Microsoft’s Crypto Wallet Just Got Leaked - Here’s What To Expect...
Article source, here.
TL;DR
Microsoft’s Edge browser wallet integration just leaked! And it looks like it will be a self custodial wallet, operating on the Ethereum blockchain.
Users will be able to load funds onto their wallet using built in Coinbase/MoonPay integrations.
As of January 2023, there were 5.16B internet users worldwide, 4.27% of which use the Edge browser (~220.33M total), which means this wallet will have a wide reach!
That said, for it to be widely used/needed by most people (our friends, parents, neighbors), we’ll need more consumer facing Web3 use-cases.
Full Story
This is the classic 'kid who got called a nerd in high school, becoming rich/famous/idolized later in life' kind of story.
Windows Edge browser (formerly know/hated by the name 'Internet Explorer') is having a glow up.
First, its native search engine (Bing) adopts AI before Google - and does a way better job of integrating it.
Now, a new leak from someone called 'Albacore,' has revealed plans for a potential crypto wallet.
At this point in the article we have a few options - do we:
Dig into what the wallet will be able to do?
Geek out on some 'potential adoption' data?
Ok, first up - what will it be able to do?
From the looks of these pictures:
It will be built on the Ethereum blockchain.
Users will be able to load funds onto their wallet using built in Coinbase/MoonPay integrations.
It will be a self custodial wallet - meaning Microsoft will not have access to a user's password or recovery keys.
From what we've seen the whole thing feels similar to Metamask, except it's baked into the browser, instead of operating through an extension/plugin.
Which is very cool! If the process of setting up a wallet changes from:
Go to Metamask.io → download the plugin → install → open → click 'create wallet'.
To simply:
Click wallet icon in corner of browser → 'create wallet'...
That's a much smoother process!
And while it doesn't feel like much - the art of taking someone from 'non-user' to 'user' (known as 'conversion rate optimization') is all about reducing friction at every step.
So what're we looking at re: potential adoption?
Alright, get your napkins out. Turn them over. We're about to make assumptions and do math...
As of January 2023, there were 5.16B internet users worldwide, 4.27% of which use the Edge browser (~220.33M total).
220.33M new users ain't bad! But just because someone can easily access a crypto wallet, doesn't mean they're going to use it.
Lets water that number down.
Say only 1% of Edge users create a wallet. That'll equal 2.2M new addresses added to the Ethereum network.
Now, let's assume half of those people already have Ethereum wallets - that brings us down to 1.1M new users.
Oh, and while we're at it, let's assume only 40-50% of those remaining (440-550k) convert into daily active users on the Ethereum network.
Where does that get us?
Well, right now there're about 400k daily active users on the Ethereum network - so that's an entire doubling of network activity! Niiiice 🤝
...but before we all start high-fiving - we have a confession to make:
We may have fudged the numbers a little there.
Or rather, we're probably being a little over optimistic with our assumptions re: 440-550k new daily active users.
(What can we say, we're glass half full kind of people!)
So what's the bottleneck?
Put simply: we need more broad consumer facing use cases to be adopted.
The Edge browser wallet is a tool, with a narrow band of applications (mostly finance based right now).
For it to be widely used/needed by most people (our friends, parents, neighbors) we're going to need to see a wave of Web3 enabled:
Websites, e-commerce stores, communities, social platforms, in-store payment terminals, games, ticketing, loyalty programs etc.
The good news is: that's all on the way! And when it gets here, tools like the Edge browser wallet will be there to onboard the world.
We love to see it.