 2 solution that Numio’s technical infrastructure is based on.

Zero knowledge rollups (zkRollups) execute transactions outside the mainnet, yet transaction data proof is submitted to the layer 1, retaining an optimal degree of security. Through the deployment of smart contracts, zkRollups assure genuine transaction execution by relying on layer 1 data. As such, computation is carried out off-chain, but proof of validity is sent to the mainnet. This degree of security is known as “OCDA”, which stands for on-chain data availability, since all data is on Ethereum’s mainnet.

Scalability is easily realized since zkRollups can bundle up a significant number of transactions, and since computation is carried off-chain, there’s no longer a need to fully rely on Ethereum’s infrastructure. This leads to considerably lower fees per transfer, as well as support for high transaction throughput.

Will Ethereum 2.0 End Layer 2 Solutions?

The blockchain’s upcoming update will see the implementation of sharded chains – these are described as interoperable highways that are part of the same transportation system. Shards are akin to some layer 2 solutions, in the sense that they handle part of the processing efforts, whilst relaying the results back to the so-called beacon chain. This creates huge potential for network scalability, with numbers as high as 100K tx/s by working with L2 solutions.

One would rightfully think that there’s no need to scale further past the 100K threshold, yet such a vision is shortsighted. If Ethereum is to serve as the infrastructure for the worldwide financial system, it must process hundreds of thousands of transactions every second. To make it clear – these aren’t your average Uniswap trades, but rather micro-payments, automated transactions, and smart contract interactions.

With this being said, layer 2 solutions and Ethereum 2.0 will complement one another. As Ethereum’s use cases continue to grow, the demand for higher transaction throughput will never slow down. Applications based on zkRollups therefore have an essential role to play in both today’s & tomorrow’s markets.

Understanding Numio’s Unique Market Position

To cut to the chase, Numio is a simple, yet advanced cryptocurrency application that’s based on the zkRollups implementation built by zkSync. Designed from the get-go to be fast, cheap, and safe, transfers made via Numio do not forgo Ethereum’s security and control.

The app’s layer 2 integration allows Numio to process over 2,000 transactions per second, whilst facilitating instant and low-cost payments. zkRollups are non-custodial in nature, so user funds are untouchable by anyone else other than their owners. In other words, no centralized authority, third party, or even Numio itself would be able to lay siege to customer assets. Moreso, Numio has customizable security features, allowing users to select the preferred level of security. For instance, QR codes, biometrics, and 2FA can be used to log into the Numio Vault, or to access the platform’s partner websites.

Some of the other reasons behind Numio’s decision to integrate zkRollups as the preferred layer 2 solution include the bundling and splitting of gas fees between users, instant P2P payments, free account creation, rapid coin withdrawals back to the mainnet, and Ethereum-grade transactional security.

Numio is not only great for sending and receiving cryptocurrencies. Instead, it aims to serve as an all-in-one-solution for mainstream cryptocurrency use cases, specifically within DeFi. The development team is working on integrating in-app crypto trading, token swaps, as well as lending functions, and community pooling for much-improved staking incentives on Ethereum’s L2.

In the short-term future, Numio will launch additional features, including QR-based point-of-sale payments for in-store purchases, cashback rewards, and its much-awaited iOS app.

Bottom Line

With these aspects in mind, Numio represents a textbook example of successful mainstream deployment of the zkRollups layer 2 solution. Aiming to enable friction-free finance on-top of the Ethereum blockchain, Numio seamlessly processes ETH-based transactions at a fraction of the standard costs. With scaling difficulties out of the way, apps like Numio are destined to pave the way to crypto mainstream adoption.