Crypto Wallet Prototype Discovered in Microsoft Edge Browser

Microsoft might not be the first name that comes to mind when it comes to blockchain. Nevertheless, the company has been experimenting with the technology for many years.

According to screenshots shared on Twitter by Albacore, a pseudonymous software researcher from Central Europe, Microsoft has added code that will integrate a non-custodial crypto wallet into the company’s default Edge browser.

The screenshots Albacore shared show a user interface for a cryptocurrency wallet, a decentralized application explorer, a news feed, and the ability to buy cryptocurrency through Coinbase and MoonPay. The improvement is “already baked into” recent releases of the Microsoft Edge browser, but is hidden and not available to users.

Albacore warns that Microsoft builds and tests many things that never see the light of day.

“[The] The Edge team is the king of throwing every imaginable thing at the wall and seeing if it sticks,” the researcher said. “The list of obsolete gimmick features that they tried and eventually removed is quite long.”

Still, Albacore says the Edge wallet is working properly.

“Given that I was able to use it just fine, I imagine a rollout is not out of the question,” Albacore said Decrypt. “[I] would hope that if it was a small trial they wouldn’t bother deploying the services to production.”

Microsoft’s first browser, Internet Explorer, was launched in 1995, the same year that the Opera browser was launched. But while Microsoft ditched Internet Explorer last year in favor of Edge, Opera has created various iterations of its browser and incorporated a crypto wallet and connectivity for dapps into the Opera Crypto Browser.

Albacore believes that Microsoft’s attempt at crypto wallets could be an attempt to offer similar products to Opera’s closest rival, Brave Browser, the privacy-focused browser that also offers Web3 functionality.

“I think they can gauge whether more parts of the Brave feature set are something that a portion of the user base will appreciate,” Albacore said.

Brave added support for the Solana blockchain to its desktop browser in May. Earlier this month, Brave expanded the functionality of its self-storage wallet, allowing users to buy and sell cryptocurrency without having to leave the integrated Brave Wallet.

Beyond its own blockchain designs, Microsoft has also worked with others to move into this emerging industry, including leading a $20 million strategic round to Space and Time, a Web3 data warehouse, in September.

Microsoft would not confirm any aspects of the development of the Edge crypto wallet.

“At Microsoft, we regularly test new features to explore new experiences for our customers,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Decrypt in an email response. “We look forward to learning and gathering feedback from customers, but have nothing more to share at this time.”