Block Inc. has a brand-new hardware available. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and owner of a bitcoin wallet, is concentrating the payments startup, formerly known as Square, more on security and self-governance for the digital asset industry.
With a hardware wallet called Bitkey, users may keep their cryptocurrency in their own hands on a hexagon-shaped gadget.
Even though comparable products have been around for a while, trading platforms still hold the majority of cryptocurrency assets.
In order to decentralize the Bitcoin network and provide accessibility to safe storage and Bitcoin mining, Dorsey revealed the San Francisco-based company’s plans to develop the new hardware wallet and a Bitcoin mining system in 2021.
By connecting the wallet to cryptocurrency exchanges and payment providers like Block’s Cash App, users can move digital assets between platforms.
“We have already started working with Cash App from day one and we are looking for other synergies as well,” said Block’s Thomas Templeton, who leads the Proto team which develops Bitcoin hardware in the company.
In exchange for rewards in the form of coins, miners who utilize specialized computers to validate transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain are paid an energy-intensive activity called mining.
The majority of these activities are owned and operated by well-funded individual investors or publicly traded corporations.
Block wants to give regular consumers more access to simple and secure storage while also increasing the decentralization and availability of Bitcoin mining.
“When you look at the Bitcoin space, there are tools and products that are built for super users or a subset of people deep in the industry but there is not a product for regular folks dipping their toes in the space,” Templeton said in an interview.
Block’s stock was essentially unchanged on Thursday, trading at roughly $68. This year, the stock has gained by almost 8.5%. In 2023, Bitcoin has increased by over 160%.