Crypto dangles the promise of direct asset ownership without the interference, cost or complexity of third parties. There’s a catch though. With great power comes great responsibility.

Fetch is taking the fear and complexity out of self-custody by making an Ethereum account look, feel and behave like a regular online account. Never worry about losing your account or have others access it. Fetch securely and anonymously backs up your account to the cloud so you can never lose it and only you can restore it to any device.

Here’s a quick summary:

Goodbye hexadecimal addresses, Hello Password — Use a password to manage and access your account. Just like every other online account you have.

— Use a password to manage and access your account. Just like every other online account you have. Easy Sync — Using Fetch on the web and want to use the desktop version? Or perhaps our upcoming browser extension or mobile app? No problem, sync your account using a code sent to your email or phone. Unlock it all with your password.

— Using Fetch on the web and want to use the desktop version? Or perhaps our upcoming browser extension or mobile app? No problem, sync your account using a code sent to your email or phone. Unlock it all with your password. Easy Recovery — Forget the confusing sequences of words stored in a safe deposit box. Get Fetch and set it up using that same code from your email and voila — your account is setup and ready to go. Completely updated and nothing lost!

While self-custody empowers users it also asks them to take some responsibility. Unfortunately this responsibility can come with new vocabulary to learn and protocols to observe. Fetch wants to remove this burden while keeping all the user benefits of retaining control of accounts.

Here’s a run-through of how it works on Fetch from the user’s perspective.

Setup Your Account

Pretty simple actually. Create a password and then provide an email address to use in case your need to sync or restore your account in the future.

Nothing new to learn here. Create a password.

Anonymous and Secure Back Up

Once you secure your account, it’s anonymously and securely backed up so you, and only you, can retrieve it. The technical details of how we do this is coming in a future post. The key thing is that you’re secured and Fetch has no access to your account information.

Lost Your Laptop…No problem!

This could be a nightmare scenario for many people. Where’s your backup phrase? Did you save your private key in an underground vault protected by rabid dogs 24/7? What other outlandish security procedures did you take?

With Fetch it’s pretty simple actually. Open up your shiny new replacement machine and request a code to your authenticated email address. You’ll receive the code and can use it, and your password, to regain access to your account on Fetch. No data is lost. Your transaction history is still up to date. Your tokens are all there. Simple.

Forget the rabid dogs, just use a code.

Access Fetch on Another Platform?

Let’s say you didn’t lose your laptop. You just want to access your account managed by Fetch on the go from your mobile phone (yep, Fetch mobile is coming soon!). No complex QR codes or private keystore files required here. You guessed it, request a sync code and enter it into Fetch mobile. Unlock it all with your password and you’re all set. Any transaction you complete from your phone is visible on your desktop and vice versa.

Perhaps I should include another whiz-bang screenshot here to show how cool this is. It’s so simple though that you know what to expect. That’s our goal.

Why This Matters?

Making Ethereum accounts this simple and reliable is more about making it easier for users who are already accustomed to some of the clumsy mechanics today. It makes it trusted and safe for new users to begin their journey. Maybe they are trying crypto for the first time or perhaps venturing outside of the exchange through which they purchased their first Bitcoin or Ethereum. In either case, making the experience reliable and safe helps them explore the wonderful world of decentralized finance. And isn’t that what we all want?

If you’re a long time Fetch user and notice that these screenshots are slightly different than what you’re used to, you’re right. We’ve got some more cool new features coming soon and will share more details soon.

At Fetch we’re making investing with tokens simple for everyone. Try it out and follow us on twitter @hello_fetch