- Bitkey’s mission to give people more control over their bitcoin
comes to life with an easy-to-use self-custody bitcoin wallet for
people who want to truly own their bitcoin safely
- Bitkey includes a mobile app, hardware device, and a set of
recovery tools, and is available today at bitkey.world for
customers across 95+ countries
Bitkey, the self-custody bitcoin wallet built by Block,
Inc. (NYSE: SQ), launched today in more than 95 countries across
six continents, widening access to self-custody and empowering
people around the world to truly own and manage their bitcoin
easily and safely. Today, the vast majority of the millions of
bitcoin owners1 keep their bitcoin in the custodial platforms or
exchanges where they bought it, leaving them under the control of
the custodian. Accessing self-custody solutions where people can
truly own the keys to their bitcoin still often relies on a complex
set of devices or long passwords that people need to remember to be
able to recover their money in case of loss.
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Bitkey includes a mobile app, hardware device, and a set of
recovery tools in case the customer loses the phone, their
hardware, or both. Built by the Proto team at Block, Bitkey is now
available for pre-orders2 at bitkey.world, with shipping starting
in early 2024. Thomas Templeton, who leads the Proto team,
said:
“The bitcoin decentralized payments network
has the potential to create a more inclusive financial system for
all, especially those who have traditionally been underserved. In
the future, we believe customers will demand ownership and
self-custody because it brings peace of mind, reduces dependence on
any one entity, and puts individuals in control of their own
bitcoin. With Bitkey, we are building a safe and easy way for
people all around the world with different levels of experiences
with bitcoin to take control of their finances on their terms.”
Ease of use and peace of mind
Gareth is one of the customers part of Bitkey’s external beta
program, based in South Africa. He works in the banking sector and
has some previous experience with other self-custody wallets as
well as exchange-hosted wallets.
According to Gareth, “The major benefit is that this is the
first time my family would be comfortable engaging in self-custody.
It is an experience that makes a healthy set of trade-offs to make
bitcoin self custody accessible to all for the first time. There is
still a huge amount of work to be done in terms of convincing and
educating people that they should be self custodying their bitcoin,
but this product certainly removes the most significant barrier to
entry - complexity.”
A critical part of making self-custody more accessible is
providing forgiving recovery experiences that prioritize both
simple and secure paths to help customers recover their money when
something goes wrong, without the burden of having to remember long
passwords. According to Lindsey Grossman, Business Lead for
Bitkey:
“People holding bitcoin on exchanges and
custodial platforms today are often hesitant to move to
self-custody wallets because they are nervous about making
mistakes, especially with the historical requirement that you must
safely guard 12 or 24-word long passwords called ‘seed phrases’.
People have often felt stuck: worried about the lack of control
they might experience on a custodial platform or exchange, yet also
anxious about the unforgiving product experiences that exist in
other self-custody wallets historically available. With Bitkey, we
wanted to build a product that helps bring everyone to
self-custody, combining robust security and recovery options, with
a simple customer experience that puts them in control of their
money.”
Bitkey addresses this with a unique 2-of-3 multi-signature
design that doesn’t require customers to remember long passwords or
seed phrases: it uses three keys to secure bitcoin, and any two
keys working together are needed to move bitcoin or approve other
security-related actions like initiating recovery or modifying
security settings.
Bitkey puts two keys in customers’ hands: one is in the mobile
app, which enables customers to make bitcoin transactions easily on
their mobile phone, track their balance, and manage security
preferences; and the second customer-held key is in the hardware
device, securely stored offline. The hardware key serves two main
purposes: an extra layer of security to co-sign money movements
(based on a customer-set limit); and enables recovery when
customers lose their phone.
A third key is on Bitkey’s server and is used for only two
things: to help customers move bitcoin with just their phone for
the transactions they choose to make on the go without their
hardware device, and to help customers recover their wallet if they
lose their phone or hardware - or even both. Importantly, because
Bitkey only has access to one, not two or three keys in this 2-of-3
multi-signature wallet, Bitkey cannot access or move a customer’s
bitcoin without them. This puts customers in true control of their
money, while giving them peace of mind that they can recover their
money if they lose something (for more information on how Bitkey’s
2-of-3 multi-signature design and recovery tools works, read ‘How
it works page’).
Helping bring more bitcoin to self-custody
Part of Bitkey’s mission relies on connecting people across two
worlds: the world of today’s domestic or regional centralized fiat
monetary systems, and bitcoin’s distributed, borderless financial
system. In June 2023, coinciding with the kick-off of the external
beta program that launched that month, Bitkey announced its first
two partnerships with Coinbase, a leading global exchange, and Cash
App, a leading financial services app and part of the Block
ecosystem, to help people easily and transfer their bitcoin off
exchanges and custodial platforms, making the journey to
self-custody easier.
Thanks to these partnerships, Bitkey customers are able to
choose a partner they would like to transfer or buy bitcoin with
and then initiate a transfer from that partner to self-custody in
their Bitkey wallet - all through a seamless integration. The
transfer and buy+transfer features will roll out in a staggered
approach, starting with the ability to transfer existing bitcoin
from Coinbase and Cash App available immediately upon the product’s
launch. These two partnerships are the first of more to come
globally. More information on our partner integrations can be found
in our blogpost ‘Welcoming our first global partners:
Coinbase and Cash App’.
About Bitkey
Bitkey is a self-custody bitcoin wallet with three parts — a
mobile app to make transactions easily on the phone, a hardware
device to protect savings securely offline, and a set of recovery
tools in case customers lose their phone, hardware, or both. As an
innovative multi-signature self-custody wallet, Bitkey provides
innovative recovery tools that give customers multiple ways to
recover their money, so they can take their bitcoin off exchanges
and truly own and control it themselves, without the anxiety of
guarding a long complex seed phrase. Bitkey provides the
convenience of a mobile app, the security of hardware, and peace of
mind that in case they lose something, customers can still recover
their money. Bitkey is built by the Proto Team at Block, Inc.
Proto’s mission is to help accelerate the world’s transition to a
more open economy by making products that increase access and
independence for everyone. Bitkey is the first of these. Find out
more at bitkey.world.
About Block, Inc.
Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) (formerly, Square, Inc.) is a global
technology company with a focus on financial services. Made up of
Square, Cash App, TIDAL, and TBD, we build tools to help more
people access the economy. Square makes commerce and financial
services easy and accessible for sellers with its integrated
ecosystem of technology solutions. With Cash App, anyone can easily
send, spend, or invest their money in stocks or bitcoin. Afterpay
brings Square and Cash App together, connecting consumers and
businesses. Artists use TIDAL to help them succeed as entrepreneurs
and connect more deeply with fans. TBD is building an open source
platform and developer infrastructure that enables everyone to
access and participate in the global economy.
1 Estimated numbers range from between 50 million (source:
CoinmarketCap, unique addresses holding bitcoin with non-zero
balances: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/#Analytics)
upwards to 219 million (source: Crypto.com 2022 report published
January 2023, number of bitcoin owners globally:
https://contenthub-static.crypto.com/wp_media/2023/01/Cryptodotcom_Crypto_Market_Sizing_Jan2023-1.pdf)
2 Bitkey will be available at a price of $150USD, or its equivalent
in local currencies.
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