This is a series of posts, covering Dapps (Decentralized Apps) that are Live and can be used right now. 2018 in my opinion is the year we will for the first time see regular users use Blockchain based products. I want to support this progress by showing the products that are actually Live today. Instead of HODL we now entered the phase of BUIDL! Using a questionnaire as the template I am interviewing the people working on these projects, hoping that this format will make it easier to understand the projects and their contribution to the Ethereum Ecosystem.
Toshi is a WEB3 Browser that features a lot of Dapps that can be used today. I conducted an interview with Siddharth Coelho-Prabhu, the Product Lead of Toshi
Welcome Sid, please spend a few words on yourself and definitely explain to us, what is Toshi about?
I am the product lead on Toshi, where I am responsible for what we should be building and what the product should be doing. We have a strong team of engineers and we just acquired Cipher browser. The founder of Cipher is an incredible builder and is the head of engineering at Toshi now.
In essence Toshi is a Mobile Crypto Wallet and also a Dapp Browser. It allows you to store your tokens and collectibles in the wallet. In combination with the Browser it interacts with Web3 Dapps on your mobile device.
There is a very strong play between the two (Wallet and Browser) and we provide one platform for that.
As there is no Mobile Metamask, you provide the basic functionality that Metamask provides on a computer. People can access all the Dapps on their mobile phone through your browser, is that correct?
Exactly and by providing it in one package it gives the User a much more seamless experience.
Your project is closely related to Coinbase. Can you explain what it is exactly, a joint venture or a product of coinbase?
We are a fully owned project of Coinbase. The reason you don’t see Coinbase branding is that Toshi is an open source product used around the world. If you look at the existing Coinbase product, it is a highly regulated licensed exchange and we wanted Toshi to be different as it should simply be a software that can be used by anyone and anywhere in the world. Our brand positioning may evolve over time of course.
Part of the Coinbase vision is to create this very open financial system. That is where Toshi comes in. It can be used also outside of the core Coinbase markets and you can access the decentralized web.
As you explained your browser also includes a wallet. Can you explain how this wallet works and how it interacts with the products that a User visits through the Toshi Browser?
First of all you can visit any website with our browser. If you are visiting a Dapp, it will be looking for the Web3 Components. What we do is we inject the Web3 API into the Java Script context of that webpage, so the website knows that the Web3 provider is now Toshi. The Dapp now knows the address of the User, so the Dapp can see all the tokens or collectibles in the Users Wallet. If there is any interaction between the wallet and the Dapp it is already clear what the user owns. When the Dapp creates a transaction Toshi will recognize and show it to the user who then signs off the transaction. The wallet is reading the blockchain and so any transaction will be reflected in the wallet. So if you go to a decentralized exchange and you exchange 1 Eth for 500 DAI the Toshi Wallet will also recognize that change and will show it in the wallet.
Very nice, so it is a deep implementation of the wallet. To use Toshi, or have access to it, I don’t need a Token?
No we did not create a token. We did not feel the need to create one.
Interesting, so we can skip the part of talking about your token functionality. But the question that remains is, where does the funding for Toshi come from. Did Coinbase acquire the product or was it built within Coinbase from day one?
Actually the initial idea was the brainchild of our CEO Brian Armstrong. It is part of the “Secret Coinbase Masterplan” in which we see 4 phases of evolution for the digital currency ecosystem. The first phase was the creation of the blockchain protocol layer (Bitcoin, Ethereum etc.).
The second phase is where Coinbase comes into play, it is about creating the infrastructure and onramps. Giving people the ability to use Fiat to buy Crypto.
The next phase was a utility phase. Users should have a consumer interface for digital currency apps. This phase is not about investments, its not about speculation, it’s all about using crypto. Brian knew that this would come one year and a half ago and that was his idea to create a browser that gives people access to all of the projects that have been built in this space.
understand, so the funding is coming from Coinbase. They cover the salary and development costs. Is there any revenue generated through Toshi, do you have a business model?
No, we don’t have a business model. The analogy that would apply is the Chrome Browser for Google. There is no business model integrated in a browser. But it is important if you play a leadership role in the space to create a gateway for users to have all these great experiences. Crypto is so core to Coinbase that we want to create the best user experience also in using Cryptocurrencies. Especially since we already act as the gateway for people that are brand new to crypto. We want to bring that ethos to the next generation of products, which is all about utility.
This makes total sense for an exchange, as you want people to use these cryptocurrencies. It fosters the ecosystem and creates more usage and transactions.
For how long is your product Live already?
We went live on the mainnet in September 2017.
What is the status of your product, is it an MVP or a Beta version?
I would call it a Version 1. We already have a lot of users and we have very positive feedback. Right now it has all the basic features that you would need to have a great experience in the decentralized web.
_That said we still have a full fledged roadmap for the next six months. Which will double and triple the features set that we offer today and also integrates a lot of new technologies.
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