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Funding

Your balance is held as dollars (USDC on Algorand) in a wallet only you control. Every message pays its own way from that balance — no subscription.

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Using the proxy from a terminal instead of the browser? zs-proxy fund covers the same ground from the command line — see Wallet & funding.

Adding funds​

Open Deposit in the app. (On a brand-new account you don't even need to — a Fund your account window opens on its own right after you create the account; see the Quick start.) There are three ways in:

The Deposit dialog, opened from your profile menu: balance, the Transfer and Buy with card panes, withdrawals, and the network deposit.The Deposit dialog, opened from your profile menu: balance, the Transfer and Buy with card panes, withdrawals, and the network deposit.

Buy with card​

Buy with a debit card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay via Coinbase Onramp. An independent third party verifies your ID for card purchases — ZeroSignal never asks for, stores, or sees your personal information. The purchase buys ALGO, which then converts to your dollar (USDC) balance automatically in the background — see auto-conversion below. No Coinbase account is required for guest checkout in supported regions.

The Pay with card pane: pick a preset or custom amount, then check out via Coinbase.The Pay with card pane: pick a preset or custom amount, then check out via Coinbase.

Transfer from Algorand​

Send ALGO or USDC from any Algorand wallet to your deposit address (shown as text and QR code in the deposit dialog). USDC lands as dollars directly; ALGO is converted to dollars automatically — see auto-conversion below.

The Send crypto pane during first-run funding: your deposit address as text and QR, with the app watching for the deposit. The same pane lives in the Deposit dialog.The Send crypto pane during first-run funding: your deposit address as text and QR, with the app watching for the deposit. The same pane lives in the Deposit dialog.

Transfer from other chains​

Send crypto from a fixed list of supported assets — BTC, ETH, SOL, USDC (on Ethereum and Solana), USDT (on Ethereum), and others including DAI, XRP, LTC, DOGE, BCH, MATIC, AVAX, BNB, ADA, TRX, and XLM. The app creates a one-time pay-in address for the asset you choose; whatever you send is swapped across chains to ALGO delivered to your Algorand address, which then converts to your dollar (USDC) balance automatically — see auto-conversion below. Before you send, the app shows a live estimate of what you'll receive and asks for a refund address on the source chain (in case the swap can't complete). A pending order keeps tracking even if you close or reload the page.

Sending from another chain: pick the asset, see a live estimate of what you'll receive, and provide a refund address before you send.Sending from another chain: pick the asset, see a live estimate of what you'll receive, and provide a refund address before you send.

Auto-conversion​

Apart from a direct USDC transfer on Algorand, every deposit route above arrives as ALGO first; that ALGO is then swept into USDC automatically, and a small ALGO float is kept aside to cover network fees. So whatever you put in ends up as dollars (USDC) in your balance without you doing anything. While a sweep is running the app shows a converting indicator ("Converting to dollars" on your first deposit) — it typically settles in seconds.

Withdrawals​

Your balance is yours. You can withdraw USDC to any Algorand address at any time from the same Deposit dialog — no minimums imposed by us, no lockups, no permission needed.

Why use crypto?​

Three properties you don't get from a card on file:

  1. Pseudonymous payments. Crypto payments aren't tied to your identity — no name, billing address, or card number attached to your usage.
  2. Self-custody. Your funds sit in a wallet derived from your passkey, not in an account we hold. Even if ZeroSignal disappeared tomorrow, your balance would still be yours to withdraw — see Recovery for how your keys outlive us.
  3. Open rails. Payments settle on a public network, so any user can transact with any operator directly — no payment processor in the middle deciding who may pay whom.