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Announcing GemWallet: Online payments on the XRPL

· 4 min read
Florian Bouron

Introduction

Today, I would like to introduce GemWallet, a browser extension to make fast, easy and cheap (about 0.000008 USD) online crypto payments. I have been working on GemWallet since November 2021.

Below, you can find a demo of an online payment made with GemWallet on the test net of the XRPL (XRP Ledger). The video may seem technical, but no worries, I am saying a few technical words for my developer audience.

Why GemWallet?

GemWallet is a web extension that allows you to make online payments with one click on the XRPL. It also provides an API that bridges web browsers to the blockchain, allowing developers to easily build web3 applications integrated with XRP. Our vision is really oriented toward payments, micro-payments, donations and payment streaming. Tomorrow we could also support NFTs on XRPL and be a part of the metaverse.

When I was developing web3 applications on Ethereum and Solana, I was impressed by its user experience (Metamask, Phantom...) but unfortunately, I couldn't find a similar experience on the XRPL. After looking on the web, I found the video of Moralis with Wietse Wind talking about XUMM wallet . In this video, Wietse is saying that XUMM is a mobile application and is not focusing on the web. This is the missing element that GemWallet is addressing. On top of that, GemWallet is going to help the ecosystem grow. For instance, GemWallet will be empowering streaming payments, which could be a gate to:

  • Blog article subscription per second of reading
  • Video streaming per second of watching
  • Online classes per second of learning

We do need a bridge between our browser and the blockchain and we strongly believe the solution is GemWallet and the XRP Ledger.

Why the XRPL?

Our vision is to enable crypto payments on the internet. We want to create a world where crypto payments are easier and more secure. We believe XRPL is the most relevant one for several reasons:

  • Transfer fees are very low.
  • It is fast and secure.
  • XRPL is used by banking corporations (Bank of America, Saudi British Bank, Santander, American Express ...).
  • XRPL is a carbon-neutral ledger, enhancing our core values.

What about the developer experience?

Developers will be able to integrate to the XRPL much easier, which will bring more users to the XRP ledger and web3. Before starting the project I have discussed it with developers in the crypto industry and they confirmed that a wallet browser extension would solve the issue of integrating the XRPL to the web3.

As well our code is fully open sourced, you can find it here: https://github.com/GemWallet.

If you ever get stuck or need some help you can read our FAQ or see our showcases.

How about the roadmap?

As for now, GemWallet is available only on the XRPL testnet, we will release it on the mainnet pretty soon.

Here is our closest roadmap (on the 9th of April 2022):

  • Publication of the extension in the Chrome Store
  • Connect GemWallet to the mainnetConnect GemWallet to the mainnet
  • Allow users to create a new wallet from GemWallet - currently supporting only importing wallets
  • Support different wallets - currently supporting only one
  • List user's tokens (other than XRP)
  • Authorize payments to be done in other tokens (tokens supported by the XRPL)
  • Ensure compatibility with Mozilla Firefox and not only with Chromium based browsers (Chrome, Edge and Brave)
  • Provide XUMM Wallet import to GemWallet - better experience within the XRP ecosystem
  • Build an extension for WooCommerce
  • Allow payment streaming
  • And much more...

We would love contributors and testers! You can find the code base here and can submit bugs/feature requests here or in our discord.

If you want to contact me, feel free to reach out to me on twitter.

We also have a discord right here: https://discord.gg/CnkP9KGHBe

All our last updates are available on GemWallet's twitter account.