Not So Secret Handshake, Demystifying the HNS Ecosystem

Part 6: Kyokan (Bob Wallet)

Table of Contents: (Parts 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0)

In this series I’ll be covering all the projects building on Handshake. After writing a short article with a high level take on the project I decided to take a deeper dive. If there is a project or person you’d like me to cover, reach out to me on Twitter.

Product Feature: Bob Wallet

Every once and a while you find out something that makes you realize the world is very small. For me it was learning the Kyokan is secretly the team behind some of the best UX in Ethereum. Though not historically a product company, the Kyokan team have released Bob Wallet for Handshake.

Bob Wallet is a Handshake wallet with an integrated HSD full-node. This is important, because in addition to the ability to send and receive $HNS, the wallet also allows you to place bids on domains, search for names, and even manage a personal watchlist. You can even use the full-node as your personal DNS resolver when seeking to resolve Handshake domains locally in your browser since it’s running a local instance of the handshake daemon which includes a recursive resolver.

A fullnode wallet such as Bob Wallet is the most secure way to interact with the Handshake blockchain — allowing you complete control of your keys and names at all times. Without you having to give up any personal information to a 3rd party, helping to ensure your privacy.

It’s quite the handy interface; they’re constantly pumping out new improvements on GitHub. So, be sure to say tuned to the Releases page for updates.

Let’s meet the team

Daniel Tsui — CEO

Matthew Slipper — Developer

Jacky Chan — Developer

So who are these experience-focused engineers?

I alluded to the fact that these guys are everywhere in the world of crypto UX and that is frankly an understatement. They are responsible for the widely praised Metamask upgrade; which is one of the most successful “dApps” and browser extension in the industry to date. They’re also the team that brought the first Layer2 ETH wallet to production, which was no small achievement.

This second feat is the one that goes often unnoticed, but it deserves more attention. Using State Channels (learn more), they created the Spank Pay card for instant in-wallet payments for Web3-compatible interfaces.

In my humble opinion, this was a breakthrough in Web3 wallet design. By framing the wallet as a card that needs to be “loaded up” with cash, the Kyokan team created one of the most delightful wallet experiences on the web. Disproving statements made by popular bitcoin pundits who claimed that Ethereum could never scale for mainstream usage.

These guys are in demand by some of the most notable projects in crypto. Some of the Kyokan team were even early contributors to the Moloch DAO, a project that’s been widely successful and mimicked across the ecosystem by other like-minded explorers of the digital frontier.

The fact that they have chosen to work on Bob Wallet says a lot to me about the respect Handshake has managed to garner in its short history. Their team could be taking in consulting work from anyone, and yet they are dedicating their resources to building on a public blockchain whose mainnet was only three short months old from time of this publication.

Where can you find them?

The Kyokan team is relatively easy to find. All of their projects are open source on their GitHub. The best way to contact them is probably on their forum, or by joining their support Telegram.

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Edited By: Steven McKie