Opendime: the 'Disposable Hardware Wallet'

Just recently we reported on Coinkite starting a “new phase” within the company’s objectives. The business decided to drop its web wallet service to focus its concentration on new hardware devices and standalone Bitcoin terminals. Now Coinkite has revealed one of the first projects called Opendime (opendime.com), a USB stick that acts like paper money and can be passed along to anyone.

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Opendime: ‘Bitcoin, Like Cash in Hand’

The new product from the Toronto-based company Coinkite is a transferable hardware wallet that can be treated as though it was cash. Each Opendime stick holds one user-loaded private key that never reveals the key until the product is “unsealed.” The company says that the devices use “Piggy-Bank Economics” meaning the dime-sized stick must be destroyed to spend the funds. Users can store as little or as much as they want and units can be exchanged freely until they are spent.

Opendime’s website explains:

Spend Bitcoin’s like a dollar bill. Pass it along multiple times. Connect to any USB to check. Unseal at any time to spend online. Trust no one.

Coinkite explains via the Opendime home page that the team has watched the development of hardware wallets and physical coins over the years with interest. The company says it has built Opendime to be more than the typical hardware wallet and wanted to provide a whole new category: “disposable hardware wallets to be used as cash.” As a read-only USB flash drive, it works with computers, laptops, tablets and even mobile devices.

A third party wallet is needed to extract the funds from Opendime, and the middle part of the device must be broken as well. Coinkite calls this the “golden lock” and once removed the gadget can easily be identified as spent. “Once that piece has been broken out, the file contents here will change, and the private key will be revealed in the private-key.txt file and QR code image,” the company explains. “There is no way back, and once unsealed, you should move the funds into another wallet.”

After its recent change of business plans, Coinkite feels it is heading in a direction it feels passionate about and thinks the disposable hardware wallet will offer some unique opportunities. The company details the devices can be mailed, exchanged in person instantly, sold with preloaded value, and be used as an alternative to “risky” paper wallets.

Opendime’s website says the business looks forward to the various potentials of this idea, stating:

We’re really excited to see what people will do with this. Maybe we’ll see whole new economies based on Opendime spring up! That might be a real godsend in some countries that struggle with limited network infrastructure and corrupt governmental systems. This is just the beginning. We have no idea where it will go from here!

The disposable hardware wallet concept is a new idea and hasn’t been attempted to date in this fashion. Bitcoin enthusiasts on cryptocurrency forums gave a few critiques of the device here, and it seems most were interested in seeing if this type of product could catch on.

Do you see yourself using the Opendime disposable Bitcoin wallet? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Opendime website