2gether vs Silo Finance

2gether operated as a mobile first financial ecosystem combining centralized digital asset trading with an integrated payment card. The application delivered a consumer oriented interface tailored for casual retail participants who wanted straightforward entry into digital asset markets without managing private cryptographic keys. Supported assets centered on major market capitalization tokens, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Basic Attention Token, alongside the proprietary 2GT utility asset.

The central feature of the ecosystem was the prepaid Visa debit card, which interfaced directly with the customer custodial cryptocurrency balances and fiat euro accounts. When cardholders initiated transactions at physical or online merchant terminals, the backend payment engine liquidated the selected digital asset into euros in real time to settle with the card network. This structure allowed seamless retail payments without requiring manual trades beforehand.

Beyond standard payment routing, the application included portfolio tracking tools, recurring buy setups, and community governance features tied to 2GT token ownership. Users could participate in informal voting rounds regarding upcoming asset listings or app improvements. While the asset catalog covered essential large cap tokens, it lacked deep secondary market coverage, specialized decentralized finance tokens, and granular order placement options like limit orders or margin facilities.

Silo Finance operates as an isolated money market protocol deployed across Ethereum and compatible layer-2 networks. Unlike legacy lending markets where all deposited assets back a single liquidity pool, Silo organizes capital into individual two-token pairs. Each silo matches a specific crypto asset against an established base currency, typically Wrapped Ether (WETH) or stablecoins like USDC. This architectural boundary helps support that if a specialized collateral token experiences an unexpected economic exploit, oracle failure, or rapid price collapse, financial losses remain strictly confined to that specific silo.

The asset depth on Silo spans mainstream layer-1 tokens, liquid staking derivatives, yield-bearing assets, and select governance tokens. Depositors supply liquidity to earn variable interest generated by borrowers who post collateral to draw counterpart assets. Because each silo functions autonomously, parameters such as maximum loan to value thresholds, liquidation penalties, and interest rate curves are customized to the risk profile of each paired asset. This modularity enables Silo to onboard newer or more volatile tokens without introducing systemic risk to conservative liquidity providers who deposit established stablecoins or native crypto assets.

2gether adopted a zero explicit trading commission marketing narrative, meaning spot conversions between euro balances and digital assets did not carry visible transaction line item fees. Instead, trading expenses were incorporated into execution spreads. The backend system sourced liquidity from multiple external partner exchanges, adding a markup between 1.0 percent and 2.5 percent depending on market volatility, selected token pair liquidity, and client 2GT holding tiers.

Token utility rules allowed users who accumulated substantial amounts of 2GT to access tighter spread bands and waived monthly card management fees. Standard users who did not hold minimum staking thresholds encountered standard spread margins on buys and sells. Physical card issuance was initially free or subject to nominal delivery costs, while standard point of sale transactions in euros did not attract domestic surcharge fees.

Withdrawal costs presented notable friction points throughout the platform lifecycle. Transferring cryptocurrencies out of the app to external non custodial wallets incurred standard blockchain network fees alongside internal processing surcharges. When the company initiated shutdown procedures in 2022, management imposed an unexpected twenty euro account maintenance fee on inactive retail balances, which provoked significant client friction during the final migration and asset withdrawal period toward partnered exchange facilities.

Pricing on Silo Finance is governed algorithmically through dynamic interest rate models rather than static subscription tiers or centralized markup fees. Borrowers pay variable borrowing annual percentage rates determined by pool utilization, which measures the ratio of borrowed capital relative to total supplied liquidity. When utilization is low, borrowing rates decrease to stimulate loan demand. As utilization climbs toward capacity thresholds, the interest rate curve steepens rapidly to encourage repayments and incentivize new deposits. Suppliers receive the bulk of these interest payments as floating yield, minus a protocol reserve factor retained by the treasury.

Protocol participants incur standard blockchain network gas fees for every interaction, including token approvals, deposits, borrows, collateral adjustments, and withdrawals. Because transactions settle directly on-chain, transaction expenses vary with underlying network congestion on Ethereum or layer-2 environments like Arbitrum. Silo charges no proprietary deposit or withdrawal fees for standard interactions. However, liquidations trigger automated penalty spreads, where liquidators purchase collateral at a protocol-defined discount to repay overdue debt. Lenders can withdraw their deposited principal and accrued earnings at any time, provided the specific silo maintains sufficient unborrowed liquidity to service redemption requests.

