Bitcoin Netki Launches Wallet Name Service To Help Foster Adoption
Nigel Dollentas · @https://twitter.com/nigeldollentas | May 04, 2015 | 15:00
In the midst of the press surrounding Netki’s recent partnership with Holy Transaction, the company also announced the launch of its new Wallet Name Service.
Also read: Netki and HolyTransaction To Lower Bitcoin Barriers to Entry
Netki was founded in 2014 with the immediate plan to remove barriers of entry for consumers interested in Bitcoin. By pursuing this goal, the company hopes to foster mass-market adoption of digital currencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin.
A common criticism of cryptocurrency is that wallet addresses are long strings of random numbers and letters, which makes crypto inconvenient for the average person. Although this problem has been somewhat circumvented through the use of QR codes, Netki’s Wallet Name Service could make the process simpler by only requiring that people memorize a name linked to their public addresses.
“This leads to several important benefits including making transactions more seamless and user-friendly. Now receiving digital currency is as easy as saying, Send it to me at justin.holytransaction.com. Netki CEO Justin Newton explains, Your Wallet Name becomes simple, intuitive, and memorable. It brings an important human touch to this cutting-edge technology.”
Netki compares the movement from address consisting of numbers and digits to a human readable address like the change from numeric IP addresses to domain names:
“The transition from numeric IP addresses such as 96.251.19.29 to easy to remember domain names like www.google.com, was a key shift that helped move the Internet toward mainstream adoption. Building on this principle, Netki’s Wallet Name Service works by linking easy-to-remember names to users’ 32-character wallet addresses, translating a simple name such as johndoe.bit or jane.tip.me into a public an address like 1CpLXM15vjULK3ZPGUTDMUcGATGR9xGitv.”
To achieve this feat, Netki leverages Namecoin blockchain, with distributed DNSSEC on top. According to Netki, these two technologies have several benefits for the consumer regarding privacy and convenience.
“This combination allows users to have both control and ownership of the blockchain, while still maintaining their financial privacy. This architecture makes it easy for users to share their Wallet Name with anyone without having to publish it to the world via a public ledger.”
Netki’s Wallet Name Service currently works for Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Namecoin, openasset, as well as tetherUSD/EUR/JPY.
Registration of a wallet name starts at $1.95 per year for a wallet name ending with the .bit domain. The price rises to $13.99 per year for .xyz, .in, .co.uk, and .me.uk domains. While custom domains are available such as name.holytransaction.com, these are only available for partner companies.
While HolyTransaction has already been signed on board, Netki has engaged in negoations with well-known cryptocurrency companies like Gem, ChangeTip, ShapeShift, and Purse.io to name a few.
Do you think human-readable addresses will catch on? Have you reserved your own Wallet Name yet? Let us know in the comments below!
Photo Source: Netki
