Blockchain, thanks in large part to NFTs, will utterly transform society and the economy.
This moment in time is similar to the internet in the mid-90s in that there is media coverage, a flow of investment capital, and an expanding core of people leading the charge but the market reality in the ’90s was that the vast majority of consumers and businesses were only nominally aware of the internet and had yet to use it. The internet would change everyone’s lives, but they didn’t know it yet, and a lot of groundwork had to be done to get it there.
There are several foundational things holding back the NFT industry…all are being solved. I’m going to write a series of blogs on the topic of infrastructure, starting with this one.
NFT Wallet: The First Generation
The current primary cross-chain wallets, Metamask and Phantom, are clumsy applications as you’d expect from first-generation technology at the dawn of the industry. They are practically impossible to use by consumers without a degree in computer science and provide extremely limited functionality. And off-chain wallets operate in silos as walled gardens. sealing users off from the world.
So the biggest problem is that less than 1% of consumers can currently engage with NFTs as it’s just too complicated to figure out how to use an NFT wallet. We need a wallet for the rest of the 99%.
The Key Elements of an NFT Wallet
So what are the key elements of an NFT wallet that will unleash innovators to change the world?
NFT Portability
People need to be able to move their NFTs however (and wherever) they want. This is imperative for gifting, estate issues, and of course, reselling on secondary markets like OpenSea, Autograph, Ethernity, and eventually Paypal, Stubhub, Etsy, tZero, and countless others. WalletConnect v2.0 is key here.
Simple to Use
No seed phrases, private keys, browser extensions, lost passwords, AML, or KYC. Just easy and frictionless.
Embeddable
Enterprises of all types need to be able to use APIs to embed an NFT wallet into their proprietary applications. This is true for event ticketing apps, music apps, athletic apps, gaming apps, art apps, social media apps, marketplace apps, theme park apps, magazine, newspaper and media apps, healthcare apps, real estate apps, securities apps, corporate apps, and so much more.
Content Alerts
When a publisher pushes new content to owners of their previously minted NFTs (e.g. a band adding pics and/or video after a concert), the wallet needs to alert the owner that there’s new stuff in that specific NFTs vault.
Organization
The wallet needs to accommodate unlimited ways for people to organize the NFTs they hold.
Accounts
Supports cross-chain personal and business accounts (in the same wallet), as well as royalty accounts, IRAs, custodial, and other off-chain account types.
Alt Assets
Options to hold all types of asset classes, including NFTs, created for art, music, media, event tickets, securities, real estate, etc., as well as fungible tokens, cryptocurrency, and fiat.
Admin Roles
So you can give your CPA, advisors, kids, etc., access to see (or use) NFTs as you authorize.
Summary
The NFT industry has been stuck due to this. It’s frustrating to musicians, athletes, corporate brands, event venues, and others to be told, “wait, it’s not time yet; you’ll damage your brand and anger your fans if you launch NFTs right now. This will be solved. Soon. So just take a breath and sit tight.
Fortress Embeddable Wallet
This week we’re launching v1 of the Fortress Wallet as an embeddable, WalletConnect v2.0 embracing, super easy-to-use NFT wallet for Ethereum and Polygon (with Solana and BSC on deck). Click here to check it out and see our API docs.
I’m sure others are also working on solving the wallet problem, but now, this is the only wallet I know of that can really move the needle for the mass adoption of NFTs.
