Introduction
Frank Bruno: Could you please introduce yourself and give us a background of your paths in the crypto industry?
Alex Gerus: I started my journey in the tech industry as a microprocessor and a digital signal processor developer. That was a reasonable basis for developing my engineering and management skills in telecom and banking. I’ve been building IT systems for several years for a tier 1 investment bank based in London. A primary focus was transforming listed and OTC derivatives post-trade processing into real-time. At the time, all the crypto markets were beginning, but investment banking specialists were already doing research and developing prototypes to use blockchain technology. Later on, I joined a startup based in the US as a customer success manager and then worked as a product manager. I’ve also participated in in-memory data platform development. It was designed for parallel computing a lot of data, and it was used for high-performance and low latency solutions.
I joined Guarda last year. I’m ready to state that crypto markets are using modern technologies and many principles from investment banking. So I’m contributing my IT and banking experience to Guarda Wallet development. It’s excellent and based on modern technologies. Light years ahead from many banking legacy systems!
David: A bit about myself: I worked as a content and community manager at one of the major entertainment mobile apps before joining Guarda. Now I’m part of a great team, and we usually collaborate with partners, host and organize events and do all things crypto. I even get to make some Guarda memes at times.
Frank Bruno: Yes, David had a lot to do with getting all these fantastic events organized with us! Thank you for all the help.
About Guarda
Frank Bruno: Let me ask one more question; as you can see, our community is excited to ask themselves! How does Guarda Wallet differ from similar wallets?
David: Well, Guarda is a non-custodial wallet. It supports 50+ blockchains and 400,000 tokens as of now. Quite impressive.
Alex Gerus: We started back in 2017. The main principle was to create a wallet that would be safe to use and anonymous. Guarda was an Ethereum wallet. At the time, there weren’t so many wallets that could provide a good user experience.
Frank Bruno: I Didn’t know that. Aren’t you glad you support so many currencies now?
Alex Gerus: Indeed! Now we have one of the most extensive lists of assets supported. Moreover, users can add any ERC20 token using a smart contract address and operate with that on the spot!
LIVE AMA
Cryy: Does Guarda Wallet have any Learn & Earn program or Academy to educate the crypto newcomers?
David: Great question. We organize Learn & Earn events and have Guarda Academy, where you can learn everything about crypto.
WZ120147: What is Guarda’s NFT and GameFi vision?
David: We are looking forward to introducing a significant update to the Guarda browser extension so it supports web3 applications. Guarda already supports the NFT preview (on the Ethereum network), and we are looking forward to having a dedicated NFT section where all of your NFT collections are available.
Pete Erson: People don’t like to be afraid that somebody will steal their funds. Can you tell us more about the security of Guarda Wallet?
Alex Gerus: Guarda is non-custodial, which means that all of your money is always with you. Your crypto keys are encrypted in the backup files always stored on your device only. They are never transferred via the network. The backup files are password protected. Guarda’s support has neither access to your keys nor the history of your actions within the wallet.
Cryy: Do you have 24/7 support as well?
David: Not to brag or anything, but our customer support team is excellent. You can contact them 24/7 via live chat or [email protected].
Nicenal11: What is the best way to follow all your upcoming news and updates? What are your plans for the near future?
David: The best way to stay in the loop is to join our communities on Twitter and Telegram. We are also thinking about launching our Discord server, and I know just the right person to consult with and ask how to do it right. Teach me your ways, Frank.
KrayKray: Will Guarda Wallet make it possible to deposit and withdraw funds using a bank account?
Alex Gerus: Guarda has already implemented a crypto purchase function available from 2 of our partners. You can buy a significant amount of supported coins and tokens using a bank/credit card. We’re currently working on selling function integration and are finishing the final tests! I believe this feature will be available on the web in early June.
Alison M2000: How will the native staking work? Will delegators stake with a Guarda Wallet validator or different ones?
