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On Wednesday, December 19, 2024, Foundation announced the release of its newest device, the Passport Prime.
Introducing Passport Prime – Your Personal Security Platform!
We’re thrilled to present Passport Prime, the world’s first personal security platform designed to secure your Bitcoin and your entire digital life.
Think: A Swiss Army Knife for your online security. pic.twitter.com/3HH2eG7vhU
— FOUNDATION (@FOUNDATIONdvcs) December 18, 2024
The device offers a broad range of features that not only help users secure the keys to their bitcoin but other digital information, as well.
Features
For starters, the Passport Prime offers the same bitcoin wallet capabilities as the company’s second generation Passport device, including multisig functionality and temporary seed phrases.
Beyond Bitcoin-related security, the Passport Prime also helps you to store other sensitive digital data.
Its 2FA Codes app lets users store 2FA codes offline, while its Security Keys app serves as a replacement for Yubikeys and allows users to create multiple security keys for use with NFC or USB.
What is more, the device offers an encrypted flash drive. Users can store up to 50 GB of data on the device. And as a means to keep your data private, the Airlock feature in the File Browser app lets users only access selected files when the device is plugged into a phone or computer.
The device also has its own custom operating system — KeyOS — which enables apps to run in their own sandboxes while the OS manages permissions.
Pushing The Hardware Wallet Industry Forward
Earlier this year, Foundation’s co-founder and CEO told Bitcoin Magazine he was looking to create the iPhone of Bitcoin hardware. The Passport Prime is the closest Foundation has come to this ideal yet.
“The hardware wallet industry has been coasting for years, failing to deliver any meaningful innovation and unable to respond to digital assets’ rapidly evolving utility and use cases,” said Zach Herbert, co-founder and CEO of Foundation in a press release.
“Wallets have become crypto’s weakest link: they are difficult to onboard to, complex to use, and increasingly insecure for a range of modern blockchain transactions,” he added.
“Passport Prime is the first device of its kind, a Personal Security Platform that’s fit for the future decentralized economy, making it simple to safeguard all your private keys in one offline device, and sign every kind of transaction or contract with complete peace of mind.”
Third-Party Apps Welcome
By approximately mid-2025, developers will be able to build third-party apps that will run on KeyOS. In other words, developers will be able to list their own apps in Foundation’s App Catalogue.
The first of these third-party apps will be produced by Cake Wallet and will enable users to more privately transact using Bitcoin, Monero and other cryptocurrencies.
Dynamic, Yet Simple and Secure
Foundation claims that setting up and using the Passport Prime will be easy, despite its various functionalities.
Users can set the device up using Envoy, Foundation’s native app that provides guidance for the set up process and that connects to the device via QuantamLink Bluetooth.
QuantamLink Bluetooth is enabled by a dedicated Bluetooth chip embedded in the Passport Prime that can only send and receive messages that are already encrypted using quantum-resistance technology.
Users can also back up their seed via a 2-of-3 Shamir Secret Sharing configuration splits the seed into three pieces — two stored on physical cards and one stored in the Envoy mobile app.
Details
The device will retail for $299 and ship by Q2 2025.
The device comes in two different colors — Arctic Copper and Midnight Bronze — and it’s both completely open-source and manufactured in the United States.
Learn more about the product here.
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