Two Big Crypto Startups Are Out to Build One Universal Wallet

If the future is to bring an endless variety of cryptocurrencies and tokens, the world will need a wallet that can hold them all.

Announced Wednesday, decentralized internet startup Blockstack and exchange platform ShapeShift are jointly offering a $50,000 bounty to the team or developer that makes the best open-source "Universal" crypto wallet.

Contestants need to use Blockstack's authentication, storage and encryption technology combined with ShapeShift's API for token exchange.

The goal is to build a wallet that supports almost any native token, even tokens that haven't been created yet, before the deadline on June 29.

"We're super early in this space. There are undoubtedly winners that have yet to even appear yet. It's important that a wallet can support digital assets that have yet to be created."

Most cryptocurrency wallets only support at most a handful of tokens, forcing enthusiasts to juggle multiple wallets and sometimes keep their tokens on custodial platforms like exchanges.

The Jaxx wallet added ShapeShift support in 2016, although that wallet provider is known to have some security vulnerabilities.

Plus, it can't support all tokens the way this upcoming wallet aims to.

The partnership also is good for ShapeShift's bottom line, since the platform will earn revenue whenever wallet users convert their tokens through the API. "Much like you don't have a website that serves all of the needs of an individual, you won't have a single wallet or decentralized application that serves all of the needs of an individual as well," a ShapeShift spokesperson said.

More broadly, in Ditkoff's view, sometimes cryptocurrency tribalism can create familiar silos centered around specific tokens.