WhatsApp reportedly getting a crypto wallet

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A new cryptocurrency wallet is coming that will instantly be available to 1.5 billion people across the world. A group of developers out of Austria has created a wallet that integrates directly into the WhatsApp messaging application, allowing users to send, receive and trade digital assets from within the application. There’s no word yet on how Mark Zuckerberg feels about the new wallet.

The Wuabit wallet is reportedly close to being ready, according to a report by UK media outlet The Express. The service is a “software agent” powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and will initially allow users to send and receive certain crypto assets using simple chat commands.

The first asset to be included will be Bitcoin Core (BTC). According to the developers, “We are near completing the wallet core service starting with BTC.”

A public beta will launch in April and new services will be added as development continues and registration for the beta is being accepted now. Eventually, the developers hope to include price checking and trading directly into the application, as well as additional assets such as Litecoin (LTC), Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCHABC).

There are plans to also introduce the app to other platforms, including Viber, Telegram and Facebook Messenger. Developers believe that, by offering crypto apps on mainstream chat platforms, widespread adoption will be achieved much more quickly than what is currently taking place.

Wuabit developers discuss the application extensively in a Medium post. While WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, the developers make a note of emphasizing the fact that notice security is “not 100% achievable.” They explain, “Notice security per se is not 100% achievable. As in the strongest chain, there could be a weaker part. Here the user is the weaker part but with good practices and guided advice the platform could be safer than a normal banking app. We are the crypto expert partner for the average user that approaches this kind of new technology via a familiar human-like interface.”

However, they point out that all conversations will still include end-to-end encryption from the user to the back-end servers and that the servers do not store private keys. The developers add that virtually all of the funds are stored offline in a cold storage wallet.