Alex Gerus: Guarda has a common approach for all the staking in the wallet. We will be running our own Guarda validator for QTUM, but there will always be an option to pick one of the external validators to start staking. It can be done via the advanced option in the wallet. We’re also planning to release a common section with all the available and active staking information this summer.
TWITTER QUESTIONS
Lee Di: Recently, Guarda announced their borrowing stablecoins feature. What is the primary purpose behind these? What kind of positive result can I expect from borrowing stablecoins?
Alex Gerus: It’s essentially borrowing against crypto for unlimited terms with no need to sell your crypto. Again, you can also borrow stablecoins without selling your coins. You can loan in crypto and other ways around. The main idea of loans is to get leverage from your assets to work in bullish or bearish markets. When you take a loan out, you get, roughly speaking, half of your collateral back (in any available coin) that you can instantly use for trading and anything else while still holding the initial asset.
Metawerse: What are your team’s plans to strengthen and grow a community that is loyal to your project?
David: We are actively working with a few different networks, crypto platforms, and the crypto community. Another thing to mention is that Investopedia published an independent review of Guarda earlier this year. We’re hopeful that all this will help more users discover Guarda and join our community.
Noah: Passive earnings are very attractive, but if we have it in our pocket… How active and profitable Guarda’s staking is, what utility does Guarda provide with staking, and what are the benefits of holding assets within Guarda rather than their main wallet?
Alex Gerus: First, you can stake assets on Guarda. Moreover, users can use the advanced option to manage a validator for staking and pick ones with the best APR! You can already stake the most popular assets in one wallet. And in the next couple of months, we’re adding a section called ‘Earn’, where all the additional options will be available so that users can manage all their staking assets in one piece.
Lucky Cat: Keeping users’ funds safe from hackers is essential for a crypto wallet, so which security systems does Guarda wallet have, and how reliable are they?
Alex Gerus: Good one! Guarda does not collect any information from the users. We are not collecting any information or crypto keys. The information is stored on the user’s computer or mobile device, protected with data encryption. Once you open your wallet, all the communications with blockchain happen right from your device, and it’s decentralized. In other words, we are distributing software that can be started from your device. Guarda infrastructure itself has no access to your actions.
Guarda hosts server-side resources like explorers for wallet balances and servers collecting coin prices. But they are well protected and cannot be used to access your assets.
CryptoUzmani: Our world has started to evolve on web3 Internet of Things and NFT tech-wise. Where will QTUM and Guarda be in this system?
David: We are looking forward to introducing a significant update to the Guarda browser extension so it supports web3 applications. Regarding the NFTs, Guarda already supports NFTs on the Ethereum network, and we’re looking forward to having a dedicated NFT section where all of your NFT collections will be visible.
Nicole Calt: What is the difference between Recovery Key and Recovery Seed on Guarda Wallet? In the end, could Guarda Wallet have access to our funds?
Alex Gerus: At the moment, Guarda backups are password protected. We have no access to the backup or the user password. Both of them are not transferred anywhere and always stay with the user. This approach has pros and cons: sometimes, users lose their passwords, and we can do nothing about it. However, your funds are completely protected: always make sure to manage your backup and password carefully.
NavLamYi: Will QTUM and Guarda explore the possibility of launching an online merch store shortly?
David: If we see that you guys want us to do something like that, we’ll certainly deliver!
Frank Bruno: Definitely! We have the best community.
Congratulations to the winners! We’re ready to launch the quiz. First, I’d love to mention the next event in Rome, where one of our co-founders, Miguel Palencia, will speak. If you can’t make it, stay tuned to our channels to see how to show your support!
Brett Fincaryk: Yes, we’ll be giving live updates from Rome.
David: Hi, Brett, how are you? Good to see you there!
Brett Fincaryk: Doing well; thank you for being there! I’m packing and getting ready for the trip, but I wanted to see the AMA!
A big thank you to all who joined the AMA! Let’s stay in touch, and we’ll keep an eye out for exciting news from Guarda and QTUM.
