We are pleased to announce that WebAuth.com, a platform designed to allow authentication, identity management, payment processing, and cryptocurrency transactions for Web 3.0, built on the Proton blockchain, has entered its beta stage. This marks a critical addition to the Proton ecosystem as we expand our vision to create the ultimate identity and payments protocol.
Background: Apple’s Monopoly on Payment Processing has Ended
In a recent landmark court case, a federal judge ruled that Apple could no longer force developers to utilize Apple Pay on apps that involved payment processing. This was a turning point for app development and the online economy as a whole, and has paved the way for various projects to use other payment processors besides Apple.
To date, Apple Pay can skim up to 30% off the sales of all in-app purchases in its ecosystem, meaning that developers either have to miss out on profits, or pass that cost along to the user. However, the recent ruling from a federal judge has cleared a way for other payment processors to step in and offer their services to app developers around the world. This increase in competition and options is good for the average consumer – competition leads to innovation. Not only can payments be processed outside of Apple Pay, but now cryptocurrency payments can be accepted and integrated in iOS apps. This is a game changer for the Internet.
We’ve built WebAuth.com to become the standard for authorization, identity, and online payment processing. Capable of verifying identities through the use of your Face ID / Touch ID / MetaMask / Yubikey or other authentication method, over Proton network, WebAuth.com will empower you to send, receive, and approve payments seamlessly with any major supported browser. Web Authentication is a newer standard that is W3C approved as an official standard, but has never really been used for cryptocurrency – until now.
WebAuth.com means an Internet ecosystem that treats developers and users fairly, while allowing cryptocurrency payments to be accepted across the various apps and online marketplaces in much the same way that traditional fiat transactions are currently accepted. This means increased freedom, fairness, and accessibility for perhaps billions of users around the world.
For developers, this means that you can accept cryptocurrency payments in your app without having to build that capability yourself. For example, imagine you have a game where users can buy upgrades for their character using Bitcoin. By allowing these payments to be processed through WebAuth.com, those Bitcoin payments can now be accepted in your app, letting your users pay with cryptocurrency through the use of their Face ID / Touch ID – without complex software installation needed on your customers end. Integrating WebAuth.com is as simple as integrating Stripe into a few lines of code – we’ll do the heavy lifting so you don’t have to.
Proton’s Role in the Future of Finance
WebAuth.com seeks to provide a seamless payment processing and cryptocurrency experience for any app in the world, all through the use of the powerful and efficient Proton blockchain. It’s only through the Proton blockchain’s unique xtoken wrapping technology that micropayments of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies are even possible at scale. Additionally, because the Proton blockchain has instant transactions, zero gas fees, and an ecologically efficient carbon footprint, projects using Proton are ready for heavy traffic.
We envision WebAuth.com becoming a faster, more flexible, and all-around better alternative to the common identity verification systems used today, such as Authy or Google Authenticator. By leveraging Proton’s Decentralized Identity (DeID) framework, user identities can be verified in a way that minimizes the opportunity for data loss while maximizing the security in a human-friendly way. That means secure transactions, with trusted parties, all while protecting user identities.
Proton’s ability to process instant microtransactions with zero gas fees, all combined with human readable decentralized identities, creates a new industry standard that is ready for the economies of tomorrow and today. People around the world deserve an easier way to use money, prove who they are, and keep their identities safe. People around the world deserve Proton.
