As discussed previously on this blog, we set out to reimagine the humble hardware wallet from the ground up and create a simple, discreet, durable, affordable, and above all easy-to-use device that offers state-of-the-art safety and security for our crypto!
Wow… that is a long list of priorities to optimize for!
Let’s elaborate on each of these priorities to understand them better.
- Simple
There is no point in creating another complex device with its own quirks and learning curve.
The hardware wallet has to be a minimalistic accessory that is intuitive with almost no learning curve. We should leverage the smartphone via companion apps as much as possible to keep the device itself very simple. It’s also best to avoid any button-based navigation on the device as such user interfaces are finicky and hard to use.
- Discreet
The hardware wallet should be as inconspicuous as possible, avoiding unnecessary attention from those around us. Effective security often means hiding in plain sight without anyone noticing.
Further to that, a device that is easy to carry and hide can help us get out of many challenging situations!
- Durable
Hardware wallets should endure abuse and last a long time. They serve little purpose by being flashy and fragile.
- Affordable
We tend to cut corners, act lazy, and procrastinate a lot when we have to spend money and effort on safety and security. Irrational but it’s in our nature.
By making it extremely affordable, we can entice more people to experiment and get comfortable with hardware wallets and self-custody a lot early in their crypto journey.
Moreover, what many find affordable in one part of the world can be out of reach for many others from another part of it.
- Ease of Use
This is the most important aspect of hardware wallet design for us. If something is difficult to use, we will delay or avoid using it irrespective of how critical it is for safeguarding our crypto.
A big part of making the whole thing easy and approachable is embracing the mobile-first philosophy. We are all addicted to our smartphones and we can leverage this aspect of our lives to push hardware wallet adoption.
Over and above that, keeping the companion apps similar to apps we use daily and interactions with the hardware wallet device similar to how we interact with other devices and artifacts in our digital ecosystem will make the hardware wallet less of a pain to use.
QR Codes, NFC Tap to Pay, etc. have become very natural to us over the years and we can leverage this familiarity to simplify the experience for our users.
- State of the art Security
This is obvious! The hardware wallet will not serve any purpose if it falters on the core tenets of secure authentication, transaction verification, and isolation for our cryptographic secrets and functions.
However, the isolation part is a little tricky! Almost all hardware wallets rely on secure elements to isolate and restrict access to cryptographic secrets and functions and we assume that these are foolproof but they are not. It is just expensive and hard to hack into these secure elements!
If you have a substantial stash in there, it can be done no matter what anyone tells you. It all depends on who you are up against and what are their incentives.
To counter these threats, the hardware wallet should also support some form of Vaults with algorithmically guaranteed protection over and above silicon-level isolation for high-stakes cold storage. Eg. Hybrid Custody Vaults
So, can we design such a hardware wallet?
Absolutely 🙂
Stay tuned!
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