aether

Aether is an AI-powered crypto onboarding assistant designed to make getting started with Web3 effortless and accessible. Inspired by the viral trend of people onboarding strangers to crypto on the streets, Aether brings that same simplicity and human connection to the digital space.

The flow starts with someone who already has crypto sending funds to a new user’s email address. The recipient doesn’t need any prior blockchain knowledge—they simply log in, and Aether guides them through setting up their wallet, creating a basename (a human-friendly identifier to replace complex addresses), and exploring essential onchain activities like sending transactions, checking balances, and interacting with decentralized applications (dApps).

Aether offers clear, non-technical explanations at every step, making the process smooth for beginners while still being useful for experienced users. By combining conversational AI with blockchain functionality, Aether transforms the onboarding experience into something intuitive, engaging, and fun—bringing the street-level onboarding vibe to everyone, everywhere.

Aether is built using Coinbase's AgentKit as the AI chatbot backend, enabling smooth onchain interactions and conversational guidance. The frontend is developed with Next.js, offering a responsive and intuitive user interface for seamless communication with the agent.

For wallet management, Privy server wallets allow users to sign in with their email, enabling the agent to interact with the user’s server wallet and perform transactions on their behalf—no manual signing required. This makes it easy for new users to engage with crypto without dealing with private keys or wallet extensions.

Nillion's Secret Vaults are integrated to securely store and manage sensitive conversation data, ensuring user interactions remain private and protected. This privacy-preserving approach adds an extra layer of trust and security to the onboarding process.

A particularly notable feature is the email-to-wallet onboarding flow: existing crypto users can send funds to a friend’s email. When the recipient logs in, Aether uses their server wallet to guide them through creating a basename and performing their first transactions, simplifying the onboarding process.

By combining these technologies, Aether delivers a secure, intuitive, and engaging experience that bridges the gap between Web2 familiarity and Web3 innovation.

One of the more challenging aspects of building Aether was designing the prompting system for the AI agent. Unlike typical AI interactions where the user guides the agent, Aether flips the dynamic—the agent leads the user through onboarding and onchain activities. Crafting prompts that kept the agent on-task while maintaining a natural, conversational tone was tricky, and despite multiple iterations, the agent still occasionally goes off-script or behaves unpredictably. Balancing guidance and flexibility remains an ongoing challenge, but it’s part of what makes developing with AI so interesting.