Keplr in 2022
Chainapsis shares a Keplr roadmap of sorts as we continue into the new year
The crypto scene woke up to Cosmos in 2021. IBC began its first step to the masses. The Cosmos community experienced their first interchain application. The Keplr team is proud to have been a critical part of the Cosmos interchain.
2021: A Recap 🎓
Growth of a truly permissionless ecosystem can be chaotic and uncoordinated. But out of the chaos emerges the building blocks for the next season of our ecosystem: interoperability in true practice.
With all the glories of interoperability, inevitably there would be challenges. Nothing so great and inclusive is formed easily. So, if anything, we’re grateful to see incredible teams and communities gathering and taking initiative to build out the components needed to make interoperability no longer an idea but a functioning (less chaotic), somewhat oiled machine-like beast.
Here are some themes to note from 2021 that seemed to stick out and stay with us throughout the year:
- Builders are the cornerstone
- Demand is there, builders are few (but growing)
- UX is difficult to valuate but invaluable
- Interoperability will always take more effort than you’d expect
In a way, each of these themes reaffirm Keplr’s primary purpose and goal.
Referring to our last roadmap post, I stated that Keplr’s primary purpose is to enable and empower blockchain application developers to maximize their potential and reach users. Since our ecosystem’s growth lies in the empowerment of its builders, then interoperability will no doubt benefit from the same.
At the current nascent stage of crypto, we believe that enabling developers to build better is the fastest way to bringing in more users. And for that, developers need a frictionless environment that will allow them to build without roadblocks.
“Keplr’s primary purpose is to enable and empower blockchain application developers to maximize their potential and reach users.”
Before we jump into what’s ahead, here are some of the milestones that Keplr has accomplished thus far.
Better Product Offerings —
👉 Keplr Mobile for iOS and Android:
- 60k mobile users since release
- ¼ of all Osmosis users are interacting from mobile app
👉 Infrastructure:
- 300+TB/month of data processed through Keplr endpoints
- 23 nodes, 34 servers (plus 3 proxies, 8 auxiliary servers) and growing — dedicated to Keplr
- 99.9% uptime
Ecosystem Expansion —
- 4000 users on Jan 1, 2021 to 220k users by Dec 31, 2021
- Rapid interchain GTM by builders by using permissionless features built by Keplr
Team Growth —
- Team of 3 to team of 8 (still tiny relative to most teams!)
- Improved internal processes and support systems
If 2021 was a year of theories and themes realized, 2022 is the year Keplr is now ready to step into its core role.
2022: Defining the Role of the Extension 🗂️
Scaling scalability
In 2021, as we watched the flood of new apps and chains go to market, initially, Keplr played an integral role in connecting the blockchain application to the end user.
Rather than Keplr web app being the central point of access for all interchain applications (which we’re hoping to provide in the future), the ability for each team to customize their applications and use Keplr as a component allowed Cosmos to scale far quicker than previously imagined. Amazing teams such as Omniflix provided alternative staking/governance interfaces, allowing projects of all sizes to use Keplr as a tool.
This circled us back to our core role: to encourage people to build more web apps that use Keplr.
We see Keplr extension’s roles and responsibilities as the following:
- An interaction triggers the wallet to present the action to the user for confirmation.
- Then the wallet shows the content of the transaction — allowing Keplr to be a neutral party to allow users to verify the contents of the transaction prior to executing it.
- The wallet signs the transaction when the user approves and returns it to the web app.
With this simplified flow, there is less emphasis on Keplr as ‘the only application.’ There are more opportunities for developers and builders to create their own interpretation of crypto UX. Our job is to enable them to build without roadblocks. This ultimately means better permissionless access for everyone.
(Vertical monopolies for maximum value capture is a web2 idea. We’d like to reject that.)
The Next Frontier
So what’s next for Keplr? We find ourselves in this unique position where we can influence what the world wants to do with interchain UX. We can do this because we’re at the forefront of thinking about, understanding, and directly experiencing the interchain effects.
With Keplr’s R&R now defined, we’re ready to explore the new frontiers of the ‘wallet,’ because after all, a wallet is more than a tool for managing assets.
I’m sure you guys could think of some crazy things that a wallet could do, but here are a few of our ideas:
- Adding NFTs
- Experimenting with interchain accounts (our long-time vision), which includes account abstraction
- Adding support for Ethereum mainnet
- Improved support for small-scale groups
- IBC UX standardization
- Improving security process
In Conclusion
In conclusion, the way we can scale is to enable builders to build more cool shit (supply) so that the users can have more cool things to do (demand). Keplr wallet, as a gateway between the two, will continue to be as frictionless and trustless as possible to free this flow.
And with Keplr’s services more defined, we have space to pivot into a more custodial role in the way that we lead. As we continue to share our knowledge, we hope to discover more equitable solutions to shape an interchain that is more accessible and usable. In this way, we believe we are fulfilling Keplr’s ultimate purpose as an interchain wallet.
Keplr wallet is the first, and leading, IBC-enabled wallet for the Cosmos ecosystem. Visit our official site at https://keplr.app.
✨ Follow Keplr at https://twitter.com/keplrwallet
✨ Follow CEO, Josh Lee at https://twitter.com/dogemos
