[NEWS] US Blockchain releases Bitcoin wallet "Bitkey" in 95 countries

Block, a payment service company whose CEO is Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, announced on the 7th that it has released the Bitcoin self-custody wallet "Bitkey" in 95 countries across six continents.

This allows people all over the world to hold their own Bitcoins easily and securely.

Bitkey comes with a mobile app, hardware device, and recovery tools in case users lose their smartphone, hardware, or both.

In addition, if a problem occurs with managing Bitcoin, the recovery design prioritizes both a simple and secure path so that users can get their funds back without the burden of remembering a long password.

Thomas Templeton, who leads the development team, said in the announcement, "Using Bitkey is a safe and easy way for people all over the world with different levels of experience with Bitcoin to manage their funds the way they want."

Lindsey Grossman, business lead at Bitkey, said that when people hold bitcoin at exchanges, they have to store 12 or 24 seed phrases, which is a reason for people to hesitate to transfer funds to self-custody wallets. "We developed Bitkey because we wanted to create a product that helps everyone manage their own funds," he said.

Adopts a unique multi-sig design

Bitkey uses a unique multi-sig design called "2-of-3" that does not require people to remember seed phrases. Three keys are used to protect bitcoin, and two keys are required to move and approve bitcoin.

Bitkey also gives users two keys. One is in the mobile app, which allows users to easily trade bitcoin on their smartphones, check their balance, and manage security design. The second key held by the customer is in the hardware device and is stored securely offline.

The third key is on Bitkey's servers and is used only for two purposes. One is when trading without using a hardware device. The other is when a user recovers a wallet if it is lost.

Block explains that Bitkey's mission is to connect people across two worlds: the world of centralized fiat currency systems in Japan or other countries and regions, and Bitcoin's decentralized financial system.

Bitkey has partnered with Coinbase, a US cryptocurrency exchange, and Cash App, Block's financial services app, to enable sending and receiving Bitcoin. At the moment, these are the only two collaborations, but the company plans to expand the scale in the future.

Reference:Announcement
Image: Quoted from the announcement

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