The Muun team has developed a Bitcoin coin mechanism that works with the Lightning Network and allows for non-custodial payments. The Muun wallet has the LND client version of Lightning Labs and, to make transfers more comfortable, it uses underwater exchanges.

CryptoNews contacted Florencia Ravenna, part of Muun's operations team, to learn more about the development of a bitcoin purse. One of the first questions answered by Ravenna has to do with the best term to refer to "wallet" in Spanish, which CriptoNoticias has defined as that "software that manages addresses (accounts) and keys (passwords) of blockchains to store, send and receive cryptoactives." He also pointed out that the most appropriate term to refer to them is "keychain":

The term most faithful to Bitcoin's operation would be "keychain," given that in our mind a keychain is an element that allows access to objects of value, such as a house or a car, but does not "contain" those objects. A wallet contains keys, not the bitcoins themselves. Besides, a keychain can be copied, for example, as with a wallet.

Ravenna, operations in Muun.

Ravenna considers that a disadvantage of the word "keychain" is that its use makes more sense for advanced users, who are familiar with the use of Bitcoin. Similarly, "wallet," a standard in the market, cannot be translated literally as "keychain." Thus, "wallet" would be the most literal translation, at least in Argentina, although this would be limited only to the element with which you pay: "and that, in case of loss, you are in trouble (if not guarded)," he said. In his opinion, for custodial services, something like "home-banking" might be the best. In the case of "portfolio," this word is associated (in the financial industry) with the set of assets you own, and not with the place from which you can access them, so for Muun the use of this word "does not end up making sense."

Currently, there are a large number of cryptocurrencies. In <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/all/views/all/">CoinMarketCap</a> alone, at the time of writing, there are some 2,341 crypto coins in its index, and the total market capitalization is USD 254 billion. It is interesting to note that, despite the proliferation of crypto coins, a coin purse only works with bitcoin:

"We are focused on bitcoin because it is the most concentrated cryptomode in its currency aspect. Other currencies have more diverse applications. The entire development of bitcoin, such as Lighting Network, is optimized for use as a coin," Ravenna, operations in Muun.

Besides, the Muun team considers that the usability of a multi-currency purse is less than that of one that supports a single cryptoactive. Also, in terms of development, Muun estimates that it may be faster to incorporate the latest advances in a cryptocurrency if the purse is focused only on it.

"We believe that the security and support of other currencies are not strictly related. Perhaps a more related aspect has to do with usability. A coin purse focused solely on bitcoin can simplify your product by making it easier to use for all types of users," added Ravenna.


The Muun team estimates that there are three security fronts that a bitcoin purse should consider:

She said, "How to help the user protect himself against an attacker (whether physical or remote), how to help the user protect himself from mistakes he can make himself, and how to achieve all that without being exposed to or dependent on us?"

Among the solutions for these security challenges, Muun <a href="https://muun.com/">considers</a> that it is possible to incorporate outgoing <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/crypto/only-10-of-bitcoin-is-used-for-transactions-luno-ceo/">transactions</a> that require two signatures instead of just one, as well as facilitating the process of recovering an account from another device. Also, the developers of this wallet think that transparency is a critical point, so anyone can audit the most sensitive parts of their code, which is in a public repository.

The safest or most appropriate backup method for a purse depends a lot on the type of user, said Florencia Ravenna. So, depending on how many bitcoins you have, what you want to do with them in the short and long term, or what type of risks you are most exposed to, the method

The users of a bitcoin purse are exposed to the loss of their funds if the provider is malicious. Ravenna believes that even users can lose access to their funds without the provider being involved, as the service can be hacked or, if guarded, confiscated by a government.

"It is best that users are the only thing that can spend or move their funds, but that the services accompany them in this process. For example, Muun users can spend their money in two ways. Working with Muun, the process is simple and easy. By doing it on your own, the process is a little longer and cumbersome. The result is that, for the day to day, Muun and his users collaborate in a security scheme more difficult to break by an attacker but, ultimately, the users do not depend on us. Muun cannot spend or freeze its users' funds. For us, not even having the option to do that is the best option," she continued. Ravenna."

Ravenna also judges that a correct distribution of funds is vital, so a user should be able to link a cold wallet (the device that holds the keys offline) with the mobile wallet to make transfers easier. Thus, users should be able to store the keys of the bitcoins they do not plan to use in the short term in their cold wallet while monitoring them from their mobile device. This would work in a similar way to traditional finance, keeping funds safe in different places, such as a wallet, a bank account, and a savings bank.

Ravenna also estimates that there are probably hundreds of types of portfolios on the market, which benefits their users

Ravenna also explained how a noncustodial purse like Muun works. With this type of purse, the user is the only one who has access to and control of his bitcoins. Muun is a mobile wallet, a device that can be lost, damaged or replaced by a new one, an aspect considered in the design of the noncustodial wallet, which includes three ways for users to access their backgrounds from another device.

Two of these recovery methods are done in collaboration with the Muun team. The first method combines the password the user chose when creating an account with an encrypted copy of the user's key. Thus, using an associated email, he obtains access to his funds from a new device. The second works similarly, using email, but does not take into account the password (which may have been lost), but combines the user's key with a recovery code that should have been entered at the time of account creation.

The third option does not require the intervention of Muun, and the user can export his encrypted keys with password and recovery code and recover the funds independently.

Regarding the purse business model, Ravenna said no industry standard sets a single source for projects to make a profit:

She went on to say, "There is not yet a standard business model between the different portfolios, and different projects are testing various options from donations, paid options, paid user service, commissions, among others. The vast majority of wallets have received some form of funding and are exploring forms of monetization. It is a general industry problem that few players, such as exchange platforms and cold portfolios, have already solved."

The Replace by Fee function allows a transaction that has not yet been confirmed by the network, due to congestion or because the commission paid was very low, to be rewritten by a transaction to the same destination address, but with a higher commission. However, this solution is a little implemented by purses at present. The Muun team considers this to be because it is a very complex function at various levels:

He also believes that for the adoption of Lightning Network (the solution the purse works with) to progress satisfactorily, it is necessary to have much more development around it:

Muun is a bitcoin purse developed in Argentina. His team thinks it makes more sense to talk about adopting cryptocurrencies for particular cases of use than in a general way, so as to know what is needed in each case: "if we think about remittances, for example, more infrastructure is needed, especially in the recipients' place of residence, so that people can change it into their local currency. In this example, less volatility would help. On the other hand, if it is a case of use for trading, volatility can be beneficial. "It all depends on which use case we concentrate on," he said.

Ravenna said the obstacles to adoption in Argentina are similar to those in the rest of the world: ignorance, cumbersome KYC processes, or poorly polished products. Perhaps, he believes, one difference is our language barrier, since most of the content in this niche is written in English, and many products work in Europe or the United States but not in our region.

Finally, Ravenna confessed that these problems could not only be improved with more infrastructure, such as exchange platforms, ATMs or purses, because "a good part of the time adoption has to do with interiorizing something new, unknown, with nothing that resembles it, and perceived as high risk. For this reason, he believes, "education is perhaps the most important bottleneck."

Muun: We Are Focused on Bitcoin to Make its Adoption More Accessible

I am an industrial engineer specializing in blockchain. Enthusiast of cryptocurrencies and writing the latest news regarding the Crypto world.

Muun: We Are Focused on Bitcoin to Make its Adoption More Accessible

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