Armor and EPNS join hands to provide users updates on DeFi cover.
One of the many great things about Decentralized Finance (DeFi), is that it’s, well, decentralized. At the same time, this also creates some challenges for protocols like Armor.
Armor offers cover against DeFi hacks: users can select static (arNFT) or dynamic (arCore Smart Cover) cover or even buy cover-and-yield-bearing tokens through the new Shield Vaults. Once a hack takes place, users that bought cover can claim their losses.
This is a giant step forward and will help with the adoption of DeFi and blockchain technology in general. However, due to the decentralised nature (and the lack of email-based accounts), there are also some practical issues that need to be solved:
- How will users (Cover holders) know that there has been a hack for one of the assets they have cover for?
- How can they be notified if they are ‘under-covered’ or if their arNFT is about to expire and should increase or extend their cover?
- Cover for newly added protocols is expensive but lowers in cost once more users back it. How can an interested user get notified when costs reach a certain threshold?
- When the DAO voting is going to start, how will users know there is a new proposal?
This is where the Armor team started looking around to see which other protocol already solved the problem of Ethereum-based notifications and they quickly found EPNS as the leader in this space.
EPNS (Ethereum Push Notification Service) is a decentralized notification protocol that enables users (wallet addresses) to receive notifications. Using the protocol, any dApp, service, or smart contract can send notifications to users in a platform-agnostic fashion (mobile, tablet, web, user wallets, etc).
Armor Goes a Step Further with Push Notifications
Armor is a decentralized protocol that protects user assets held on different DeFi protocols to cover unforeseen situations like hacks and attacks. The protocol provides pay-as-you-go coverage for user funds and investments across popular protocols such as Uniswap, AAVE, Compound, Balancer, and over 80 more. The coverage is underwritten by Nexus Mutual and is permissionless.
Users can buy a cover (underwritten by Nexus Mutual) for a certain amount of asset (eg. 100ETH) which is represented as an arNFT on-chain. arNFT holders can sell, trade, or stake the NFT to earn rewards.
Armor also provides an arCore smart cover that tracks user funds as they move across different protocols and charge by the second. This results in cost efficiency and flexibility.
The latest addition to the Armor product ecosystem are the Shield Vaults: here, users can deposit their yield-bearing tokens (from Yearn, CRV etc) and turn them into cover-and-yield-bearing tokens, where the cost for the cover is taken from the yield!
Users who have an arNFT, arCore smart cover or Shield Vaults tokens are protected from hacks. However, they need to keep a constant eye on third-party communication media to know if the protocol is hacked. Also, they need to manually check armor.fi to see if their cover is expiring. By enabling decentralized push notifications through EPNS, Armor would be able to circumvent these problems and provide timely updates to its users.
What Does the Partnership Entail?
Through our partnership with EPNS, we aim to build a proper communication channel that reduces friction between the protocol and our users. To start, users of Armor will be able to subscribe to the notification service to receive updates whenever:
- Any of the protocols they have arCore smart cover for has been hacked.
- Any of the protocols they have an arNFT for has been hacked.
- Their arNFT is about to expire.
- Their Smart Cover is below or above x% of the actual wallet value and should be updated.
These are just the first 4 out of a few dozen useful notifications we have identified with the EPNS team. We aim that the EPNS service becomes an integral part of the Armor service and trust that the notifications help improve the user experience as a whole.
Next steps:
After the pilot the program will be extended as there are many more ways EPNS can assist the Armor ecosystem users (the #ArmorKnights).
The Armor team did some brainstorming and came up with a first list of current notifications that would be helpful for their users and that EPNS might be able to help with:
arCore (Smart Cover system): get notified when
1) cover is below/above x% of wallet value
2) Cover for protocol X has new or > xxEth capacity
3) Cover price for protocol X has dropped below x% yearly cost
4) One of the protocols you have in your wallet has been hacked.
5) One of the protocols you have arCore smart cover for has been hacked.
arNFT static cover
1) Protocol X has new capacity
2) Protocol X’s cover price has dropped to minimum (currently 2.6%)
3) One of the protocols you have arCore smart cover for has been hacked.
4) Your arNFT will expire in x days/weeks
5) Your staked arNFT will expire in x days/weeks
6) Yield/apy on staked arNFTs for protocol x (or any protocol) has reached (or dropped below) xyz% apy
Shield Vaults
1) Costs have dropped below x%
2) A shield for Protocol X has been added
General:
1) DAO items (proposals, voting)
2) New blog posts, monthly recaps etc
3) New product launch, airdrop etc.
4) Newly covered Protocols
5) New additions to the Armor Alliance Big Bug Bounty
6) Armor-related news (Rekt, Hacks, Security advice)
Of course, new and upcoming additions to the Armor ecosystem will create more opportunities. We welcome input from the community for the existing product suite as well.
By partnering with EPNS, we aim to solidify the protection of assets by establishing proper communication between users and the protocol.
About Ethereum Push Notification Service
EPNS is a decentralized notification protocol that enables users (wallet addresses) to receive notifications. Using the protocol, any dApp, service, or smart contract can send notifications to users in a platform-agnostic fashion (mobile, tablet, web, user wallets, etc).
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