Web3 developer WalletConnect launched a notification app for followers of blockchain projects, according to a Jan. 16 announcement. The new “Web3Inbox” app allows wallet holders to sign up to receive announcements from projects they’re interested in, the developers claim. The app requires only a wallet signature for logins and does not ask users for a telephone number or email address.
Most Web3 projects currently use a combination of Web2 apps to communicate with their fans, such as Discord, Telegram and X (formerly Twitter).
According to the announcement, 10 different Web3 projects are already available on Web3Inbox, including PancakeSwap, Chainspot, Space ID, Guild, Snapshot, TrustaLabs, Galxe, Sovereign Nature Initiative, Peanut Protocol and Robots.Farm.
In a conversation with Cointelegraph, WalletConnect chief operating officer Jess Houlgrave and strategy and biz-ops manager Kirby Horvitz gave further details about how the app works. According to Houlgrave, Web3Inbox “allows somebody to connect their Web3 wallet, and receive [...] notifications all in one place; they can opt in and out of receiving different kinds of notifications from different products and from different applications.”
Houlgrave claimed that the team has seen projects use the app in several ways to communicate with their users:
“The use cases that we’ve seen so far have really been from a whole range of projects, from people like Snapshot saying ‘Hey, it’s time to vote on your DAO’ to NFT marketplaces saying ‘You’ve got an offer on your NFT,’ to a game where somebody says ‘Hey, I want to challenge you to a duel,’ anything where an application wants to engage with an end-user.”
The app can be downloaded on a desktop or mobile device via a web browser and can be added to a home screen for permanent access, Horvitz explained. A wide variety of wallets can be connected to it, as it is integrated with the WalletConnect software development kit used by most mobile wallet apps.
According to Houlgrave, the team eventually plans to implement an instant messaging system within Web3Inbox. However, the team chose to focus on notifications as a first step to prevent the app from becoming overrun with spam. “Really granular opt in and opt out […] Doing that in a peer-to-peer context is technologically a little more challenging, and so that’s why it’s coming next,” she stated.
Related: Coinbase Wallet launches instant messaging feature with XMTP
The idea of inter-wallet messaging and notification has been gaining ground in the crypto community over the past year. In August 2023, Internet Computer Protocol-based OpenChat launched a Discord-like “Communities” feature that allows wallet holders to log in without providing personal information. In June, Subsocial-based protocol Grill.chat implemented a similar feature, with chat rooms that could be embedded in a project’s official website.
