Block Opens Public Beta of Bitkey, Partners with Cash App and Coinbase

• "We're excited to announce we've opened our external beta program to the first customers outside of our parent company, Block, Inc," the company announced.
• Bitkey is a multi-signature self-custody bitcoin wallet that comes with a mobile app, hardware device, and set of recovery tools.

"We’re launching partner integrations with Coinbase and Cash App to help customers safely and easily transfer their bitcoin to Bitkey without having to leave the Bitkey app. Both these integrations will be available during beta. And you can still send/receive bitcoin to/from Bitkey to other bitcoin wallets - custodial and non-custodial beyond these partners integrations too."

• "Users will be able to buy crypto from the two platforms when the Bitcoin-only wallet is formally launched outside of beta, Lindsey Grossman, the business lead for Bitkey, told Fortune."
• "On a video call with Fortune, Grossman briefly flashed the wallet, a flat hexagonal device with a fingerprint scanner that fits into one’s palm. Bitkey’s hardware component is one-third of a “multisig,” or multisignature, setup."
• "Bitkey has three keys. One is on users’ cellphones, another is stored on the hexagonal pieces of hardware, and Block holds the final key. To pay for coffee with, say, Bitcoin, a user needs to sign off on the transaction on both their hardware device and cellphone."

“We are able to help you recover your wallet and recover both your mobile key through a cloud backup and then also help you get a new piece of hardware and create a new hardware key,” Grossman said.

• To test out Bitkey in the external beta, interested users need to fill out a short application by 11:59pm PT 30 June 2023.
• "While Grossman declined to specify in which quarter Block plans to release the wallet, she did say the firm is aiming for later this year."

Fortune Article / Archive
Beta Announcement / Archive
Blog Post (Partnerships)/ Archive