The extension will give users access to .crypto domain names directly from the Chrome browser, currently the most-used web browser. Developed by Unstoppable Domains, .crypto domains are smart contracts on the Ethereum network, meaning to take down a site an attacker would have to take down the overall network.
Unstoppable Domains, a censorship-resistant web developer, has released a Google Chrome extension in its bid to open up web 3.0.
The new tool closely follows Unstoppable Domains’ eponymous browser launch, unveiled at the ETHDenver conference in late February.
But the two-year-old ethereum-based startup – backed by $4 million in Tim Draper seed funding and driven by its founders’ goal to get ahead of global censorship – always aimed higher than being a browser builder, according to founder Brad Kam.
“We don’t intend to be a browser company, nor do we want to be a browser company”, said founder Brad Kam. “We want browsers to support the decentralized web and we wanted to provide a developer tool that could help inspire that.”
Releasing a chrome browser extension will help Unstoppable Domains’ visibility and likely market penetration, too.
Kam declined to say how many times the Unstoppable browser had been downloaded since its launch a few weeks back, but it surely pales in comparison to Chrome’s global dominance; the Google release represented 58 percent of the market in March, according to W3counter.com.
A Chrome extension comes with risks. Google has been known to lash out at crypto applications, content and extensions in the past: it took the Meta Mask wallet down last year only to reinstate it, without explanation.
While Kam admits there’s no way to stop this type of censorship, he insists that he’s not concerned.
“Even if Chrome were to do that, which would be unfortunate, that would make it slightly less convenient for some users, but it would not stop the decentralized web,» he said.
UNICEF Launches Cryptocurrency Fund Supported by Ethereum Foundation
UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, has launched a cryptocurrency fund to support open source technology “benefiting children and young people around the world.”
According to the official announcement published on Oct. 8, UNICEF thus became the first U.N. organization “to hold and make transactions in cryptocurrency”, namely Bitcoin and Ether (ETH). UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore added:
“This is a new and exciting venture for UNICEF. If digital economies and currencies have the potential to shape the lives of coming generations, it is important that we explore the opportunities they offer. That’s why the creation of our Cryptocurrency Fund is a significant and welcome step forward in humanitarian and development work.»
Ethereum platform can “better countless lives”
Per the announcement, the Ethereum Foundation, a Swiss nonprofit organization, became the first contributor to the new cryptocurrency fund. Aya Miyaguchi, executive director of the Foundation, reportedly said that 100 Ethers – roughly $18,000 at press time – were already sent to the UNICEF via the new partnership.
These funds “will benefit three grantees of the UNICEF Innovation Fund” and “a project coordinated by the GIGA initiative to connect schools across the world to the internet”, according to the announcement. Miyaguchi added:
“We aim to support the research and development of the Ethereum platform, and to grow the community of those that benefit from a technology that will better countless lives and industries in the years to come.”
As Cointelegraph reported on Dec. 10, 2018, the UNICEF Innovation Fund invested $100,000 in six companies for developing blockchain projects.
In February, Ethereum hardware hackathon ETHDenver partnered with UNICEF on a blockchain bounty token system.
