CEO Jack Dorsey confirms Square is building BTC hardware wallet
Square is building a Bitcoin hardware wallet, with CEO Jack Dorsey and hardware lead Jesse Dorogusker both confirming the plan.
The CEO first teased the idea for a Square hardware wallet and custody service last month, and revealed today that “we’re doing it.”
We’re doing it #Bitcoin https://t.co/IwbKuBoXGv
— jack (@jack) July 8, 2021
Dorogusker, the hardware lead of Square, said on Twitter that the company wants to make Bitcoin custody more mainstream, and outlined the pathway for the hardware wallet rollout.
We have decided to build a hardware wallet and service to make bitcoin custody more mainstream. We’ll continue to ask and answer questions in the open. This community’s response to our thread about this project has been awesome - encouraging, generous, collaborative, & inspiring. https://t.co/CHf9hAmKnn
— Jesse Dorogusker (@JesseDorogusker) July 8, 2021
Dorsey explained the term “assisted-self-custody” last month, noting that the firm is looking to provide a simplified experience for managing a hardware wallet.
“Custody doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. We can probably simplify custody through 'assisted self-custody.' Assisted requires great product design: minimal setup time, relying on existing devices, and end-to-end reliability,” he said.
As the crypto sector has seen a massive uptick in speculation from new investors amid the growth over the past 12 months, the topic of crypto custody is becoming increasingly important.
Storing funds on an exchange can be risky, as the user doesn’t have full control over their assets which can be lost to hacks or caught up in regulations.
Hardware wallets are one of the most secure ways to hold crypto-assets because they enable users to store their private keys and holdings on external offline devices. But average users complain they are complicated to learn how to use.
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