Very soon, you may be able to manage your cryptocurrencies and NFTs directly from microsoft edge. Those of Redmond are working to integrate a non-custodial wallet in your Chromium-based web browseras it became known in recent days.
The news came to light from some screenshots that Albacore posted on Twitter. The images show the features of this new Microsoft Edge feature in quite some detail, although it is unknown when the cryptocurrency wallet will reach end users. If it ever comes, of course. Let’s not forget that many experimental developments often do not even see the light of day.
But in this case the design of the interface and the general implementation seem to be advanced enough enough to think that it may be a product close to its final version. Of course not everyone will see the point in integrating a wallet of cryptocurrencies and NFTs to Edge, but it is clear that Microsoft believes that it can add value to those who bet on crypto assets and the web3.
As we mentioned at the beginning, the Microsoft Edge crypto wallet is non-custodial, or without custody. This means that it is the users themselves who are in charge of protecting their assetsand that in case of losing access to the wallet —because they forgot their password, for example—, the Redmond people won’t be able to do anything to recover them.
Speaking of security, precisely, in one of the images you can see that to create the wallet a password must be set. You can also see a section that says “recovery phrase”, although you don’t see much more about it. Remember that the vast majority of wallets of this type use a “seed phrase” method that is made up of 12 or 24 words, which allows you to regain access to funds from a different device. It would not be strange, then, that Microsoft’s web browser offers a similar possibility.
Microsoft Edge gets into the world of cryptocurrencies and NFTs
What the wallet built into Microsoft Edge goes hand-in-hand with what most of the big names in the industry provide. It is that it will not only allow you to store cryptocurrencies and NFTs, but also to exchange tokens directly from the application or transfer them to or from other cryptocurrency wallets. On this last point, what is interesting is that it not only supports the use of conventional addresses, but also the ENS domains. The latter are those of the .eth type.
Another point to note is that you can buy cryptocurrencies directly from the wallet from the browser. Transactions will likely be allowed with credit cards, though there are no further details for now. What is appreciated is that users can choose between two options: through MoonPay, or through Coinbase.
Regarding the supported networks, everything indicates that the wallet Microsoft Edge will work with ethereum. In fact, in the settings you see the option to connect to the main network, or to the Goerli test network. It is unknown if the Redmond plan is to expand the availability of blockchain to future. Especially considering the increase in popularity of networks known as L2 or second layer, such as Polygon, Arbitrum or Optimism.
Not everyone may like it, but integrating a wallet at edge It is a very ambitious proposal on the part of Microsoft. Needless to say, if it does eventually reach the general public, it won’t be the first web browser with such a feature. bravefor example, has incorporated a similar option some time ago, with the particularity that it is multi-chain; that is, it offers support for multiple networks, including Ethereum, Solana, Fantom, Polygon and Avalanche, among others.
