The Bitcoin community has been patiently watching as Jack Dorsey develops Bitcoin infrastructure at his parent company Block(SQ), formerly known as Square.
Block has already been attacking the Bitcoin space. They’re working on a decentralized exchange, launched their Lightning Development Kit(LDK), and have integrated Lightning with CashApp.
But can Dorsey deliver a compelling hardware product to market, or will he leave the plebs disappointed?
According to Nick Slaney, a product design engineer at Block, they are building much more than a simple hardware wallet.
Bitcoin privacy and self-custody have taken center stage on Twitter in the wake of the Canadian Government’s recent decision to freeze the bank accounts of the Freedom Convoy Protestors. Self-custody is an essential element of financial sovereignty, and thankfully, the engineers at Block understand this.
Slaney went on to write that Block’s hardware wallet is natively multi-sig, open-source, and combines the convenience of a custodial app with the security of self-custody.
In addition, a recent Substack article by Block’s design team describes their intention to implement Near-Field-Communication(NFC) into their hardware device. This feature would allow the cold wallet to communicate with an application wirelessly. It will also keep the hardware simple, low-cost, and streamlined, enabling a seamless experience for the end consumer.
“We’re still finalizing our (design) choices in a number of these areas, so for today, we’ll share just one: we’ve chosen to rely on near-field communication (NFC) for the link between the hardware and software components of the product. NFC is a wireless technology that allows two devices to communicate with each other at close range, and powers many payment, identification, and access cards, as well as smartphone-based technologies like Apple Pay.”
The design team further expanded on this decision-
”Including a wireless method aligns with our focus on mobile usage and keeps people from needing a cable just to communicate with the hardware(…)Unlike most alternatives, NFC requires the two devices communicating to be very close to each other, which is ideal for a hardware wallet that should communicate only with its owner, not the neighbors.”
It will be interesting to see how this project develops. If Block can deliver on its promises, we could see a compelling new product enter the Bitcoin hardware space.
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