In the third episode of the Hashing It Out podcast series, Cointelegraph’s Elisha Owusu Akyaw discusses the future of non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets with Kosala Hemachandra, CEO of MyEtherWallet.
Recent issues with centralized platforms have brought decentralized applications (DApps) into the spotlight, and self-custody, where users keep their funds entirely at their own risk, has become a major trend.
MyEtherWallet is one of the oldest non-custodial wallets with a focus on the Ethereum blockchain. According to Kosala Hemachandra, the wallet went live just two weeks after the launch of the Ethereum mainnet. The CEO of MyEtherWallet explains that they chose to make a decentralized wallet because they believed that it was the only proper way to interact with blockchain technology.
“Blockchain, at its core, is a decentralized solution, so why would we create centralized products? Because we are defeating the whole purpose of using blockchain.”
Hemachandra explains that MyEtherWallet started as a hobby project, which became more demanding as there were no examples to look at during its development. The developer had to write new Ethereum libraries in javascript.
The need to build a codebase that could accelerate growth in the Ethereum landscape was the reason the team opted to open source the code. Additionally, the open source nature of the code allows the platform to keep more eyes on its code base to prevent potential vulnerabilities.
Despite the increasing competition, MyEtherWallet has more than 3 million monthly users, mainly from the United States and Japan. Catching up with MetaMask, the decentralized wallet is adding support for more blockchain networks and recently released a multi-chain browser extension. Hemachandra also noted that the first two weeks after the FTX saga attracted many new users looking for decentralized alternatives to store their cryptocurrencies.
Related: Crypto trader regrets not reaching the top of the bull run
On trends in the industry, Hemachandra mentioned that MyEtherWallet has yet to make plans to airdrop its users despite many rumors that some of its competitors might launch their own tokens soon. According to the CEO of MyEtherWallet, they do not see any use cases for tokens released by wallet applications at this time.
In the episode, Elisha and Hemachandra also cover:
New features for decentralized wallets. The Ethereum ecosystem and the popularity of layer 2 platforms. A multi-chain future in the blockchain ecosystem.
Hashing It Out is a new podcast series from Cointelegraph covering major innovations and stories in the blockchain industry and featuring interviews with thought leaders in the space hosted by Elisha Owusu Akyaw (GhCryptoGuy).
To learn more about Kosala Hemachandra, listen to the full episode of Hashing It Out on the new Cointelegraph Podcasts page or Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Amazon Music.
This post MyEtherWallet CEO talks about the future of cryptocurrency self-custody
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