Welcome the Metamask mobile analog: nobody needs to build crypto wallets anymore

Written by FurmannD | Published 2018/12/05
Tech Story Tags: blockchain | ethereum | developer-tools | dapps | metamask-mobile

TLDRvia the TL;DR App

As an experienced crypto wallet developer, we offer a white label wallet solution for different blockchain projects. Many companies that have their own token or decentralized app have reached out to us with the request to create an in-app wallet for them recently.

Even more companies that we know — our partners/friends/people we drink beer with at conferences — complain that “building your own ETH wallet is a drag”, especially when the services you provide are not related to wallets/payments at all. Of course, we could take is as a challenge — build a WL wallet for all needs. But, in fact, we can’t: our precious human resources are naturally limited, and not every company can afford to/put their trust into a “black box” solution/plead their inability to build a no-risk-of-screwing-up wallet, after all.

Regardless of the possible reasons, many crypto companies — especially dapps — shun the idea of building their own app just because it would cost them some 1.5 months of development (full ios/android team load)? We do not know of any successful and ambitious crypto startup that has spare developers. Fitting an MVP of a wallet into your company’s roadmap can be. . . well, if by any chance you work in the industry too, just imagine that and paste the best answer!

If you do not, I’ll tell you: impossible unless your survival depends on this (it usually doesn’t).

Even the smallest Dapp on Earth can easily go live by implementing Metamask payments, but when it comes to mobile, everything comes to a halt. So what can we do? After sleeping on those facts for several weeks, we came up with an idea.

Why not create an ETH wallet SDK for everyone who needs it?

“Happiness for everyone, free, and no one will go away unsatisfied”

Well, that and make the wallet work with Lumi. Do we or do we not have the right to benefit from our own work?

And that we did. An SDK (software development kit) — is literally a toolkit, a bunch of pieces of code, libraries, etc that you can use to create applications with. Implementing the Lumi SDK allows the app to sign Ethereum transactions.

So we created the Lumi SDK — the only thing left was to find a guinea-pig… a pioneer, we mean.

Some of you have probably heard of 0xUniverse — a colorful blockchain strategy game where players explore space, fly spaceships, and colonize planets. Each planet is a unique collectible usually purchased via Metamask (on desktops). The problem occurred when the 0x team decided to expand and develop a mobile version of their creation — there was simply no existing solution available for Dapps at that time. So it was the perfect opportunity to give our SDK a try and, as a result, Lumi wallet has been successfully integrated into the 0xUniverse mobile game.

What does that mean for the 0x player?

  1. oh god, there’s finally an 0x app! (so they are going to play the game more often and spend more time in it)

  2. they decide to purchase a new spaceship, and woo-hoo! They just click the purchase button, are redirected to Lumi Collect, confirm the payment details, and go right back to the app. It’s as simple as it could be. Of course, the easiness of the interaction affects the frequency of the purchases too, if you know what we mean :)

That’s only one Lumi SDK implementation case: the possibilities for use are endless. Let’s say, you’re running a decentralized auction platform, and your client wants to purchase an item and send it as a gift to a friend. Instead of finding himself in a long process of signing several transactions he can finalize the whole deal in a single click.

Do you think it’s time for your Dapp to go mobile? See how easy it can be! (Github link here)


Published by HackerNoon on 2018/12/05