Shopify launches suite of blockchain commerce tools for merchants

cointelegraph.com:

Crypto-friendly e-commerce giant Shopify has launched a suite of blockchain commerce tools to enhance the user experience of their web3-focused stores hosted by the platform.

Announcing the move via Twitter on Feb. 9, Shopify blockchain team designer @ryancreatescopy noted that “we've launched some fresh tools to help you buidl tokengating apps for Shopify merchants.”

In particular, expanded crypto wallet connect features and “tokengating” application programming interface (API) tools have been highlighted. The latter has been in early access beta access mode since June 2022 and was previously only available to a select number of merchants.

With tokegating, all applicable Shopify merchants can now set up their stores to dictate which token holders can and cannot gain access to exclusive products, NFT drops and benefits.

The tool verifies user eligibility via their connected wallet, and is being touted as a handy way for NFT Merchants to reward certain users or add exclusivity to specific products.

In terms of expanded crypto wallet support, Shopify has integrated with the Sign-In with Ethereum SIWE protocol led by the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and the Ethereum Foundation.

SIWE essentially enables secure user sign-ins and authentication of Ethereum accounts and ENS Domains without giving away private identifiers to third parties such as names, phone numbers and residential addresses.

The topic of private user information has been a sour spot for Shopify in the past. In April 2022, a group of disgruntled users filed a class-action lawsuit against the firm and hardware wallet provider Ledger concerning a hefty leak of user data that stemmed from the duo back in 2020.

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