Jack Dorsey’s upcoming Bitcoin (BTC) wallet product will be outfitted with fingerprint sensor devices for security, according to a new update.
Dorsey’s company Block, formerly known as Square, first announced plans to develop a wallet last summer.
In a new update, the team behind the BTC wallet announced that the project will include both hardware and a mobile app to enable customers to set their own preferences in terms of convenience and security.
In the new update, the project notes that the fingerprint sensor data will never leave the hardware device.
“For transactions that require using the wallet hardware, we want our customers to be able to unlock their wallets securely, but with ease – an unlikely combination that historically has not existed in the market. We believe PINs, passwords, and seed phrases are confusing and often not secure given the workarounds normal people have to create given all the friction. This compounds when the need for those passwords are more rare…
Every authentication technology comes with tradeoffs. We’re excited about the security against theft or misuse that [fingerprint sensor data] will provide, the peace of mind that will come from not needing to remember yet another PIN, and the ease of placing a finger on the sensor rather than manipulating tiny, failure-prone buttons on a difficult-to-read screen.
… of course, fingerprint sensor data will never leave the hardware device.”
The project also plans to “evaluate additional access methods that customers could opt into” in case they want to share access to their wallets.
Dorsey has mentioned in the past that Block plans to integrate the Bitcoin wallet with smartphones.
Don't Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inboxFeatured Image: Shutterstock/GrandeDuc/Andy Chipus