Bitcoin in Browsers
Now it is happening.
A Bitcoin plugin for browsers called “Dark Wallet” is being developed in Barcelona that could spread everywhere, in to all computers running Google Chrome:
Unlike many current Bitcoin wallets, which can be difficult to download and cumbersome to use, Wilson and Taaki are designing Dark Wallet, they told me, as an easy-to-install plug-in that sits discreetly on users’ Chrome or Firefox browsers. Made for Windows, Mac, and Linux computers, Dark Wallet would move most of the energy-sucking process of insuring there’s only one of each bitcoin in circulation, and that they aren't spent in two places at the same time, to separate servers.
This innovation was suggested as a way of introducing Bitcoin to the public in 2011 on BLOGDIAL:
If only ten percent of all people use Bitcoin. No. Lets say five percent. That is 104,750,300 future users of Bitcoin. There is no reason why this number cannot not be achieved, and of course we are working only with today’s assumptions; there is no knowing what new innovations related to the block chain that are around the corner. Or innovations in the shape of client that people will be using. Imagine new versions of Google Chrome or Firefox that are not only browsers, but Bitcoin clients.
Every browser, doubles as a Bitcoin client.
Think about that for a moment. An HTML5 Bitcoin client, with an interface designed by Google or Mozilla. Easy to use and absolutely everywhere; on every computer in the world, by default.
One thing is for sure, there is no going back.
If this plugin is designed well, where a single click launches a link to install the Dark Wallet plugin if it is not present, completing the transfer after the installation, adoption could go viral, making it the number one platform used by Bitcoin users world-wide.
This is exactly the sort of tool and act that will trigger mass adoption of Bitcoin; writing good software and releasing it. And maybe calling it “ChromeCoin” or something else nice and light. Journalists and users don't react well to “dark” do they? Dark is synonymous with “threat” and Bitcoin is not a threat, it is a boon.
The New Yorker article touches on the philosophical differences between two opposing camps working with Bitcoin; the violent monopolists and free marketers. The software developers are going to win this battle; no amount of talk can execute code or make a transaction. No law can prevent those two acts.
Think about that for a moment.
