Let me tell you upfront that Zelcore is not the 1980s arcade game where you fly a spaceship and shoot alien bases (that's Zaxxon for the under 30 crowd), and if the name clickbaited my fellow GenXers or Boomers- I apologize in advance. Zelcore serves as a blockchain interoperable UI hub for wallet, portfolio, identity, DeFi, and Exchange management. It is feature rich and aims to be an all-in-one secure and decentralized app for everything crypto.
Zelcore is a "multi-asset crypto wallet and platform powered entirely by blockchain". I quote this statement because this seems to be the official descriptor, as I read it about 50 times on their website and official blog. It is a free app boasting over 250,000 users available on mobile and desktop that supports Mac, PC, Linux, iOS, Android, and Huawei builds. There is also an upgraded version, Zelcore+, that we will touch on later.
I haven't been using Zelcore long, but so far it is exceeding my expectations. TL/DR: Zelcore removes friction from the user experience by creating a convenient one-stop crypto shop, but is built on the principles of security and decentralization.
Leadership Team
Founded by Dan Keller, Tadeáš Kmenta, and Parker Honeyman, Zelcore recently tapped CEO Timothy Tully to lead the project into the next business phase. Tully has C-suite experience in the traditional finance, FINTECH, and venture capital sectors. He brings a wealth of knowledge and contacts that will help Zelcore grow. Don't worry though the founders haven't disappeared, they are focusing on leadership of the overarching Flux ecosystem.
Bringing in a new CEO in January was smart on Zel's part and shows maturity in the leadership of the project. If you look at the average tenure of most CEOs, it isn't that long, and often they have strengths or specialize in specific business phases. Based on his resume, Tully's specialization seems to focus on revenue growth, scaling, and startups. This year the project has already seen vast improvements and changes that include rebranding, new website, separation & addition of projects, and additional investment.
Features & Functionality
The app has some great features.
What I Like:
It is decentralized & encrypted
Self-custodial (Muh Keys!)
Logs out after a set inactivity time
Does not keep login credentials or store personal data
Intuitively connects with Centralized & Decentralized Exchanges
Portfolio management tools
Trustless account recovery
You can purchase crypto with fiat from within the App with low fees
Swap ~100 coins using the imbedded aggregator for the best available exchange
Buy With Fiat
Easily one of the biggest barriers to entry for new users is getting fiat onto exchanges. Whether it is a trust issue, KYC requirements, or just technological ignorance. Zelcore fixes this with their integrated fiat on-ramp.
Zelcore utilizes Wyre to provide users the ability to purchase crypto with CC/Debit directly within the App. There are 14 different coins that can be nabbed including: BTC, ETH, UNI, LINK, MKR, BUSD, USDT, USDC, BUSD, GUSD, COMP, PAX, USDS, UMA, YFI. The fees are not excessive officially stated as 2.9% + $0.30, but I witnessed fees ranging between 4-5%.
Once you purchase, you can immediately jump on the quickswap or your connected DEX/CEX to exchange into your favorite gem.
DeFi
Often as a community we focus on the dApps that allow us to perform DeFi actions, The Unis, Sushis, Pancakes, Farms, and 100s of other food/animal related applications, but we forget what True DeFi is about. It is taking ownership of your assets, away from centralized organizations and governments that don't have your best interest or bottom-line in mind. It is freedom to interact with your assets, conduct commerce, lend & borrow, and create immutable agreements without a hand-extended middleman waiting for their cut. </end soapbox: /return subject_matter>
Zelcore simplifies your access to DeFi products through its intuitive UI and self-custodial wallet. It has recently integrated Serum (screencap below) and the entire Solana SPL ecosystem; it has full functionality with Binance DEX. It supports over 250 cryptocurrencies within the wallet. Additionally, you may also conduct any transactions on the supported centralized exchanges.
It's Fusion App gives full access to the Flux parallel chains where you can interact with the FLUX: BTC, ETH, and KDA assets. The quickswap app gives the ability to access their best price swap aggregator for 100 different coins.
You can also use the open protocol, WalletConnect, to associate your Zelcore wallet to any DeFi platform that supports it such as Uniswap or Pancake Swap. So there are very few limitations on what dApp you can use.
