Progress in any given technology is measured in number of iterations * progress between iterations. The power of successive approximation is not something to be taken lightly. When technology is viewed through this lens, progress can be broken down into its core components.
Take, the cellphone, for instance. The first handheld cellular phones were comically large and could only perform the basic functions of making, receiving calls, and flexing on people. The industry continued to iterate, making phones more compact, extending battery life, and increasing signal range. Features were added and removed in the iterative process but the same functionality was delivered in different flavors and styles.
Every so often, such a profound advancement is made between iterations, that a step function in progress is made. One of such steps was made in 2002, when Research in Motion (RIM) introduced the Blackberry 5810, a Java-based smartphone with a physical keyboard. The no-frills, utilitarian design of the Blackberry allowed for simple, and secure communication on the move. Suddenly, workers and government employees could send emails reliably, and Blackberry Messenger (BBM) even made a work phone popular amongst the youth.
Blackberry’s reign lasted until the next step function in technological progress was made by Apple with the iPhone. This transformed the smartphone into a multi-sided platform (MSP), allowing interactions between developers (building applications), users (using applications), and themselves.
The key distinction that the iPhone brought over other business models, was that instead of taking total control over participant interactions, Apple allowed users and developers to retain control over key terms of the interaction. This approach aligned incentives and caused an explosion of product and application innovation, making the iPhone more valuable device to users, driving sales, in turn creating more incentive for devs to innovate, in turn driving more sales… So on and so forth.
The flywheel goes round and round…
But what does this have to do with xNFT Backpack? We believe non-custodial crypto wallets are one of the most important layers of interaction with users and have undergone several core iterations at this point:
- 1st Generation wallets like MetaMask popularized basic, user friendly functions and click to connect and approve
- 2nd Generation wallets like Phantom made leaps and bound in UI/UX, and added the ability to view your NFTs in the wallet, smoothing pain points and helping fuel the dopamine rush of millions of NFT enjoyers during the 2021 cycle
- 3rd Generation wallet xNFT Backpack is a step function in technological progress, allowing developers to natively build dApps, as xNFTs.xNFTs are composable objects in a multi-chain ecosystem, a seamless all-in-one experience. In Backpack, developers can collaborate to compound innovation and users can interact with applications natively in ways never before seen.
All wallets are currently simply tools for blockchains, Backpack wants to be much more than a tool, it wants to be a network/platform in its own right, with its own tooling, distribution, and Web3 experience.
Backpack is the first product that does the analogous shared database model but for the front end, while blockchains do it for the backend.
This standard breaking standard is open source. This means anyone can request changes to the codebase or simply create their own xNFT.
Gone are the days where a single team bottlenecks the iterative process with a closed source approach. Tired of waiting for a wallet team to build in functionality or integrate your product? Submit a pull request, or even better, build a xNFT.
Why should innovation of the entire space be handicapped by the constraints of a single engineering team or any other entity?
The scope of innovation and iteration has just been expanded massively. If you can dream it, you can build it in Backpack. This isn’t just a big advancement, this is a key component required in order to take crypto experiences to mobile at scale.
We cannot afford to be limited by any single entity on the path to mass adoption, and Backpack’s approach allows us to bypass bottlenecks and iterate harder than ever before.
What does Backpack mean for users that no longer have to use more than one wallet for every chain? Users could open Backpack, perform a DeFi transaction on Ethereum before purchasing and staking some Solana NFTs, and then check their net worth real time in a portfolio tracker xNFT.
What does Backpack mean for developers, that can build 10x faster because they don’t have to touch Remote Procedure Call (RPC) infrastructure that is expensive and complicated.
A lot of devs want to just build cool stuff without having to setup and run their own RPCs or pay exorbitant API costs to service providers. Backpack creates a platform that allows a Web2 dev that has never touched a blockchain before to build 10x faster than ever…
When everything can be a xNFT what is the limit of what can be imagined and created inside Backpack? Similar to the iPhone, people could have never predicted the wave of innovation and competition that would make it much more than a phone: a multi-sided platform that made the flywheel go round and round.
Backpack is very likely to end up being much more than just a wallet. In fact, the project is only in phase 0…
The benefits of not fragmenting user experience over multiple applications allow for levels of interconnectivity and interaction that were simply not possible until this point. Social platform levels of engagement await, Backpack truly has the potential to push the limits of network effects and value accrual to become a Web3 town-square of sorts: where people come for the dApps, but stay for the community. Imagine crypto felt more like an MMORPG where you could login, complete quests and hang out with your friends and they have usernames instead of public keys.
Why not gamify and redesign the consumer retail experience? Why not send ETH to your friend Tristan instead of “0x9387982798372978”.
The impact of titanic innovations are often misunderstood at first. Backpack is one of the first dominoes to fall in the push to deliver seamless Web2-like crypto experiences on mobile. On the path to mass adoption sometimes we take baby steps and sometimes we make big leaps. xNFT Backpack feels like a big leap in tech with the correct open source approach to implementation. Their founder, Armani Ferrante created the dominant developer framework on Solana which resulted in quantum leaps in security and dev productivity at the smart contract level. If anyone can do it, its the Backpack and Coral team. We are bullish, WAO.
Disclosure: Frictionless Capital is an investor in xNFT Backpack.
Disclaimer: This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. Potential xNFT Backpack investors should review the written materials related to such xNFT Backpack, if any. This blog post does not constitute a recommendation in connection with xNFT Backpack.