proofinprogress.com

The Wallet-Dapp Dilemma

The Wallet-Dapp dilemma is when, despite the exceptional quality of a dapp, a wallet's bugs make dapp users churn.

Dapp builders spend 1000 hours perfecting their products, but many wallets don't work well.

There are a few reasons why wallets don't work: (1) They track user activity, and so many break with ad blockers enabled. (2) Wallets often connect via the internet, making interactions slow. (3) And lots of lesser-known wallets aren't world-class or actively maintained.

Dapps can be built perfectly, but it only takes 1 wallet to screw everything up.

The dilemma is that dapp builders aren't in control; the wallet providers are. And they have made millions from implementing token swap features - not from serving their users.

How much revenue will wallet providers gain from serving decentralized+social? And will it be enough to level up their UX for consumer crypto?

Wallets have held back dapp builders; they're now in our way. And they're the middlemen we aimed to disintermediate.

Warpcast has recognized this early on. "If you can't fight them, join them." And so, they've implemented a wallet themselves.

However, implementing a wallet is difficult, costly, and there are security considerations. Many dapp builders won't be able to afford this independence - they will be forced to focus on growing their daily active users instead.

So, what can be done to dissolve this dilemma?

We and our users deserve world-class experiences. But, wallet providers' incentives seem to be opposed. So what can we do?


published 2023-08-26 by timdaub