Jack Dorsey’s Block unveils a wallet to pay in Bitcoin
Got Bitcoin to spend? Jack Dorsey’s Block wants your business and has released an integrated wallet to facilitate payments.
Jack Dorsey’s Block believes cryptocurrency still has legs and is introducing a self-custody bitcoin wallet that allows Australians to spend the cryptocurrency via a linked debit card.
The company has opened expressions of interest for a beta (trial) of the product which allows users who hold Bitcoin with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to spend that currency on everyday purchases. The new wallet would allow the Bitcoin holder to move the coin off of the cryptocurrency exchange and be held in the wallet.
The product, called Bitkey, has already been unveiled in the US, where Block established a similar partnership with one of its subsidiaries’ mobile payment systems, Cash App.
Bitcoin’s value is currently at a 12-month high, valued at $45,840 at the time of writing on Wednesday. Today’s figure is still starkly different to 2021 when the cryptocurrency was priced at over $89,000.
Bitykey business lead Lindsey Grossman said the company believed Bitcoin was the one cryptocurrency which could one day see mass adoption.
“We are investing in Bitcoin across the entire Block ecosystem because we believe that Bitcoin has the highest likelihood for true economic empowerment, both in the sense that it’s decentralised but also its payments use cases,” she said.
Block was critical of self-custody wallets already available in the market, and the company believed many were “not fit for purpose”, Ms Grossman said.
“The reason we got into this is because we believe that everyone should be able to safely and easily truly own and manage your Bitcoin and not to actually leave it in the custody or control of a crypto exchange.”
Bitkey requires a user to have the mobile app, a hardware device and recovery tools, with keys on two of those three needed on hand to move money.
Block’s hardware device is a hexagon-shaped “rock” with a fingerprint reader. It is charged via a USB-C cable.
Earlier this year, The Australian revealed that the Reserve Bank and Treasury had held a number of private meetings with international executives from cryptocurrency exchanges on the future of digital assets and regulation in Australia.
Conversations took place in relation to Treasury’s token mapping consultation paper, which it released last month, calling for input from industry.
Among those to submit a submission was Nasdaq-listed exchange Coinbase and the company’s vice president of international policy Tom Duff Gordon flew from London specifically for the meetings.
Ms Grossman said Bitkey had already received a number of sign-ups from Australian users.
“Australia is a really exciting market for us both in terms of like the number of Bitcoin users that we see there, but also a lot of interest and in taking more control and autonomy over how people manage their money,” she said.
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