What Is jWallet?

Most people will agree that Ethereum is a valuable addition to the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain. Although the system is not without its flaws, significant progress has been made over the past two and a half years. However, when it comes to Ethereum wallets, there is still some work to be done. Jibrel Network, a Swiss company registered in Zug, is developing the jWallet, a product whose functionality extends far beyond storing cryptocurrencies.

jWallet Combines Cryptocurrency and Traditional Investing

While there are many wallets with support for multiple cryptocurrencies already, they aren’t suited for much more than that. A lot of consumers want convenience more than anything else. This means they are less inclined to obtain a cryptocurrency wallet in addition to another solution for more traditional investments. The Jibrel Network thinks that now is a good time to bridge the gap between both worlds. As a result, its jWallet product not only supports cryptocurrencies and digital tokens, but also bonds, commodities, and equities.

The jWallet is still mainly designed to store Ethereum and Ethereum-related forms of money. It is commendable that this company has created its own wallet, especially after it raised US$3 million to do exactly that. Some of its investors include ArabianChain, the TaaS Fund, and Aurora Partners. Building a brand-new robust Ethereum wallet from scratch is no easy feat. Moreover, given the recent issues concerning scams, phishing sites, and Parity, it is evident there is a need for better solutions.

For now, the jWallet’s alpha version supports the storage, transfer, and conversion of ERC20 tokens. No user data is stored by the company and it does not get a copy of one’s wallet’s private key either. Everything is stored locally, which should put a lot of people’s minds at ease. Without any need to sacrifice security or convenience, the jWallet is a pretty interesting creature. The team does advise people to run it locally, though, or even to use the mobile app, which is also in alpha right now.

It is pretty interesting to see support for fiat currencies in jWallet as well – or more specifically, tokens created by the Jibrel Network itself. Six different fiat currencies are supported: USD, EUR, GBP, AED, CNY , and RUB. It seems these tokens are designed to compete with Tether, although there are few specifics available regarding how these assets are backed. The logical explanation is that users will convert these fiat-pegged tokens for actual money, although it remains to be seen how that will work exactly.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of jWallet is support for bonds, commodities, and equities. Considering that all of this will be stored in digital form on the Ethereum blockchain, it seems the team will have a lot of “conversion” work to do. It is unclear whether they are talking about traditional bonds or new products to be issued on top of Ethereum directly. Assuming it is the former, there will need to be an official conversion process to turn bonds into digital assets of some kind. We will hopefully find out more about this in the future.

For the time being, jWallet is accessible to the public. Anyone looking for a different type of Ethereum and ERC20 wallet can give it a try, although one has to keep in mind the software is still in the alpha stage of development. Issues may occur, and it is not advisable to store much money in this wallet until the team releases a stable version. The competition is heating up in the Ethereum wallet department, which can only be considered to be a good thing.