Social Ideas for Web3 Wallets - Bing Ventures

By Kyle, Investment Manager@Bing Ventures

We can get away from the virtual space, but we will never get away from the social. The Web3 social circle is expanding, and the integration with the Web2 social model is accelerating, and one or more global distributed social networks that are more resistant to censorship can be expected. At that point, more value elements will be released in this vast network, and the crypto world will no longer be a marginal cultural region.

The Web3 Wallet is more than just a concept, it is a key point in the blockchain infrastructure. We believe that for a successful Web3 transformation, the crypto industry will need a new wallet product that can solve all existing problems. The demand for decentralized social experiences is set to explode in the near future. But when it comes to user experience, wallet projects still have a lot of work to do.

Source: EthHub

The future of the metaverse and SocialFi is bright. The next generation of the Internet will enable the Web3 wallet, which combines multi-functional games and smart contracts. But the dilemma is that most Web3 wallets still haven’t incubated a native, phenomenally decentralized social media platform. Another way of thinking, of course, is based on the improvement of the Web2 social project. For example, Meta’s Instagram can now allow select users to connect their digital wallets and share NFT collectibles. In this article, we will share our ideas and vision for building a true Web3 wallet that is social.

Simple user experience

Improving reuse is the backbone of developing user habits. If the wallet is easy enough to use, it is more likely to attract more loyal users. However, simplicity and convenience are not at the heart of what defines a social wallet right now. Most wallet applications assume that users understand concepts such as crypto wallets and on-chain addresses and can act accordingly.

But for wallet projects to become mainstream, the user experience must adapt to the wider Muggle population. Personal wallets should be a great entry point into the Web3 social universe. The whole setup process should be as easy and quick as signing up for a major social network account today. The seed phrase that is the current threshold for wallet use is too cumbersome and dangerous for the average user. Wallets with higher-order biometrics should be a higher priority as a backup and recovery function.

Source: Superlunar

The higher pursuit of user experience also includes censorship resistance. User funds should be absolutely decentralized, inaccessible even to the wallet’s developer team, giving users complete control over their assets and making them censoring resistant. Selfless keys and helpless memorization will be the trend of the future, which requires more secure privacy computing technology, as far as possible to eliminate the risk of hacking.

If a project’s data is completely controlled by the user and the wallet can be backed up and restored with minimal user information, this will be a priority for us. In addition, such projects should support direct login to Web3 addresses, such as ENS native wallet projects, which have a natural user experience advantage.

Metaverse and multi-chain compatibility

The Web3 wallet should support all major blockchains and DApps, including the NFT market, making it an all-in-one wallet. It is compatible with all Web applications, so users can store any token and enjoy any Web3 service seamlessly. Users can also easily switch between blockchains and exchange any token on any chain through the native DEX aggregator.

The immersive technologies of augmented and virtual reality in the metaverse can provide an open and composable experience for decentralized wallet builders. The social module is just one part of it, and it will work with other modules to provide a comprehensive user experience. From this point of view, a public chain network with a mature hardware infrastructure and strong interoperability is more likely to lead to composable social scenarios.

These complex requirements require a specific protocol standard. So protocol compatibility means wallet can be easily embedded in any protocol layer or application layer of Web3.0. Users’ core data can be capitalized to generate NFTS for trading, and can be associated with forging NFTS to build a network of relationships, resulting in a secure, transparent, censor-resistant, permission-free social networking infrastructure.

Enhance social playability

For users, they can master and explore their social relationships on the chain through the wallet. In addition, project developers can use a network of permission-free relationships to develop wallets. Personal homepage and on-chain social graph are currently the mainstream social relationship display modes. In terms of the app landscape, it’s not that more social features are better. For the wider Web3.0 average user, the wallet project is not just content to be a lightweight Web3 application, but rather to be the foundation protocol for the Web3.0 social network that any other Dapp can access and integrate with.

Wallet-like protocols that support user and community self-development are more likely to provide a broader imagination for future on-chain social interactions. While the RSS3 and Lens Protocol that favor creator content types are currently in the spotlight, I believe the SocialFi and social-focused Web3 wallet has the potential to be more combinable and modular.

Source: Julian Paul

The potential of social wallets should not be underestimated. While this segment of the market may be less mature relative to other markets, so far they can effectively use speculative assets to complete more transactions than content-only social projects can. More importantly, in-wallet assets and protocol tokens can be used to incentivize user behavior and form communities in self-built virtual worlds. Moreover, wallets are the most sensitive to smart money and address movements, allowing the most avid fans to make speculative bets on “successful” on-chain behavior at an early stage. With the development of SocialFi and the emergence of new ways of interacting with social investments outside the boundaries of creators, we can see the emergence of a demand for wallet-like social tokens.

Who are Pokémon?

We evaluated the current emerging projects in the web wallet field in terms of security, functional innovation, cross-chain interoperability, and UI/UX. We have noticed that some projects are working on building legal digital wallets using zero-knowledge proof and MPC technology. These projects will be introduced in detail in another article . Please continue to follow us.

Tokenization and NFTs are already unstoppable standard in web wallets. They are often used to establish a user’s identity without sharing any data. Assuming a Web3 user wants to sign up for financial services, these wallets first need to legally verify the user’s on-chain identity in one step, rather than forcing users to hand over a physical ID through traditional Web2 security steps. On-chain credit is so important.

Source: antiersolutions

Most crypto enthusiasts want better protection against fraudulent incidents and other suspicious induced transactions. So the wallet field must introduce a clear regulatory framework, but in terms of user experience design and interoperability, some measures must be taken at the following levels to make the function more friendly.

A more comprehensive user experience. Most users cannot understand the underlying principles of transactions. Increased adoption must therefore clear complex conceptual barriers. Using simple text instructions and visual panels to demystify trading would be a great help. Users can clearly see which funds are being transferred in which direction.
Smarter tagging of transaction addresses. The specific permissions granted by the user when signing the transaction must be accompanied by a risk level prompt. Crypto wallets need to provide timely potential labels about contract addresses that users interact with. Address portraits are still a reliable way to socialize wallets. Wallets must automate tagging of addresses, and can also allow users to customize counterparty ratings and measures to encourage honest scoring.
Provide educational resources. The NFT space is a decentralized social network. This is a major shift from Web 2.0. Social graphing educational resources will help bring more users to crypto wallets securely. Gnosis Safe is one of the pioneers in this regard. Before Gnosis Safe, multisig was very inconvenient to set up. Gnosis Safe’s intuitive interface and extensive integrations have established itself as a leader in this regard.

Web3 wallets are likely to give birth to a new paradigm, but the community must first address the security challenges currently plaguing the field. UX improvements and a series of protocol deployments are the main reasons for the success of the Web3 wallet.

Competitors to Metamask are likely to grab share of the decentralized treasury market — especially those launching on non-EVM blockchains. However, we cannot ignore how the native wallet project on Ethereum allows tokenization to continue to lead the innovation of “DeFi+NFT” combined products.