Dapper Labs, the company behind the viral Ethereum-based virtual game CryptoKitties, has announced the launch of Dapper, a “smart wallet” supporting ERC-721 tokens and a range of ERC-20 tokens including MANA (Decentraland), EMONT (Etheremon), USDC (USD Coin), BNB (Binance), OMG (OmiseGo) and VEN (VeChain).
Designed to make it easier to interact with non-fungible
tokens (NFTs) and play blockchain-based virtual games, Dapper uses smart
contract technology in the browser to make full custody over crypto assets
safer and more user-friendly for everyday consumers.
Currently, Dapper allows users to play games including
CryptoKitties, Decentraland, Etheremon, My Crypto Heroes, Axie Infinity and
MegaCryptoPolis. More top-tier games will be added in the near future,
according to the wallet’s FAQ
page.
“The biggest complaints from CryptoKitties fans are the
complicated tools they have to use to play the game,” said Kim Cope, a founding
member of CryptoKitties and associate product director at Dapper Labs.
“Dapper is our solution to that problem and the first step
towards making accessing the blockchain as safe and predictable as surfing the
internet.”
The Dapper smart contract enables security features like
account recoverability and fraud protection, and makes possible conveniences
like smart fee management and multi-device support (coming
soon). Dapper includes a “co-signer” feature with several limited powers
including resetting a user’s password, recovering an account if the device gets
lost, flagging suspicious requests for further action, and paying gas fees on
users’ behalf.
Dapper also allows users to buy ether directly with their
credit card using Simplex, a global payment processor.
“We built Dapper because we wanted to make it easy to be
safe on the blockchain,” explained Roham Gharegozlou, CEO and co-founder of
Dapper Labs.
“By using smart contract technology, Dapper automates aspects of security and does things no normal wallet can: from password resets and account recovery to paying users’ gas on their behalf and running fraud protection.”
NFTs made their way into the mainstream when CryptoKitties went viral. CryptoKitties is Ethereum-based virtual game that lets users buy, sell, collect, breed and exchange unique, virtual cats.
In March 2018, CryptoKitties announced
a US$12 million funding round from a roster of prominent investors,
including Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures, as it span out as a
new company, Dapper Labs, breaking away from Canadian venture-studio Axiom Zen.
Dapper Labs raised
an additional US$15 million in late-2018 in a round led by Venrock, with
participation from GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Samsung NEXT. The company
said it would use the capital to expand locally and globally, including
establishing a US subsidiary led by former executives from Unity and Disney,
with additional hires for the Canada office from Ubisoft, EA Sports, Amazon,
ESPN, Hasbro, and Zynga.
With 3.2 million transactions and tens of millions of
dollars transacted on the platform as of November 2018, the company claims
CryptoKitties is the world’s most used consumer blockchain application outside
of exchanges.
“We launched CryptoKitties to show the benefits that blockchain technology can bring to consumers,” Dieter Shirley, Dapper Labs’s CTO and creator of the ERC-721 standard for NFTs on Ethereum, said in November.
“By starting with a fun and approachable experience, we appealed to a very broad audience.”