MEW Reincarnation, Revisited
MyEtherWallet started out in 2015 as a passion project: something that could help users experiment with Ethereum technology and interact with the blockchain, without having to use the command line. It was one of the first secure wallet interfaces for ETH, enabling anyone to store their crypto safely.
Today, MEW is a platform used by millions of people all over the world — people who are just as curious as we once were, drawn to a space that challenges us, inspires us and makes us dream big.
Every day, we work to make that space as welcoming and as exciting as possible, both for experienced users and beginners.
Growing the MEW family
A year ago, circumstances compelled us to reflect and re-evaluate what we want to achieve in the Ethereum ecosystem. Looking back now, this year has been, without a doubt, our most eventful yet. What started as a transformation for the company in both direction and vision, has turned into a phenomenal evolution, taking us through the development and launch of brand new tools for the Ethereum community.
We grew stronger and larger as a team, with new minds contributing to the development of our products and brand. The current team of 19 incredible people has been with the project for the majority of its lifetime — longer than any other team that has worked on MEW since its foundation. Our headquarters are in Los Angeles, but we have team members based in countries around the world including Spain, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore and Russia.
Security is still our number one priority
As many of you know, MEW has been the target of some of the most advanced attacks we’ve seen throughout the history of the Internet. We made major headlines last April when some hackers violated the very infrastructure of the web to spoof the routes to Amazon servers and phish our users.
In response, we proceeded to take these kinds of potential attacks out of the equation altogether by migrating to Cloudflare’s DNS servers, which enabled us to add DNSSEC functionality to strengthen our DNS structure. As a result, this event made our platform even more secure. We continue to diligently do our research, so that we implement the best security practices and defenses available.
Tools for mass adoption
In July, we launched our first major release of the year — MEWconnect, which provides hardware-like functionality right on your smartphone. With MEWconnect, private keys are stored securely inside the device, in a location that is separate from the transaction process. This provides a much safer wallet access solution than private key, keystore file or mnemonic phrase, and doesn’t require any additional hardware.
Throughout the year, we worked under the radar to release a complete redesign of our main platform — MEW V5. More intuitive and user friendly, the new interface is welcoming to beginners, without it sacrificing the functionality that experienced users have come to expect.
Multiple improvements under the hood mean that MEW V5 not only looks inviting, but has the robustness to keep up with the evolving Ethereum ecosystem. With the redesigned MEW, we set out to ensure that our users benefit from the most innovative and secure benefits that blockchain has to offer.
Finally and most recently, in March we released EthVM Alpha, an open-source Ethereum blockchain explorer. EthVM seemed to be an obvious next step for us — a blockchain explorer helps educate the user about the way this technology works and make informed decisions about how much to pay for gas, which tokens to invest in and which addresses to trust. A better understanding of blockchain technology creates a more friendly and secure experience for the user, which is one of our main goals at MEW.
As always, all our tools remain free and open-source. Our code is entirely transparent, just like the blockchain. We do this to help developers learn and gain valuable insights, which fosters a supportive and collaborative blockchain ecosystem. We believe that community collaboration is the only way our industry will evolve and encourage wider adoption.
Joining forces
We continue to partner with a range of projects which we believe can expand and enhance your experience with MEW.
During this past year, we forged new partnerships with:
- Bity — so you can swap your ETH for BTC privately, and exit to fiat without going through KYC
- Kyber Network — so you can seamlessly and instantly swap ETH and ERC20 with an extensive list of tokens, including WBTC
- Changelly — so you can exchange over 100 exciting cryptocurrencies
- Simplex — so you can buy crypto with your credit card
- ChronoLogic — so you can schedule transactions in advance
- Segasec and PhishFort — so you are safeguarded from phishing attacks
- Coral Protocol — so you are protected from fraud
- HackerOne — to make sure our code is up to scratch
Every new partnership makes MEW stronger and we’re proud to integrate the tools and features developed by these wonderful teams from around the world.
Beyond the MEW-nited States of America
Just like crypto, MEW isn’t restricted by borders. This year, we’ve hit the road to explore how the space is developing all over the world.
In April of 2018, we attended the Crypto Valley Blockchain Summit in Zug, Switzerland. Traveling to one of the biggest global hubs of crypto research and innovation was an inspiring experience for the new team.
In May, MEW was one of the sponsors for EdCon in Toronto. We were honored to cast our vote in the Super Demo startup competition. The EdCon was also the start of our beautiful friendship with Changelly, which blossomed into the partnership that was introduced with MEW V5.
We rounded out Spring 2018 crypto events with Consensus in New York, as sponsors of the conference and co-hosts of the Rose Bar party at the Gramercy Park Hotel. We had a blast hanging out with our partners Simplex and Changelly!
In September, we also went to Consensus in Singapore to meet up with the crypto community in the Asia Pacific region. The Kyber Team gave us a great welcome, showing us around their offices and treating us to an authentic Singaporean lunch!
We got our nerd on at DevCon in Prague and even threw a badass Halloween party in a castle, to show thanks to the amazing Ethereum community. It was a pretty special night for us, seeing so many new faces and old friends come together under one renaissance roof to celebrate everyone’s hard work and progress.
On home soil, just a short trip from our LA headquarters, our VP Olga Kupchevskaya participated in a panel on security tokens at World Crypto Con’s Monster Security Token Event in Las Vegas. This being Vegas, MEW also had its own cocktail on the drinks menu — the MyEtherVVodka! See Instagram for the recipe…
Our first event of 2019 was EthDenver. With a focus on community and BUIDling, this conference brings together some of the most dedicated teams around. Of course, hugging the #Bufficorn was a very special Colorado moment.
Most recently, MEW COO Brian Norton had a couple of very busy weeks, speaking about the future of crypto on a panel at London Blockchain Week, kicking off Asian Crypto Week with a panel hosted by Bitspark and presenting an awesome keynote discussing user experience in the real world at Token2049 in Hong Kong. He also attended the inaugural Ethereum Asia SuperMeetup to discuss the future of the Ethereum community.
We are looking forward to more travels in 2019 — follow our Twitter for announcements about upcoming events!
What’s next
Ethereum, like blockchain in general, is a work in progress, but it has the potential to redefine finance and provide the global community with opportunities that have not been afforded before.
Wrapping up 2018, we asked ourselves some important questions: How can we restore trust in crypto? How can we set ourselves up to build sustainably for the future? What barriers to entry still exist, preventing new users from entering the crypto space?
Our goals lie in the answers to these questions. We are excited to continue contributing to the Ethereum ecosystem and building the new digital economy, ensuring that it remains decentralized, transparent and inclusive.
Looking back at everything we’ve done, we’d like to say the biggest THANK YOU to all of our users, collaborators and partners. We are lucky that we get to be a part of this amazing community every day.
Here’s to our next season of growth — we can’t wait to share all we’ve got in store.
Sincerely, #teamMEW
