Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has revealed in an extensive Twitter thread on Friday that his digital payments company Square is considering building a bitcoin hardware wallet that will let users store their crypto so that it’s not under the control of Square or any other company.
Square Strongly Considers Building An Open-Source Bitcoin Hardware Wallet
He indicated that the wallet, if built, will be developed “entirely in the open, from software to hardware design, and in collaboration with the community,” while laying out some of Square’s guiding principles.
As bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies gain traction, many companies have come out to develop products that serve the increasing need to protect these digital assets from theft. A hardware wallet is basically a flash drive where you can safely store your crypto assets offline or online and you can choose when to spend it later. Properly securing your crypto essentially allows you to have control of your money in ways that were not possible before.
Dorsey notes that bitcoin is for everyone, thus underscoring the need for creating a non-custodial solution.
“It’s important to us to build an inclusive product that brings a non-custodial solution to the global market. Much respect to everyone who has gotten us this far. What are the biggest blockers to get a non-custodial solution to the next 100M people?”
In his thread, the Twitter CEO posed some questions regarding the tentative engineering direction for the bitcoin hardware wallet. He noted that Square’s wallet will mix availability and security while incorporating Layer 2 solutions to make it a seamless experience for customers.
Dorsey also asked whether small displays like the ones available with top crypto hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor will be necessary with Square’s new product.
“Are small displays necessary? Expecting mainstream customers to validate details on a small display is *unlikely* to increase security and *likely* to reduce device reliability, increase device cost, and decrease accessibility. Is the product better if a display isn’t required?”
The BTC Hardware Wallet To Have Square’s Cash App Integration?
Moreover, Dorsey intends to improve the current recovery mechanisms in order to prevent users from burning money.
“Customers have to protect recovery information from damage, loss, and theft and store secret(s). In practice, this is not yet mainstream-ready. We don’t want more passwords on post-its. What best of class solutions should we consider,” he explained.
While the integration of the hardware wallet with Square’s Cash App is rather “obvious”, Dorsey posited that it’s “only part of the solution.” More to that, longtime Square exec Jesse Dorogusker and Dorsey will continue the conversation around the hardware wallet, and they will also open a dedicated Twitter and GitHub account if they go ahead with the plan to build the wallet.
As for the exact time real development might commence, Dorsey was inexplicit. “We’ll update this thread with that information when we’re ready. Thanks!” he wrote.
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