Unearthed by @thebookisclosed, Microsoft is embedding a crypto-wallet in its Edge browser that handles multiple types of cryptocurrency, records transactions and currency fluctuations, and offers a tab to keep track of NFTs.
Andrew Cunningham, senior tech reporter at Ars Technica:
This is only one of many money and shopping-related features that Microsoft has bolted onto Edge since it was reborn as a Chromium-based browser a few years ago. In late 2021, the company faced backlash after adding a “buy now, pay later” short-term financing feature to Edge. And as an Edge user, the first thing I do in a new Windows install is disable the endless coupon code, price comparison, and cash-back pop-ups generated by Shopping in Microsoft Edge (many settings automatically sync between Edge browsers when you sign in with a Microsoft account; the default search engine and all of these shopping add-ons need to be changed manually every time).
How Windows users put up with this, I can’t fathom. Aside from that, it’s a positively trustworthy scammy-spammy environment that can only win by adding Bing’s text synthesis machine to it, which makes stuff up with abandon but is looked upon as being potentially “intelligent” by people who neither know what large language models are nor how marketing works.
This has the potential to become the most fun event since Mentos met Coke.