Before the advent of EOS, the concept of “blockchain wallet” (specifically, light wallet, the same below) was not widely spread. The most common one we heard was imToken. But from the crowdfunding of EOS to the official launching of the EOS main net, we can see that many teams began to lay out on the wallet, and a large number of new wallets focusing on the EOS eco emerged including TokenPocket, BitPortal Wallet, Halo Wallet, Starteos Wallet, etc. According to incomplete statistics, there are at least 200 teams in the current wallet track. This kind of scene reminds me of the "Hundred Regiments" of the take-away platform few years ago.
01 Why is the wallet track?
The Internet age is an era of information exchange. The emergence of blockchain has changed this situation, and the nature of Internet exchange has changed from information exchange to value exchange. But whether it is information exchange or value exchange, there is some kind of exchange between people. In other words, there is no essential difference between companies in the blockchain era and the Internet era. It is a process of vying for users and competing for traffic.
If one can grasp the real traffic entrance, then he also catches the throat of the blockchain era.
Where is the traffic entrance in the blockchain era? Is it an exchange? Wallet? Public chain? Or super DAPP?
In my opinion, the traffic portal is generally a basic application or protocol in a high-frequency scenario that everyone can't live without it. So what is the high frequency scene in the blockchain era? Thoes who understand the blockchain should know that there is one more kind of link between people in the blockchain era: token. Token is involved in project financing, investment, and the use of a DAPP and so on. And users need the blockchain wallet to transfer and receive these tokens.
In other words, the wallet that masters the user asset management and payment channels is the largest traffic entrance in the blockchain era. Who controls the wallet, who controls the strategic resources of the blockchain, and as the blockchain users continue to increase, the battle for the strategic resources of the wallet will enter a hot stage.
02 Current classification and value of wallets
traffic entrance
Through the experience analysis of several wallets with large user volume, the core functions can be divided into three categories:
(1) Financial attribute function (value of asset management platform)
At present, many users only use the wallet as a tool for digital asset storage and transaction, and have not discovered and used more functions. On the one hand, the current wallet system is still not perfect, and on the other hand, users have limited the perception of the wallet. However, with the increasing number of public and side chains, more and more agreements and applications, and more and more tokens, plus centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges, quantitative transactions, IBOs, etc. are developing. There are many opportunities for wealth management and asset management here in the wallet.
(2) Quotes service (value of market information portal)
At present, users are engaged in digital asset trading, which will definitely involve different currencies of different exchanges, and will definitely look at the market trend. Therefore, in order to meet the trading needs of users, the wallet will aggregate the assets and market conditions of all digital currencies to the same platform, thus makes it more convinient for users to manageme and view.
(3) DAPP distribution (value of DAPP portal)
We have repeatedly mentioned in the previous article that the high TPS performance of EOS and the upcoming EOS resource leasing system will promote the development of DAPP projects. We can fully imagine that thousands or even millions of DAPPs will emerge, and users can't and won’t spend a lot of energy looking for them. Then users need to have a place like APP Store to find out and use DAPPs.
For DAPPs that do not issue tokens, wallets can serve as one of their distribution channels; for DAPPs that issue tokens, wallets can also function to host and manage these DAPP tokens. Therefore, for the wallet, the DAPP market entrance is definitely the most imaginative prospect.
03 The development trend of wallets
Some people may have doubt, is the wallet going to replacethe exchange and the media platform?
Of course not, the core function of the wallet is still the user asset management and payment channel. Its relationship with the exchange and the media platformis is more cooperative rather than competitive. The wallet provides a platform to provide users with more features by integrating exchanges, media platforms and enriched DAPP resources, rather than doing everything themselves. Compared with building everything and making enermys everywhere, the platform cooperation mode is undoubtedly more moderate, gathering more resources, providing users with more valuable services, and continuously attracting more users to the platform to build a virtuous circle of wallet eco to achieve multi-win.
Speaking of this, you may suddenly think of an application that is particularly familiar in life - Alipay. Its logic is also based on this, first the basic payment function, then financial functions, and later more and more entrances have been added to form their own closed-loop eco, such as shared bicycles, takeaways, movies, urban services, etc.
Therefore, the future blockchain wallet is likely to follow this path: first to help users securely storage and digital assets transactions, and then gradually financial functions such as financial management, and eventually become the super entry of DAPP. As a result, in the future, there will inevitably be a Red Sea with wallet function extremely homogenized. How to win from this Red Sea has become an urgent problem for all wallet teams.
Here, I have two suggestions for you:
(1) For the wallet team that has already beenonline, grasp this first-mover advantage and rapidly expand the market. At the same time, continue to carry out product iteration in the way of “small step and fast running”, such as breaking through some technical barriers of existing wallet in storage transfer, adding new tokens to meet the diverse needs of user transactions instantly;
(2) For the wallet team still under developing, it is best to take the differentiated positioning route. in addition to solving the basic functions of digital currency management and storage, to develop the current unsolved needs of the wallet, such as using the offline technology to solve the digital Currency net storage, offline transfer, hot and cold wallet one-click conversion, etc., and this must be based on the team's strong technical strength and input.
The battle of wallets will be an important entry battle in the blockchain era. It may not be as big as the super blockchain in the pattern of the entire blockchain, but if they are well done, it is likely to become a true entry-level product in the blockchain era, similar to the APP Store in the mobile Internet era. I hope that the wallets will bring us more different things in the future blockchain era.
