Block said it plans to use a fingerprint sensor for its much-awaited bitcoin hardware wallet.
The company formerly known as Square is developing hardware crypto wallets, one of many efforts it's pursuing to make bitcoin more mainstream. Block plans “to achieve seamless authentication” through fingerprint sensors, the company wrote in a blog post. The company said it plans to build a device without a display, a divergence from the hardware design of some rivals like Ledger, whose Nano wallets feature a small OLED screen.
Block said it considers “PINs, passwords, and seed phrases ... confusing and often not secure given the workarounds normal people have to create given all the friction.”
The company acknowledged that the plan has some limitations. “For example, some customers will want to share access to their money without relying only on their fingerprint,” it wrote.
Block also said it was seeking to hire a lawyer to serve as product counsel for the wallet project.