2gether functioned as a purely custodial service provider, retaining full administrative control over cryptographic keys associated with user balances. Account holders did not hold private keys, passphrases, or individual seed backups. While this model simplified mobile onboarding for non technical consumers, it concentrated balance risks entirely within the corporate infrastructure and third party institutional wallet custodians.

Platform defenses relied on standard consumer authentication controls, including biometric authentication, mandatory two factor verification via SMS or authenticator apps, and algorithmic transaction monitoring for suspicious login locations. Cryptographic balances were primarily held in cold storage systems managed by institutional partners to mitigate online attack surfaces, with only small operational floats retained in warm wallets to settle daily card payments.

The limitations of this centralized custodial structure became evident during operational disruptions. In 2020, 2gether suffered a security compromise that resulted in the theft of approximately 1.2 million euros worth of digital assets from its operational hot reserves. Although the company sought to compensate affected users through 2GT token allocations rather than immediate liquid euro distributions, the event underscored the inherent risks associated with custodial multi asset mobile apps operating without comprehensive sovereign insurance coverage.

Silo Finance utilizes a non-custodial framework where users interact with immutable smart contracts using self-hosted Web3 wallets. The protocol never assumes centralized custody of private keys or user funds. Security controls rely on smart contract code verification, external third-party security audits, and decentralized price oracle feeds. Oracles, typically supplied by networks like Chainlink or Uniswap V3 time-weighted average price feeds, deliver the pricing data necessary to calculate loan health factors and collateral requirements in real time.

Risk management is fundamentally enforced through automated liquidation parameters. When price fluctuations cause a borrower's loan to value ratio to exceed the maximum liquidation threshold, the position becomes open for partial or full liquidation by external market participants. While the isolated architecture successfully prevents cascading default across unrelated silos, individual participants remain exposed to specific smart contract risks, oracle manipulation vectors, and sudden liquidity shortages within their chosen pool. Depositors must manage their own risk tolerance regarding token selections, as Silo does not maintain external insurance funds or state-backed restitution mechanisms.

2gether focused its operational presence across member states of the European Economic Area, specifically targeting consumers residing within Eurozone markets such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France. Due to cross border financial regulations and card scheme limitations, the platform did not accept registrations from residents of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, or high risk jurisdictions identified by international anti money laundering taskforces.

Onboarding required standard customer verification procedures in compliance with European Anti Money Laundering directives. Users submitted official identity documentation, such as national identification cards or passports, alongside live biometric facial verification and proof of residential address. Account approval was generally processed within several hours through automated verification tools, allowing newly approved users to generate virtual payment cards immediately while physical cards arrived by postal mail.

Customer support channels operated primarily through an in app ticket system, direct email assistance, and moderated social messaging channels. Response times and query resolutions were acceptable during normal operations but deteriorated significantly during market volatility spikes and security incidents. When service closure was announced in July 2022, support bandwidth was overwhelmed, leaving many users dependent on community forums and Bit2Me transition documentation to clarify balance retrieval instructions.

As a decentralized application, Silo Finance is accessible globally without traditional account creation, credit checks, or centralized identity verification steps. Anyone with a compatible Web3 wallet and supported network tokens can connect directly to the interface or interact with the open-source contracts through block explorers and custom scripts. However, geographic compliance policies may restrict access to the hosted web application interface in certain sanctioned jurisdictions, even though the underlying blockchain smart contracts remain permissionless on-chain.

Governance of the protocol is coordinated through the SILO token and a decentralized autonomous organization. Token holders and community members propose, debate, and vote on system upgrades, collateral parameter adjustments, interest rate models, and treasury incentive distributions. Customer assistance follows a decentralized support structure. The protocol does not provide live telephone or individual account representatives. Technical troubleshooting, documentation, and user guidance are coordinated through official developer documentation, GitHub repositories, community forums, and public Discord communication channels where community moderators assist users with operational questions.