At the beginning of Bitcoin, there was no such thing as a crypto wallet as we know it today. You had a full node, took care of complex private keys, and that was it. A lot has changed since then. Simpler and lighter apps appeared over the years, making it easier for users to manage their coins. But the evolution didn’t end there: now, crypto wallets are more than just wallets.

These versatile apps can do a lot of things beyond just storing funds, signing transactions, and sending payments. Of course, it always depends on the brand and network(s) involved, but we can find many interesting features to take advantage of in numerous crypto wallets. Let’s explore some of them.

Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)

Historically, people's "identity"—even in the digital realm—has always been assigned and managed by third parties (governments, corporations, etc.). However, the decentralized world offers an alternative through the self-sovereign identity (SSI) model. As the name implies, this is a form of identity or personal verification that can only be managed by the user who owns that identity.

In this way, very specific data can be shared only when necessary, rather than all personal information—for example, only age is verified, and the name is never revealed. Some crypto wallets can handle this type of digital ID already, in different ways. In an SSI setup, the wallet generally stores the credential and its cryptographic keys on the user's device. The issuer creates and signs the credential, while a decentralized network may store a DID (decentralized identifier), public key, credential schema, or revocation/status information that helps verify it.

When the user presents the credential, the recipient checks the issuer's signature and relevant on-chain data without needing the credential itself to be public. Examples of wallets that already have this feature include Dock Wallet, cheqd Wallet, Privado ID Wallet, and the Obyte Wallet. In the latter, you can verify your real name, your email, your GitHub account, your status as an accredited investor by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and more.

All of this is done via chatbots integrated into the same wallet. Then, the information is stored in your wallet, and you can selectively share parts of that information with whoever you like.

Chats, Messages, & Chatbots

You can't communicate directly with your transaction peers in every crypto wallet, but you can in some of them—and with end-to-end encryption, too. You can even send messages on-chain, if you want, and enjoy some easier chatbots here and there. Depending on the system, messages may travel through a peer-to-peer network and be read only by the intended recipient, and never by someone else.

As for more public on-chain messages that will last forever, this can be done even on Bitcoin, but it’s not exactly user-friendly there. The process often involves converting your message to hexadecimal code, finding specific wallets that support this function or advanced features inside wallets, and pasting that hex code into a designated field, sending a transaction without funds. In other crypto networks and wallets, it’s just a matter of writing whatever you want in a user-friendly menu, pressing “send,” and paying a small transaction fee.

Chatbots aren’t that common, but they can be welcome, especially for beginners. They can respond to commands or help users perform actions from a familiar chat interface. They can be related to Large-Language Models (LLMs) like Plug Wallet or KaleidoSwap, or simply follow ingrained instructions without the risks associated with AI, like the Obyte Wallet. In the latter one, you can enjoy all of these features: encrypted chat, user-friendly on-chain messages, and classic chatbots.

Programmable Transactions & Smart Contracts

These days, it’s rare that your crypto wallet can’t interact with smart contracts and make programmable transactions. Smart contracts are small computer programs stored in a certain ledger and designed to carry out specific, pre-set rules. They can automate payments, exchanges, loans, bets, games, and many other applications.

In practice, when you’re inside a crypto wallet, the most you will typically see regarding a smart contract is the permission requested by a specific Dapp to connect to your address and, likely, use some of your funds. Unless you are a developer, you probably have little idea how to "read" one—let alone create one. Most wallets won’t show you this, either, but there are some of them with friendlier smart contracts.

Obyte is one of them. You can create conditional payments and smart contracts in human language inside the app, all of it without coding and via encrypted chat.

Besides, if you’re sending a transaction or interacting with a Dapp, you’ll be able to see a clear preview of the results and fees before pressing “Send” or “Pay.”

Login & App Access

Remember the familiar routine of creating a new account for every website? Wallet-based authentication offers another route. With Sign-In with Ethereum (SIWE), for instance, a user can prove control of an account by signing a message. The signature happens inside the wallet, while the application verifies it. The standard was designed to give Ethereum accounts a consistent way to authenticate with services outside the network itself.

This can make one on-chain account useful across multiple applications. The address acts as a persistent identity that can be used across many Dapps, with the wallet handling the signature needed to prove control. Beyond MetaMask for Ethereum, other providers of this feature include Para and WalletConnect for multiple networks.

There’s also an important privacy detail here: signing in doesn’t automatically reveal a person’s legal name, address, or other real-world information. What an application receives depends on the authentication system and the information the user chooses to provide.

Tools for Governance

Beyond your own businesses, you can also contribute to your community and help shape the future of your favorite networks by participating in governance. On-chain governance lets token holders vote on proposals whose results can trigger changes to a network’s rules, parameters, treasury, or other functions. The voting process and its powers vary from one network to another, but the wallet can provide the place where users review proposals, connect their address, and cast a vote with their governance tokens.

The mechanics can be quite simple. A proposal appears in a governance interface, the wallet shows the vote and any required transaction, and the user confirms it by signing. Some systems use delegated voting, so users can assign their voting power to another address instead. In other cases, holding a specific token or meeting a balance requirement determines who can participate.

Examples include MetaMask supporting governance voting through compatible Dapps, Keplr providing governance features for Cosmos networks, and Obyte allowing users to participate in on-chain voting through its wallet and governance website.

In the end, the word “wallet” is starting to sound a little undersized for all of this. The same account can connect a person to applications, support communication, authenticate access, interact with programmable software, and even decide on the future of a network. A crypto wallet remains a place to manage digital assets, but its role can extend much further, and it'll likely continue to do so.

Featured Vector Image by Magnific