Integrated Apps (Alphabetical Order):
Coinrequest.iois a cool project that allows you to create weblinked requests you can send to individuals to receive payment. All of the details are completed on the requester side which allows the payer to connect their wallet of choice and pay a set or variable amount. This removes friction on the payer side by placing the onus of ensuring all payment details are correct upon the requester. One thing I noticed is that it appears their CoinGecko Data API feed information was incorrect for FLUX at the time of snapshot, so my assumption is they simply need to update their call information.
EVE is an A.I. based digital assistant currently still in development. It aims to further simplify transactions within the Zelcore app by removing the need for backend knowledge. "Think of EVE as Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri, but for the blockchain and cryptocurrency world, it’s your assistant created with the single mission of making your life easier so you can focus on what matters instead of intricate details that consume your time." Eventually EVE will have the following functionality:
Flux & Firo Node functionality is unlocked with the Zelcore+ option. These apps track your real-time mining and secure your rewards.
Fusion allows you to convert assets between different blockchains to leverage DeFi. It will claim snapshots and swap your FLUX assets to its parallel chains. Currently you can swap between your $FLUX, $FLUX-KDA, $FLUX-ETH, and $FLUX-BTC with $FLUX-SOL & $FLUX-TRON on their way in the near term.
Portfolio Tracker is fairly obvious by its name. You can track your assets and trades, import spends and income to allow a portfolio view over time.
QuickSwap is the first iteration and functionality of Eve. It aggregates multiple quickswap exchanges with floating and fixed rates in order to find the best swap available.
Zelcore+ I highly recommend upgrading to Zelcore+, which is done directly within the app. (No I'm not being paid to say that nor do I have any affiliate links embedded in this article) Z+ unlocks the full feature set and is definitely worth foregoing a gas station coffee-n-donut trip for one day to pay for it. You also have the option to hold 5000 $FLUX in your wallets in which there is no additional cost. However the free version is an incredibly useful tool with tons of components, so weigh your options and decide which fits your needs best.
Zel ID is decentralized two factor authentication (d2FA) and runs over the Flux network. [It is] a pseudo-anonymous ID system used to communicate with the blockchain. (ZT) During initial setup of the app a small amount of FLUX (.002 $FLUX) is dropped to your integrated wallet which funds the Zel ID transactions. My understanding is that through Zel ID you may log into your account using biometrics, face ID, or passphrase, however I have not yet tested this functionality.
Connect to Multiple Exchanges
You can simultaneously connect to centralized and decentralized exchanges, via API, conducting trades and portfolio management without ever leaving the app. You won't have to worry about login issues or latency and can easily move your crypto back & forth to your self-custody wallet. Supported exchanges include:
Binance*
Kucoin
Kraken*
Gemini
Serum
Binance DEX
Bittrex*
Stex
CoinMetro (future)
Kaddex (assumed future because of their recent partnership and Kadenaswap integration)
*Notates exchanges only available with Zelcore+
Serum DEX view from within Zelcore
What I Don't Like:
I couldn't directly buy $FLUX or $KDA with the fiat on-ramp (If I'm wrong here... keyboard warriors do your thing)
Slippage seemed high when converting BTC/ETH to FLUX
I'd like to see more full DEX integrations on both versions
I honestly haven't found much feature-wise that I don't like about Zelcore. The slippage issue I experienced was obviously network/gas fees because FLUX is still a microcap and BTC/ETH are the only quickswap options at the moment. But the fact that I can convert (if I choose to) my planned future FLUX rewards from running a node directly from the app is a huge score in my books.
I know my rantings seem like a broken record at times because I constantly harp on interoperability, security, friction, user experience, and adoption. However, I will keep harping and attempting to point out projects that are working diligently to provide a product that addresses the issues. Zelcore is definitely in this class and they have created a powerful, convenient, secure, and decentralized user interface (UI) built for interoperability and mass adoption.
This article closes out my overview series on the Zelcore, Flux & Kadena trifecta; I appreciate you taking the time to read and follow.
Authors Note: Cover photo originally published on medium.zelcoin.io. I own positions in BTC, UNI, LINK, SOL, and ETH. Will own positions in FLUX and KDA in the near future. Dual published on Publish0x and Read.Cash. Follow me on Twitter.
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