Crypto wallets are in for a shake-up. Industry insiders reckon easier sign-in options could become the norm.
The crypto world's got a problem. Web3 wallets are too complex for most folks. This is putting the brakes on mainstream adoption.
Bumblefudge, the self-styled "janitor-in-chief" at Chain Agnostic Standards Alliance (CASA), didn't mince words. At the Web3 Summit 2024 in Berlin, he laid it out plain and simple.
"Seed phrases are not going to work for the other 95% of the world," he said. "But, um, the solution to that is unfortunately boring, ugly standards, governance."
It's a tough sell right now. Setting up a crypto wallet is a head-scratcher for many. You need native gas tokens and those pesky unrecoverable seed phrases. It's enough to make anyone's head spin.
So, what's the fix? Web3 wallets need to up their game. They've got to be more user-friendly. And step one is ditching those complicated seed phrases.
But here's the rub. It's not just about one company doing its own thing. The whole industry needs to get on the same page.
Bumblefudge put it bluntly: "No one wants to write down how they're using it because they're all competing with each other. They all want the better parts, the implementation. So, nothing's going to be interoperable; nothing's going to be secure."
Without teamwork, we're stuck. No fancy solutions like passkeys. No interoperability. It's a dead end.
"We need to be going down to the user instead of up from what the chain wants and what the DeFi protocol wants," Bumblefudge added. "We need standards for user expectations."
It's not just CASA banging this drum. Other big players are chiming in too.
Take Coinbase. Chintan Turakhia, their senior director of engineering, is all about smoothing out the bumps. Speaking to Cointelegraph at EthCC, he didn't beat around the bush.
"If our goal is to bring in the next billion users — and let's start with just 100 million — we have to take all those friction points out," Turakhia said.
Coinbase isn't just talking the talk. They've launched a smart wallet that's more beginner-friendly. No more seed phrases. Just account names and passcodes. Simple stuff.
Turakhia reckons this is the way forward. He's betting these easier sign-in options will become the go-to for crypto wallet providers.
It's a bold move. But in this fast-paced crypto world, sometimes you've got to shake things up to move forward. Will it pay off? Only time will tell.