Since the apparition of bitcoin, there have been many technologies that have developed in this environment.

Those at Coinkite have come up with their latest project, the Coinkite Coldcard, which is a bitcoin wallet with a cyberpunk-inspired design.

This USB stick allows holders to keep their bitcoins like you would store cash. An online spending feature is required, something like poking out the seal for it to be activated. The resulted hole in the self-contained keyboard can let the user wear the USB like a necklace or a keychain charm.

Coinkite and Opendime

Coinkite is a company based in Canada which has been a long time in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the firm being known for its hardy multi-signature bank-grade security, developer’s API and strongly enforced privacy.

Opendime is a small USB stick created by Coinkite, which allows the user to spend bitcoins like real dollar bills.

The design of Coldcard

The Coinkite Coldcard is a BIP39 coldcard. It has a 1980s calculator design, and organic light emitting diode (OLED) screen with an included PIN keypad situated under the screen.

Security features

As the USB card has an impressive number of security features which can deter any hacking attempts, one has to fear the “five-dollar wrench attack”. This is a real life attack which consists of someone personally attacking you until you show them your password. In case of such a scenario, Opendime has incorporate a secondary PIN code which is capable of unlocking different wallets.

Coinkite says there is no specialized software required, acting like a hard drive in which you can drag and drop files into. There is no companion app needed on the user’s computer and it works with existing major wallets.

Other security features include a real “crypto security chip” with the private key stored in the dedicated security chip, not the main micro’s flash. If you want to check out the software behind it, you will be happy to hear it is open-source. It has a MicroSD card slot for backup and storing data which allows the user to truly sign off from the online environment, by transferring the unsigned/ signed transactions on sneakernet.

A detailed analysis on its specifications can be made by checking out Coinkite’s page, but energising developers could be allowed to attach google 2FA in order to limit smartphone dependency.

Though the product will be due for release in spring, pre-ordering is available on Opendime‘s website. The price is around 50 USD at the moment, which is a reasonable sum for a device meant to cold store your precious Bitcoins.