Introducing Boom: A Wallet for STX & NFTs on Stacks 2.0

A wise man once said...

"Every successful mainnet launch starts not with a bang, but with a Boom."

That man was Dan Trevino, Co-founder and Lead Developer of Boom, a Stacks wallet launching on Stacks 2.0. Dan makes up one half to one fourth of the Boom (formerly Webby) team. He and Co-founder and Lead Designer, Layton Diament, have been working together on the wallet since 2018 but have since enlisted some help from other Stacks community members. Their project has understandably grown and evolved over the years, especially through the transition from Stacks 1.0 to 2.0. But now, with the launch of Stacks 2.0 just around the corner, Boom is ready for its official debut.

We sat down with Dan to talk more about Boom, Stacks 2.0, and his team's big plans to make Boom more than just your average wallet.

So what exactly is Boom?
Boom is a web wallet for Stacks, but at its heart, it's a Stacks application. By running it as an app, we have the benefit of not having to handle users' private keys. Instead, everything is done via transaction signing.

What can users do with Boom?
On top of storing and transacting STX, users will be able to launch applications from within the wallet and participate in stacking (as long as they meet the minimum). Admittedly, the thing we're most excited about is the ability for Boom to handle non-fungible tokens (NFTs). At launch, users will immediately be able to store and trade NFTs using Boom. In the near future, though, we're angling for the NFT creator space. We want people to be able to create NFTs from scratch using Boom.

Tell us about the evolution from Webby to Boom. How did you go from app directory to NFT wallet?
Webby essentially started off as a UI experiment. We wanted to provide a listing of community applications that had a nicer user experience than what was available at the time. We also wanted it to be mobile-friendly and more easily accessible in general. With that version of the product, the end goal was just to add direct keychain authentication and simple wallet functionality. But when we started looking closer at wallets on other projects, like MetaMask and Trust Wallet, we saw the potential for Webby to do more than just list and launch apps — we realized it could also handle NFTs. At that time, we were only on Stacks 1.0 so application listing was all we could do, but with the Stacks 2.0 testnet available, we were able to add wallet functionality and experiment with NFTs. The new focus for our product rightly warranted the rebrand to Boom.

Can you explain what the upgrade to Stacks 2.0 has enabled for Boom that wasn't possible before?
The biggest thing for us was the addition of Clarity, meaning smart contract functionality. Clarity smart contracts on Stacks 2.0 are what make it possible for us to facilitate Stacks transfers and give users the ability to manage their wallets, manage their NFTs, and eventually create NFTs from within Boom.

So with all the added functionality offered by Stacks 2.0, what else can we expect to see from Boom in the coming year?
In the near future, you can look forward to new functionality, like transacting STX, and just an improved user experience overall. The experience for doing things like launching apps is going to be greatly enhanced once we add keychain authentication. Beyond that, I'd say look out for new NFT functionality, which is coming soon. The ultimate vision is for Boom to become a community platform centered around NFTs. We'll be working hard on building out community functionality like sharing, trading, selling, and of course, NFT creation so stay tuned!

How will you be celebrating the official launch of Boom (and mainnet, of course)?
We've been keeping this under wraps for a while but with mainnet launch happening, we're excited to finally share the news. As part of the Boom launch, we've partnered with the Hiro team to distribute one-of-a-kind NFTs to all Stacks community members who have registered for the Stacks 2.0 launch event! Registrants will soon be emailed a link to reserve an NFT through Boom. If you were unable to register for the event, you can still request an NFT here. To be clear, you'll need to sign up for Boom in order to receive and initially store the NFT.

That's awesome! Thanks, Boom Team. Anything else you'd like to let folks know?
Thanks to the Hiro team for the opportunity to debut Boom to such a large audience, and thanks to Friedger Müffke and James Botwina for their help with Boom and NFTs in general. Extra special shoutout to the Stacks community for their continued support over the years. It's been a long road but we couldn't be more excited about the mainnet launch. We're looking forward to building more with y'all!

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