Decaf Wallet quick guide.

Decaf's new version now supports Stellar send.

Decaf Wallet

A wallet built for everyday people and real life utility.

www.decaf.so

-On-ramp crypto via Solana or Stellar or cash via Moneygram Cash-in (See below)
-On-ramp fiat via ACH: ask support for a US account. Do KYC.
-Anyone can send US$ to that account, including yourself or a company.
-Receive USDC$ equivalent in your wallet 1 for 1.
-Send USDC$ to either a Solana or Stellar address, Kinesis in this case, without fees.
-Off-ramp UDSC 1:1 to a US$ bank account or in Euro in SEPA countries, without fees.
-Off-ramp in supported local currencies via Moneygram Cash-out.
-Off-ramp via OTC to bank accounts in COP, MXN, BRL, ARS, PEN, CAD$.

https://support.decaf.so/hc/en-us/articles/12336352919959-In-which-countries-is-Moneygram-cash-in-and-out-available

Voila.

*Edit: Wise works both for on-ramping & off-ramping to US$ accounts.
**Edit2: Memo is now supported on Stellar send.
***Edit3: Added OTC info

 

[Lozion]

Decaf now supports instant USDC off-ramps to US & Euro bank accounts!

x.com

x.com

Where are we at with US$ deposits for KMS?

 

[Lozion]

I did a test and got the USDC deposited in my Wise US$ account in 4.5h.

-Uses Same Day ACH.
-1:1 USDC to $US
-No fees to send or receive.

This effectively bypasses the strict "no crypto" stance of Wise..

 

[Rhyno]

-1:1 USDC to $US

Thanks Lozion, I'm going to need to check this out. To confirm, was this USDC stellar sent from KMS?

 

[Lozion]

I had a few USDC in my Lobstr wallet so used those but going from Kinesis to --> Decaf --> Wise should work as well (yes Stellar).

The point is Wise sees a ACH deposit from Bridge who is the Stablecoin engine behind Decaf & incidently were just bought by Stripe:

Stripe announces $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin start-up Bridge

Bridge seeks to help financial institutions seamlessly integrate stablecoin technology.

fortune.com

 

[Lozion]

"Withdrawal limits same as the Deposit limits: max 10k per transaction and 100k per month (but they can be increased if needed by doing enhanced kyc)." -Decaf

That can be some serious savings in fees..

 

[Lozion]

How to choose between shared & personal US$ accounts guide:

 

[Lozion]

Cash out USDC to Euros via SEPA – straight to your IBAN account.

x.com

x.com

 

[Lozion]

New currencies to come next week:




They're on a roll!

 

[The Moonshaft]

Thanks for posting the Medium.com article link, Loz. A friend of mine created a Decaf account last week and the Medium article does a good job of explaining the U.S. bank account details. I would expect Decaf to experience significant growth now that there are more choices for stablecoin on-ramps and off-ramps in a myriad of countries. Their new association with Stripe should also bolster their credibility and capability. It's an exciting time for this small company.

 

[Lozion]

Thanks for posting the Medium.com article link, Loz. A friend of mine created a Decaf account last week and the Medium article does a good job of explaining the U.S. bank account details. I would expect Decaf to experience significant growth now that there are more choices for stablecoin on-ramps and off-ramps in a myriad of countries. Their new association with Stripe should also bolster their credibility and capability. It's an exciting time for this small company.

It sure is, I've sent the CTO the link to the BRICSPAY App (he wasnt aware of it) and the Kinesis partner program

 

[Uchiki]

I tested out the Decaf route recently, starting with GBP, switching to USD via Wise, then depositing the USDC to KMS.
I then did the reverse to test a withdrawal.

I sent £10 as a starting amount.
I received back £7.62 into my UK bank account. As a %, this is quite high, but would be much lower for more sensible amounts.
eg ~$5 to deposit $1000 / $4 to withdraw $1000
or ~$2 to deposit $300 / $2.20 to withdraw $300

Timings
Deposit

• Sent GBP->USD from UK bank via Wise to Decaf personal account on a business day (15:00 UK time). It was in USDC about 7.5h later.
• Quick transfer from Decaf to KMS.

Withdrawal

• Quick transfer from KMS to Decaf.
• Sent USD from Decaf to Wise on a Saturday.
• It was at Wise by 13:35 UK time on Monday.
• Quick transfer of USD->GBP from Wise to UK bank.

So, essentially allow a business day for each ACH transaction. The rest happens quickly if you're in the UK.


Summary of fees
Based on my test starting amount of £10.

