Web3 Wallets Realize the Frontier Exploration of On-chain Addresses
June 30 2022 - 6:39AM
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An Ethereum address is a complex 42-bit string starting with 0x. As
the most basic part of the crypto infrastructure, addresses are the
carriers of users’ assets, rights, and on-chain interactions. We
often see people name their Twitter starting with 0x to indicate
their identity as a blockchain player, which demonstrates the
importance and representativeness of addresses to users on the
chain. As the necessity for users to step into the on-chain world,
there are more than 200 million unique addresses on the Ethereum
chain alone. Over the past year, there have been an average of
about 500,000 active addresses interacting on-chain every day.
Users often use mainstream wallet products such as Metamask to
manage addresses. However, the increasing Web3 protocols have
opened rich usage scenarios for users, and also stimulated many
users’ demands yet to be met, such as address co-management,
private key recovery, address privacy and so on. On-chain
developers are also actively proposing various innovative solutions
based on these demands. In this article, people will learn about
the ambitions of infrastructure developers to improve the security
and usability of address management through the examples of Gnosis
Safe and Argent Wallet. By looking into Blank Wallet, a project
focusing on private transactions, and A3S Protocol, a pioneer in
“transferable addresses”, having a glimpse of how the “careerists”
bring revolutionary changes to this entrance-level field of the
Web3 world. 1. Dreamers who pursue security and
usability 1.1 Security: A Multi-Signature Management Scheme for
Addresses Gnosis Safe represents the multi-signature wallet
solution in the context of implementing secure co-management of
addresses. The multi-signature function simply means that the user
needs to set up several owners or devices, and the transaction must
be approved by a minimum number of roles before it can be carried
out. Based on this, Gnosis Safe also provides users with more
rights management functions, such as batch transactions and custom
modules for authorization under certain conditions including social
recovery modules and allowance modules. 1.2 Usability:
mnemonic-free management of addresses In terms of usability, a
representative project is Argent, featuring “no private key” and
“no mnemonic”, thereby greatly reducing the user’s threshold.
Argent allows users to set up several other accounts or devices as
Guardians, to facilitate the recovery of accounts and assets
through Guardian’s verification if the device is replaced or the
address is stolen. The wallet owner can also grant the “keeper”
several permissions, including locking and unlocking accounts,
triggering account recovery procedures, and approving large
transactions. At the same time, Argent also gives away 1 ENS domain
per user, which allows users to convert a long list of complex
addresses starting with 0x into easier-to-remember “URLs” ending
with “.eth” to further improve the user experience. 2.
Strong Anonymity, Subversive SBT Careerist 2.1 Privacy: Privacy
Protection for Addresses As a public ledger, users’ privacy is one
of the weaknesses of Blockchains. When users try to conduct private
transactions, they often need to go through a currency mixer such
as Tornado Cash. Under the ambition of pursuing privacy and
emphasizing anonymity, Blank is an address management protocol
designed for private transactions. It adopts the method of currency
mixing and zero-knowledge proof to realize private transactions.
Specifically, whenever a user transfers funds, Blank will generate
a password for the transaction and mix the funds, which will also
become the proof of the payments sent; when a user accepts the
transfer, Blank will create a brand-new address to receive the
funds; also, the transaction will be mixed with Blank’s internal
fund pool to conceal user’s financial information. Blank can
provide users with wallet applications and be incorporated into
other wallets and DeFi projects as extensions. 2.2 Liquidity:
Control separation and transferability of addresses Due to the
nature of the private key, the ownership of addresses can only be
shared but is difficult to be transferred as it’s almost impossible
to ensure one has completely forgotten or discarded its private
key. A3S Protocol, trying to separate the control of the address
from itself, endows the address with liquidity. Users discovered
this pioneering idea from the much-anticipated Grants Round 14 of
Gitcoin (GR14). The relevant information remains to be limited as
people try to understand the project developer’s “ambition”. A3S
Protocol is not a wallet and no longer uses private key signatures
to control addresses. It is a protocol that uses NFT as the
“controller” of the addresses. In simple terms, the protocol allows
users to mint an address controlled by an NFT, and transfer control
of the address through the circulation of the NFT. A3S Protocol
also discards mnemonics, replacing the abstract mnemonics and
private keys with more concrete NFTs. Just like a real key, whoever
holds the “key” has control of the address. Due to the non-fungible
nature of NFT, the “key” is also unique and there are no concerns
of being copied. In addition, this “key” being an NFT can be easily
adapted to the existing NFT infrastructure. According to the
project conception, after such NFT-Gated Addresses open up the
address liquidity, there will be more potential user demands being
fulfilled in many ways: OTC transaction of non-transferable
on-chain assets and interests: for example, non-transferable assets
such as veCRV in the Curve protocol, or NFT whitelist qualification
attached to addresses, can be transferred directly by transferring
addresses. Temporary escrow of addresses: temporarily entrust
others to operate your address, such as automatic investment, P2E
on Gamefi, etc. After the end of the escrow period, the control of
the address will be fully recovered through the return of NFT, and
the continuation of the interaction record can be maintained.
Addresses being the new collectibles: trading addresses of
celebrities, such as auctioning addresses used by Elon Musk,
Stephen Curry, Jay-Z, etc. Basic services on-chain: When users
occasionally need a large number of addresses to interact with
protocols, users can simply buy or rent the addresses with gas in
bulk, thus eliminating the tedious and expensive operation of
transferring small assets in and out. In other words, A3S Protocol
realizes the capitalization of addresses and provides a new
possibility for value transfer. Just like domain names, addresses
can become the new subject matter for collectibles and leases, or
become a unique on-chain service. At the same time, the
“restrictions” and “privileges” for addresses will therefore no
longer be exclusive. Although A3S has not yet launched its product,
if the design of the project can be implemented, it might become
the No. 1 public enemy of the anti-Sybil attack, SBT, and NFT
communities. Conclusion With the development of the crypto market
and Web 3, users have growing diversified needs for address
management. The value of addresses has become increasingly
prominent, and addresses are more than something that can be
discarded carelessly. How to manage the “first stop” in the crypto
journey and uncover more value embedded in addresses will certainly
become the focus of more and more projects. Developers are
continuing to design revolutionary solutions in the process as we
keep paying attention to the progress and updates of
address-related projects and sharing our research.
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