Billions of Crypto Dollars Are Lost to Forgotten Wallet Keys. EntryPoint is Fixing This

We’re all familiar with the daunting side of getting into (and participating in) crypto. Specifically, the complexity of transactions and managing a wallet.

Lose the password and keys to your wallet, and you could lose a $250 million fortune like Stefan Thomas. Allow third parties to manage a custodial wallet on your behalf and say goodbye to billions of dollars in assets because that third-party committed fraud, like FTX. Keep your NFTs stored on OpenSea or forget to delist their sale, and hackers will find a backdoor to steal your stuff. Even I, an experienced crypto man, have sent NFTs and crypto to the wrong wallets and lost access to some of my side wallets.

With no FDIC protection or wallet recovery, knowledge is truly the only safeguard in crypto. That’s why I dedicated so much of The NFT Handbook to education on the basics of digital asset management. Finally, though, we may be getting some of these safeguards.

WTF? Crypto Wallets Can Be Smart Contracts

Ethereum developers have released EntryPoint, a mechanism that enables crypto wallet accounts to operate as smart contracts. This new release facilitates complex tasks such as automated payments and adding recovery methods, which are currently unavailable. Following a security audit conducted by security firm OpenZeppelin, EntryPoint is now accessible on several blockchain networks.

EntryPoint will enable developers to provide smart wallet features that greatly enhance user experience, like account recovery, native multi-signatures, and covering gas fees for users.

According to Electric Capital, the US and Europe are losing share in the global web3 developer market, losing 2% and 1% share respectively each year. Conversely, India, Africa, and LATAM are taking share accounting for 18% of global web3 developers. – Electric Capital

Even though we’re losing our share of Web3 developers, EntryPoint is the most exciting announcement in Web3 to come out of the ETHDenver Conference. Once this vision is realized, it will open up the opportunity for the tech behind crypto and Web3 to go mainstream. The account recovery feature alone will make digital assets less scary for newcomers and laggards. As I said in Everydays 46, the next phase for NFTs is to upgrade the ease of use and essentially make NFTs work in the background like HTTPS.

As we know, the ethos of business in the US is to sell first, then build. It’s easier to buy into the hype of a project than actually understanding the development and tech side of it. Even though it’s ready for deployment on most blockchains, EntryPoint would still need to be adopted across major Web3 tech like MetaMask to truly see an impact. Nonetheless, it’s encouraging to see this on the horizon.