protonthe Swiss technology company that makes online privacy tools like ProtonMail and ProtonVPN, is launching Proton WalletSelf-custodial Bitcoin wallet.
This new product will be integrated with ProtonMail and will allow users to send Bitcoin as easily as they send email.
“Bitcoin’s value to society has been impacted by transaction difficulty and security concerns, and we designed the Proton Wallet to address both of these issues,” said Andy Yin, founder and CEO of Proton, in a joint press release with Bitcoin Magazine. “The Proton Wallet’s ability to support Bitcoin via email makes Bitcoin transactions as easy to use as PayPal, while maintaining the decentralized, non-custodial nature of Bitcoin.”
Proton Wallet is the latest in its comprehensive suite of encrypted tools that help Proton users maintain privacy when using the internet.
Before we delve into the details of this new product, it is important to understand Proton’s motivation for creating it.
For Proton, Proton Wallet is personal.
If there was no Bitcoin, then Proton probably wouldn’t exist.
“This summer actually marks the 10th anniversary of Proton,” Yen said in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine.
“In July 2014, we launched the original crowdfunding campaign, and halfway through the campaign, PayPal froze our funds. So Proton had a near-death experience at first,” he added.
“We added a link to donate bitcoin when the crowdfunding campaign went down, and that’s when we started receiving our first bitcoin. That moment 10 years ago was when we first realized the true power of bitcoin and what it could do.”
Yen also touched on how happy the Proton team was when Credit Suisse, the bank it used to manage its paper business funds, announced: Collapsed in March 2023.
“Credit Suisse went through a moment of uncertainty where we weren’t sure if it was going to be saved or not,” Yen recalls. “The fact that we had a large portion of our reserves in bitcoin was actually a wise thing to do because it kind of ensured the long-term sustainability of the business.”
Dingchao Lu, Proton Wallet Manager and the company’s first employee, also expressed his gratitude for the role Bitcoin has played in Proton’s history, and wants it to play a similar role for Proton users around the world.
“We want to reduce the world’s reliance on centralized financial institutions,” Lu said in a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine. “By giving users control over their private cryptographic keys and their own digital assets, we are bringing financial freedom, improved privacy, and security to millions of people around the world.”
Lu also added that Proton has felt the financial benefits of holding the bitcoin it accepts for payment over the years.
“We have been accepting payments in bitcoin since we launched the beta in 2016,” he said in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine.
“This has been successful for us,” he added. “Bitcoin has gone up about 100 times since those early days, and we’ve stuck with our bitcoin.”
the details
Proton will leverage existing infrastructure to make Proton Wallet even more user-friendly.
To use Proton Wallet to make a Bitcoin transaction, both the sender and receiver must have the wallet. The sender only needs the recipient’s email address, whether it’s a ProtonMail address or not, to send the Bitcoin.
Behind the scenes, Proton will rotate Bitcoin addresses every time a user sends or receives Bitcoin, which helps prevent addresses from being linked to a user’s identity.
As mentioned, Proton Wallet is non-custodial, meaning that only users can access the funds in the wallet. Proton will offer “robust recovery methods” for said keys, though it has yet to provide what those recovery methods will look like. Bitcoin held in Proton Wallet can be recovered even if the internet connection is down.
All transactions will be done using the Proton Wallet on the main chain, as Proton has not implemented Lightning technology yet for one major reason.
“It’s very difficult to do lightning in a non-confinement way,” Yin said.
“If you want to do non-custodial lighting and you want people to open their own channels, that’s a user experience that’s not really solved right now,” he added.
“But Lightning support is something we can add in the future as we look for ways to overcome the user experience issue.”
Proton will also make it easier for people to buy Bitcoin, offering direct integrations in over 150 different countries.
Additionally, Proton Wallet will also support two-factor authentication, including physical security keys, and will provide users with access to Proton Sentinel, which uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to help stop malicious login attempts. Proton Sentinel helps protect users’ accounts in the event that an account is compromised or an attacker gains access to a user’s login information.
How to start using Proton Wallet
Proton Wallet is currently only available to Proton Visionary users, Proton plan It is normally only intended for legacy users but has been reopened for a limited time, and “select members of the Bitcoin community” as part of the early access program.
These participants can invite friends to join, while the product will be available to all Proton users in the future.
In a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine, Proton also shared that it will be launching a waiting list for those looking to start using the Proton Wallet.
