Tech venture capitalist David Gold has brought together several crypto wallets and exchanges for the launch of the Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO) and FIO Protocol.
This aims to remove the risk, complexity, and inconvenience of sending and receiving tokens and coins. The FIO Protocol is being built by Dapix, where Gold serves as CEO.
Gold says his fears for the future of blockchain usability compelled him to take a step back from his role as a VC to found Dapix and FIO. “If crypto is never more than electronic-gold, then mainstream adoption will be severely limited, especially if tokens cannot be easily moved around,” he comments.
ShapeShift.io, KeepKey, Coinomi, MyCrypto, BRD.com and Edge have agreed to join the foundation, and others, including crypto payment processors, are expected to become involved by late 2019.
“This is not a closed party. We are inviting everyone to take part. We all have a responsibility to move quickly on this. For blockchain to achieve its envisioned potential of the seamless movement of value in a decentralised manner, the user friendliness of making such transactions must improve dramatically,” says Gold.
“We have had incredible pre-launch interest from wallets and exchanges because sending and receiving crypto is one of their top trouble ticket issues. The FIO Protocol will reduce costs on their side, and also enable wallets and exchanges to generate income through the economics of the FIO Protocol.”
Insert PayPal reference here
Gold claims FIO is looking to ape what PayPal did for online payments. In the crypto world, payments are exponentially more complex and cumbersome, he argues.
“They feel too risky, too scary and too difficult for members of the public. You have to use an incoherent string of characters, and you can’t confirm if funds have arrived. The average person on the street simply will never feel comfortable using crypto unless this changes,” he concludes.
Further details here.
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