Jack Dorsey disclosed on Friday the company is looking into designing a hardware bitcoin wallet that would offer consumers greater control over the cryptocurrency they own.
As the CEO of Square, he commented on a post published on Twitter regarding Bitcoin transactions that have become a booming business for Square, as its shares rose to 2.7 per cent.
With the bitcoin wallet, consumers can make purchases using the Cash App and store the currency digitally and it will be a new way for users to store their bitcoin so that it’s not controlled by Square or any other company. A bitcoin wallet could allow users to store the cryptocurrency in a secure gadget and let them choose to spend it later.
“Square is considering making a hardware wallet for bitcoin,” Dorsey said. “If we do it, we would build it entirely in the open, from software to hardware design, and in collaboration with the community.”′
He explained how Square’s product, if built, might differ from available alternatives.
“The exchange you used to buy your bitcoin probably attends to your security with good intent, but circumstances may reveal ‘custody’ actually means ‘IOU.’ Deciding to take custody, and security, of your bitcoin, is complicated.”
Dorsey said Square might be able to simplify how people hold bitcoin by creating “assisted self-custody,” which he said would make it easy for customers to spend a certain percentage of available funds from their phone, while safely securing the rest of the money in the wallet. Dorsey said that integration with the Cash App is “obvious” but “only part of the solution.”
Dorsey added that the solution doesn’t “need to be owned by Square” and that he’ll provide further thoughts “if we decide to build” the product.
Currently, Bitcoin revenue at the Square climbed to $4.75 billion last year from $516.5 million in 2019.