区块链超级入口之争：谁将成为下一个“支付宝”？
EOS出现之前，“区块链钱包”（特指轻钱包，下同）这一概念其实没有那么广泛被传播，平常我们听到最多的估计就是imToken了。但从EOS发起众筹到EOS主网正式上线再到现在，我们可以看到不少团队开始在钱包上布局，涌现了包括TokenPocket、BitPortal Wallet、Halo Wallet、Starteos Wallet等一大批以EOS生态为核心的新钱包。据不完全统计，目前的钱包赛道至少有200多个团队，这种场景不禁让我想起当年的外卖平台，“百团大战”也许一触即发。
01 为什么是钱包赛道？
互联网时代是信息交换的时代，区块链的出现改变了这一现状,让互联网交换的性质从信息交换变成了价值交换。但无论是信息交换还是价值交换，其背后都是人与人之间进行的某种交换。也就是说，一家企业在区块链时代与互联网时代的任务没有本质的差别，都是一个争夺用户、争夺流量的过程。
抓住了真正的流量入口，也就扼住了区块链时代的咽喉。
那区块链时代的流量入口在哪里？是交易所？钱包？公链？还是超级DAPP？
在我看来，流量入口一般是人人都离不开的高频场景下的基础应用或协议。那么区块链时代的高频场景是什么呢？了解区块链的朋友应该知道，区块链时代人与人之间的链接多了一种：通证（token）。项目融资会涉及通证，参与投资会涉及通证，使用某个DAPP也会涉及通证......而用户想发送和接受这些通证，就需要通过区块链钱包来完成。
也就是说，掌握用户资产管理与支付通道的钱包是区块链时代最大的流量入口。谁控制了钱包，谁就控制了区块链的战略资源，而且随着区块链用户的不断激增，对钱包的这个战略资源的争夺将会进入白热化的阶段。
02 目前钱包的功能分类及价值
通过对目前用户体量较大的几款钱包进行体验分析，其核心功能大抵可以分为三类：
（1）金融属性功能（资产管理平台的价值）
目前很多用户仅仅把钱包当做一个数字资产存储和交易的工具，并未进行更多功能的发现和使用。一方面是由于目前钱包体系还不完善，另一方面是用户对钱包的固化认知造成了限制。但随着公链、侧链越来越多，协议和应用越来越多，通证也越来越多，加之中心化交易所、去中心化交易所、量化交易、IBO等都在发展，钱包这里就存在很多理财和资产管理的机会。
（2）行情服务（行情资讯入口的价值）
目前用户进行数字资产交易，肯定会涉及不同交易所不同币种，也肯定会看行情走势，于是钱包为了满足用户的交易需求，将所有数字货币的资产及行情汇总到同一平台，从而方便用户管理和查看。
（3）DAPP分发（DAPP入口的价值）
我们在前面的文章反复提到，EOS具有的高TPS性能以及即将推出的EOS资源租赁体系，将促进DAPP项目的开发。我们完全可以预想到，成千上万，甚至几十万上百万DAPP涌现的场景，用户不可能也不会花费大量精力在其中寻找，那么用户就需要有一个像APP Store一样的地方去发现和使用。
对于不发行通证的DAPP，钱包可以作为它们的一个分发渠道；而对于发行通证的DAPP来说，钱包还可以起到承载和管理这些DAPP通证的功能。因此，对于钱包来说，DAPP市场入口绝对是最具想象力的前景。
03 钱包的发展趋势
或许有人会存疑，钱包这是要把交易所和媒体平台干掉吗？
当然不是，钱包最核心的功能依然是用户资产管理和支付通道，它和交易所以及媒体平台更多是合作关系而不是竞争关系。钱包提供一个平台，通过整合交易所、媒体平台以及丰富的DAPP资源，为用户提供更多的功能，而不是什么都自己做。相比样样都做到处树敌，这种平台合作模式无疑更温和，聚拢了更多的资源，为用户提供了更多有价值的服务，持续吸引更多的用户来到平台上来，从而构建一个良性循环的钱包生态，实现多方共赢。
说到这里，你是不是突然想到生活中特别熟悉的一个应用——支付宝。它的逻辑也基于此，先做基础支付功能，接着上余额宝和金融功能，后来入口越来越多，共享单车、外卖、电影、城市服务等都加了进来，形成属于自己的闭环生态。
因此，未来的区块链钱包很可能都会按照这样的路径发展：先帮用户安全储存和交易数字资产，随后逐步上理财等金融功能，最终变成DAPP的超级入口。如此一来，未来必然会出现一个钱包功能同质化极为严重的红海，如何从这片红海中胜出就成了所有钱包团队亟待解决的问题。
在这里，我给出自己的两点建议：
（1）对于已经上线的钱包团队，把握好这个先发优势，迅速扩大市场，同时以“小步快跑”的方式不断进行产品迭代，比如突破现有钱包在存储转移的一些技术壁垒、及时添加新兴代币满足用户交易的多样化需求等；
（2）对于还在研发中的钱包团队，最好走差异化定位的路线，除了解决数字货币的管理和存储的基础功能，去研发目前钱包未能解决的需求，比如运用无网技术解决数字货币的无网存储、无网转移、冷热钱包一键转换等，而这必须建立在团队有强大技术实力和投入的基础上。
钱包之战，将是区块链时代重要的入口之争。它对于整个区块链的格局影响也许不如超级公链那么大，但如果做好了，很有可能成为区块链时代真正的入口级产品，类似于移动互联网时代APP Store。期望钱包们能在未来区块链时代，带给我们更多不一样的东西。
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