Blockchain.com Takes Steps to Make Sending Crypto Easier

Users of Blockchain.com can now send funds with usernames instead of wallet addresses, as one of the world’s largest crypto wallets looks to continue making the realm simpler for investors. 

Blockchain.com’s partnership with Unstoppable Domains means that its 32 million verified users across 200 countries can send crypto to and from easy-to-read names that are compatible with more than 50 wallets and exchanges. 

“We see everyday how difficult it is for people to understand all these difficult crypto terms, whether it’s address or a recovery phrase or a private key,” Blockchain.com Product Manager Amadeo Pellicce told Blockworks in an interview. “What we wanted to do was make it really easy for people to pay each other using similar ideas that you can find in social media or things like email.”

Since 2012, 76 million wallets have conducted $800 billion in transactions using Blockchain.com. Traditionally, sending Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies requires entering the recipient’s 25- to 42-digit alphanumeric wallet address. Pellicce said the company’s users report cases of mistyping or miscopying an address and added that once the transaction is on-chain, it can’t be reversed. 

Now, a user could type in Amadeo.crypto, for example, as the recipient of a crypto transaction, Pellicce said. Blockchain.com intends to make it even easier over time for people to pay usernames they have already had transactions with, he added. 

“Freedom and digital ownership are at the heart of this integration,” Matthew Gould, founder and CEO of Unstoppable Domains, said in a statement. “Services like Venmo and Cash App are closed ecosystems with geographic restrictions, but .crypto domain names give you the freedom to send funds between a large number of wallets and exchanges from anywhere in the world.” 

Unstoppable Domains has sold more than 1 million domain names, which are minted as NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Along with sending and receiving funds, these NFT domains are used to create decentralized websites to publish content and access Web3. 

In addition to partnering with the domain provider, Pellicce said Blockchain.com is reviewing its entire product set to make it easier for people to buy crypto for the first time and use it.

“Not only like sending money around,” he said, “but with the rise of DeFi and all these kinds of applications that are built on top of blockchains, we want to make it easier for them to interact with these networks.”