Microsoft Edge’s Unreleased Surprise: An Integrated Ethereum Wallet in Early Development

Microsoft is reportedly developing a built-in Ethereum crypto wallet for its Edge browser, enabling users to send and receive cryptocurrencies and NFTs without additional extensions. Currently, in a limited testing phase, the wallet is a non-custodial solution, giving users complete control over their funds.

According to a report by BleepingComputer, this experimental feature of the Edge browser was discovered by pseudonymous software documenter “Albacore.”

The Edge Crypto Wallet’s public keys allow for receiving payments, while users should keep secret private keys, which are needed for authorizing transactions. The wallet’s development appears to be early, with access limited to Microsoft Edge Dev Channel users.

Microsoft highlights that it will not have access to users’ passwords or recovery keys during the onboarding process. Testers must generate a password and a 12-word recovery phrase to secure and recover their crypto wallet. Once onboarding is complete, the wallet generates an Ethereum address for receiving funds.

The Edge Crypto Wallet supports multiple Ethereum accounts. Users can also connect to decentralized apps (dApps) and access a crypto news section.

Via a partnership with Consensys, Microsoft offers a built-in cryptocurrency swap feature between $ETH, $DAI, $UNI, $USDC, and $USDT.

Apparently, there are some indications that support for a Bitcoin wallet may be introduced in the future.

Yesterday, after being contacted by BleepingComputer for further details about this feature, a Microsoft spokesperson provided the following statement:

“At Microsoft, we regularly test new features to explore new experiences for our customers. We look forward to learning and collecting feedback from customers but have nothing further to share at this time.“

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