Why Apple probably isn’t venturing into crypto wallets

A cryptocurrency wallet, or crypto wallet for those fond of brevity, is not your average wallet. It doesn’t store your digital treasure in a physical form; rather, it safeguards cryptographic keys. These keys are your all-access pass to the blockchain, with the public key serving as your account number for receiving funds, and the private key acting as a highly secure PIN for asset management. It’s like having a bank in your pocket, minus the traditional brick-and-mortar constraints.

If you’re new to the crypto scene, this wallet concept might seem as foreign as the idea of pineapple on pizza to an Italian chef. You might currently rely on Central Exchanges (CEX) or apps that promise to guard your cryptocurrencies and NFTs like a dragon hoards its gold. Convenient? Absolutely. Risk-free? Far from it. Without direct control over your assets, you’re at the mercy of external factors, as the unfortunate customers of FTX can attest. Hence, the crypto adage: “Not your keys, not your money.”

So, why doesn’t everyone use non-custodial wallets, which offer full control over assets through private and public keys? The answer is simple: convenience comes at a cost. Non-custodial wallets demand a level of responsibility and technical savvy that not everyone is ready to embrace.

Why crypto wallets are needed?

Beyond mere storage, crypto wallets serve several key functions:

1. Security and Ownership: They provide a secure environment for your private keys, thereby ensuring your claim over your digital assets remains indisputable.
2. Transactions: Whether sending or receiving cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, your crypto wallet uses your private key to sign off on transactions, broadcasting them to the blockchain network for verification.
3. Interacting with Decentralized Applications (DApps): Wallets are your gateway to engaging with DApps, from trading tokens to participating in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.
4. Smart Contract Execution: For blockchains that accommodate smart contracts, wallets facilitate interaction with these self-executing contracts, broadening the horizon of decentralized services and applications.
5. Asset Management: Supporting various cryptocurrencies, wallets enable you to manage a diversified portfolio from a unified interface, streamlining the tracking, trading, and analysis of your digital assets.

In summary, a crypto wallet is an indispensable tool for anyone looking to use blockchain technology, offering a blend of security, functionality, and control over digital assets. Whether you’re making simple transfers, investing in cryptocurrencies, or exploring advanced blockchain functionalities, a crypto wallet is your gateway to the decentralized web.

The crypto wallet trifecta

When delving deeper into non-custodial wallets, we can find wallets like the Externally Owned Account (EOA) wallets, which are controlled by private keys without the involvement of smart contracts, and then there are Smart Contract-Based Wallets, offering advanced features like multi-signature transactions but with a nuanced control over keys. Hardware-Based Wallets offer heightened security by keeping keys offline, albeit at the expense of usability.

The challenge in designing the perfect crypto wallet lies in balancing usability, security, and key control—a trifecta that has yet to be perfected. Users are often forced to choose between managing their keys (a daunting task for many) and entrusting them to a third party, with each option presenting its own set of risks and inconveniences. In this context, one might speculate that even for Apple—a titan in the realms of usability, convenience, and security—this problem presents a formidable challenge

Secrets Vault proposes a novel solution to this conundrum, aiming to streamline key management without compromising control. By offering a user-friendly yet secure mechanism, you will be able to keep control of your keys regardless of the type of wallet you use. If you want to learn more, visit our website and our regular posts, and subscribe to our channels and newsletter.