Deposit

• Wise from GBP bank to Decaf USD £1.12 (variable eg 0.5% for $1000)

Withdrawal

• Kinesis USDC back to Decaf 1 USDC (fixed)
• Wise USD to GBP bank £0.46 (variable eg 0.3% for $1000)

Decaf/Lead Bank indicated that 0.5% would be charged on all transactions using the personal account, however these are currently waived.


KYC
KYC for the Decaf bank account
Straightforward.

KYC for the Wise USD account details
Additional to anything that I did when opening the Wise account some time back.
Driving licence, selfie and proof of address.

I got an acknowledgement email of a document being uploaded and the implication that further email(s) would follow, but things then went into limbo.
When I eventually started the verification process again, I was prompted for proof of address. This time, there was a note advising to upload a full document.
I'd previously taken a photo of the relevant parts of a printed out utility bill. This time I downloaded the PDF from the utility's online billing application. KYC then completed fairly quickly.


Confusing parts of the operation
When Wise provided the receiving US bank account details, there was some text indicating that they (rather than me) were the bank account holder, while confirming that I had an account at Wise.
Who to use as the beneficiary?
For the transfer of USD back from Decaf, I set up the recipient bank account with me as the beneficiary.
This worked.

For the amount of USD to transfer back from Decaf, there was a token amount and USD amount.
It wasn't possible to key in a USD amount. You have to fill in the token amount. When this is done, the USD amount is calculated/filled in.

 

[sixgun]

I was liaising with Uchiki during some of the above transfer.

My Wise account is different for some reason.
My Wise USD is in my name (unlike Uchiki).

I created a recipient - this was my PERSONAL Decaf bank account.
That means the Decaf bank account in your own name. It doesn't work using Wise to send to the collective Decaf bank account. You cannot put the necessary details in the transfer.

I then put to send £50 of USD equivalent to that personal Decaf USD account.
Wise does the rest taking me to my UK bank account which I open and select which account to debit the £50.
The transfer took until the next day I think.
It was automatically changed into USDC. This took quite a few days to finish processing but this it seems is what happens when it is the first transfer.
Once the USDC had finished being processed I moved them onto the Stellar network and then sent the USDC to my USDC wallet in my KMS account.

REMEMBER to move the USDC onto the Stellar network when you send to Kinesis.

I think if I do it again it will be pretty easy. It is a useful fallback method of sending value to my Kinesis account.
I will use my EUR or GBP virtual accounts otherwise as both work ok and this method is cheaper.

 

[Uchiki]

I will use my EUR or GBP virtual accounts otherwise as both work ok and this method is cheaper.

Yes, this method is easiest and cheap if your KInesis account is registered in the EU.
Those in Aus also have local deposits.

Decaf method is a time and cost effective alternative to a SWIFT transfer if you're registered elsewhere.
If your base currency is USD, then the costs should be zero for deposits and $1 for withdrawals.
For me, they were mainly FX conversion.

 

[Lozion]

Decaf trumps Wise's no crypto rule. It sees the transfer as coming from Bridge Which uses Same Day ACH so pretty fast as off-ramp. On-ramping usually takes less then 24h. Wise's fees are the most expensive of the part of the process if there is FX conversion. Otherwise, Decaf has a no fee (for now) policy for transfers..

*edit: Typo

 

[Libertad]

Hello, new here
I notice that after depositing USDC in Kinesis you have 2 options:
a) Use a pair ex KAG/USDC that has a higher price and less volume than KAG/USD
or
b) Pay a 0.22% fee to swap USDC to USD and then use the pair KAG/USD.
I find that b) paying a fee is defeating a lot of the purpose. This should not apply.

 

[Uchiki]

Hello, new here
I notice that after depositing USDC in Kinesis you have 2 options:
a) Use a pair ex KAG/USDC that has a higher price and less volume than KAG/USD
or
b) Pay a 0.22% fee to swap USDC to USD and then use the pair KAG/USD.
I find that b) paying a fee is defeating a lot of the purpose. This should not apply.

Always worth checking the spreads as you have done.
While it would be nice to have super tight spreads on all pairs, this is not currently the case.
Sometimes it will be more cost efficient to make two trades.

Once Kinesis Pro and USD1 are publicly launched, onramps and liquidity should improve.

Alongside the transformative liquidity of USD1, the liquidity across all digital asset pairs will see a marked improvement on the Kinesis platform. Furthermore, our liquidity will increase throughout 2025.

his upcoming Currency One stablecoin suite will enhance global accessibility, deepen liquidity, and provide users with seamless, cost-effective pathways to engage with precious metals and cryptocurrency markets across the globe.

