Have you ever sent cryptocurrency and wondered, “did I get the address right?” And then next time you send money, you just use PayPal or Zelle because sending to joe@gmail.com is easier and doubt-free?
The FIO protocol provides an elegant solution to this usability problem, by replacing a long cryptocurrency address with a username of your choice, so that anyone can send to your username.
And the Ycash electronic cash system provides an elegant solution to the privacy problem, by encrypting your balance, history, and transactions, so that no one can see those things unless you give them permission to.
Combine the two and “Send 30 YEC to steve@yec” can be all you need to say to easily and securely receive your electronic cash.
When will we get this futuristic technology?
It’s aready live. @yec usernames on the FIO Protocol have been set to publicly available, so anyone in the world can register and use anyname@yec right now to receive payments.
Where can I use this username?
Guarda Wallet is the first to support both FIO and YEC, and the Ycash Foundation has announced plans to incorporate FIO usernames into YEC wallets. Many other wallets and exchanges use the FIO Protocol, such as Coinomi, Edge, ShapeShift, and ChangeNow, with more being added all the time as network effects grow.
Why register one now?
These usernames are non-fungible tokens, which means it is 100% yours. No one else can have the name you create. While there are many Joe’s out there, if you are the first to register joe@yec, you and you alone own that.
So how to get an @yec username?
10 easy steps. Okay, maybe not easy, but this is how you can do it, for now.
- First, get a FIO-enabled wallet like Guarda Wallet. This will give you a FIO public address and private key.
- Fund the FIO address. You’re going to need about $2 of FIO token for each username you want to create. Either find a friend who will spot you ~40 FIO (at today’s rate), or acquire FIO tokens on an exchange like ChangeNow.io, or use Edge app to exchange in-app for FIO. Send your FIO tokens to the FIO address you set up in step 1.
- Locate your FIO private key. Do not share this with anyone, but you will need it for the next step.
- Download the universal FIO signer, Anchor Wallet https://greymass.com/en/anchor. Import your FIO private key into Anchor Wallet.
- Go to the FIO register tool https://greymass.github.io/fio-register/
- Click on +create FIO address
- Register for the FIO username you want. i.e. joe@yec. This address registration step is where you pay the 30–40 FIO (~$2). You’ll be prompted to sign the transaction in the Anchor Wallet.
- This registration lasts for 1 year. Within the year, you will have to renew the username by clicking ‘renew address’ in the FIO register tool https://greymass.github.io/fio-register/.
- Attach a Ycash address to your username by clicking on +add address association. You’ll be prompted to sign the action in the Anchor Wallet.
- Viola. Now you have an @yec username. Test it out in the Guarda wallet. Instead of copy/pasting a long cryptographic address, just type your username in the send-to field.
Enjoy!
