Blockchain Wallets: ‘Bigger Than the Internet’?

Jaxx plans to do for blockchain what the internet did for communications.

Toronto-based Bitcoin consultancy and software development company Decentral announced last week that it has integrated Jaxx, its unified platform for blockchain wallet services, with cryptocurrency exchange platform ShapeShift.

“You were able to buy and sell cryptocurrency, and also sync the blockchain experience across all your devices,” CEO Anthony Di Iorio, told Bank Innovation. “Now the users of Jaxx will be able to convert between bitcoin, DAO (distributed autonomous organization), ether, all in one place.”

Last year it would have been called a bitcoin wallet with the ability to transact in other cryptocurrencies, but times have changed and ‘blockchain’ dominates product branding. Bitcoin today is merely a piece of the blockchain picture, not the other way around.

Jaxx is design-driven, and does not access customer keys or funds.

We want to be the command center of everything to do with blockchain. Keys are generated on customers’ local machines and local phones, no regulatory burden on us. We are just the gateway to connect the individual to blockchain, putting the full control into users hands, they become their own banks.

Since the ShapeShift integration last week, the company already had “a few hundred thousand dollars” worth of transfers, according to Di Iorio. The company now aims to become the “default browser” for everything that has to do with blockchain. It will soon integrate capabilities to send contracts to ethereum, and vote on DAO.

“With the further advances in blockchain, soon third parties like Uber or AirBnB will be eliminated,” he said. “You won’t need a third-party, and we are aiming to be the command center for those peer-to-peer transactions.