 

[Lozion]

Decaf supports OTC bank deposits in a few Latam countries (COP, MXN, BRL, ARS, PEN) but interestingly enough CAD$ is now supported! I did a 4USDC test transfer & the deposit landed in my Desjardins checking account in a few hours (presumably using Real Time Rail). The rate was admittedly poor but if beyond 100$CAD, should be competitive with mid-market rates.

-Limit is 600 000$CAD per transaction.

Edit: Just to clarify this is for USDC withdrawals from the Decaf wallet to traditional banks.

 

[The Moonshaft]

The developers at Decaf Wallet are continuing to tweak the application and that's good to see. A new update was uploaded to Google Play/Apple App Store on April 4. They're fixing some known bugs and refining the app overall. More features are planned for the future and I'd suggest that's a necessity if they want to remain competitive. Other similar payment wallets exist and new ones are popping up like mushrooms and competing for market share. To its credit, Decaf is still allowing customers to purchase USDC Stellar/Solana at cost with no added fee. They can also deliver USDC in less than 24 hours if your U.S. bank or credit union can move ACH funds on the typical one-day schedule. USDT can also be managed in Decaf although I have yet to dabble with that. Decaf Wallet remains a good way to acquire USDC Stellar and quickly move it into Kinesis.

One technical note: Decaf Wallet is only available as a mobile app. However, for those sitting at home you can actually manage your Decaf account on a laptop or desktop PC using Lobstr Stellar Wallet. To do that you create a new Lobstr account and simply "Connect Stellar Wallet." Then you input your public Decaf Stellar wallet address and also the private key for that address. I find it very convenient to manage Decaf-acquired funds using Lobstr.

 

[JH528]

However, for those sitting at home you can actually manage your Decaf account on a laptop or desktop PC using Lobstr Stellar Wallet. To do that you create a new Lobstr account and simply "Connect Stellar Wallet." Then you input your public Decaf Stellar wallet address and also the private key for that address.

I'd advise caution on this approach for everyone. Any time you input a private key manually on any device, you run the risk of compromising the wallet linked with that private key. If the device onto which you are entering it is compromised (e.g., keyloggers or other spyware), you've potentially revealed the private key to hackers. Best practices is never to input a private key manually on any device for this reason. It's almost impossible to know whether your device might be compromised in some way.

There is a way to do this properly on Stellar (just like on the XRPL). On Stellar, it is the "Set Option" which allows the address to delegate signing authority to another public address. However, to do this, you would have to have an interface option in the Decaf wallet that delegates signing authority to the Lobstr public address you are using.

[Note: I don't know if Decaf allows this feature or not. wanted to try Decaf, but I can't get the KYC verification to work. It fails for me every time. I just gave up. ]

I don't think Lobstr has this built into the interface either if you want to delegate signing authority of the Lobstr address to another Stellar address that you control such as through a hardware wallet. I haven't found this before in the Lobstr interface. [Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this feature not being there.] But in any event, if you want to delegate signing authority of a DeCaf wallet safely to the Lobstr address, using the Set Options, this has to be done through DeCaf interface (which I doubt they offer, but I don't know, because I can't get verified to do anything on DeCaf).

The Lobstr-equivalent on the XRPL is the Xaman app, and it allows delegated signing authority in a secure way. Or if you have a hardware wallet and are using XRPtoolkit.com, you can delegate signing authority to another public address.

Why is this useful? Lots of reasons. Imagine you want to get your kids to understand crypto wallet management, but you are worried that they will lose keys. You can help them delegate signing authority to your address, such as a separate hardware wallet address, which gives you a backup access point to their address if something should go wrong. That's just one example of why this is really useful.

For some reason, this feature seems to be less used on Stellar interfaces at present, perhaps because most Stellar interfaces are trying to keep things more simple. So, everyone should just be aware that if you are simply manually inputting that private key into the software on the phone, there is risk, because you can't ever really know if something is logging keys or capturing screen info, etc.. Of course, if you are using both Lobstr and Decaf for temporary movement only and are not storing any large amounts on it, then perhaps the risk is small and justified, as long as you keep it used only for such an approach (like carrying your physical wallet in your back pocket which most people would not use for holding extremely large amounts of cash).

I agree that it is convenient. It does carry risk though.

 

[JH528]

Note that with proper delegated signing authority on either Stellar or XRPL, the private key is never exposed or transmitted in any way. It is never input onto any screen, etc. And that delegation can be revoked at any time just as safely without exposing any private keys.