Shopify’s Blockchain Commerce Tool Released for Merchants
Shopify has released a suite of blockchain commerce solutions to improve the user experience of Web3-centric stores on the platform.
On February 9, Shopify blockchain team designer @ryancreatescopy said on Twitter, “we’ve launched some new tools to help you build token-gagging apps for Shopify sellers.”
In particular, the increased crypto wallet connectivity and application programming interface (API) “token gating” tools have been in focus. Since June 2022, only a limited group of sellers have had API access in beta mode.
With tokenaging, all relevant Shopify merchants can now configure their businesses to specify token holders with access to exclusive items, non-fungible token (NFT) drops and benefits.
The application verifies user eligibility via their associated wallet and is marketed as a convenient method for NFT sellers to reward select customers or add exclusivity to specific items.
Shopify has integrated the login with the Ethereum (SIWE) protocol developed by the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and the Ethereum Foundation to provide improved support for crypto wallets.
SIWE provides secure user login and authentication of Ethereum accounts and ENS domains without disclosing sensitive identifiers such as names, phone numbers and home addresses to third parties.
The issue of private user information has always been a sore point for Shopify. In April 2022, a group of disgruntled customers filed a class action lawsuit against the company and Ledger, a hardware wallet maker, regarding a massive loss of user data in 2020.
On February 9th, ENS Labs community advocate @sadaf.eth tweeted about the SIWE connection with Shopify and linked to developer papers detailing how to integrate the tool into Shopify stores, much to the delight of several members of the Ethereum community.
According to the document, the statementGenerator prop enables customization of the statement displayed in a login message with Ethereum. The feature gets the associated wallet’s address so you can expand and change your message lines to better reflect your brand.
After a merchant has integrated SIWE functionality on Shopify wallet connect, customers can connect their Ethereum addresses via SIWE’s partner intermediaries, such as Coinbase, WalletConnect, Fortmatic, Torus and Portis, by clicking a “sign in with Ethereum”- button.
