Proton has launched a self-custody bitcoin wallet, where you’ll be in charge of your private keys.
For now, Proton Wallet is only available to users subscribed to the Visionary and Lifetime plans, but it’ll soon be rolled out for other users as well.
Depending on the feedback, Proton might also add support for other digital currencies.
Proton, the company best known for its very secure VPN service, is debuting in the cryptocurrency industry with its brand-new self-custody Bitcoin wallet. The product is officially named Proton Wallet.
A self-custody wallet means that you will remain in control of your private keys—so, you won’t be dependent on Proton to maintain access to your Bitcoin.
Interestingly, Proton’s own experience appears to have inspired its idea to create a self-custody wallet. Back in 2014, PayPal temporarily froze Proton’s assets, which nearly ended the company. That incident left a lasting lesson: to reduce dependency on centralized financial institutions.
Proton Wallet also has a recovery phrase to help you recover your keys in case you lose them. Plus, as we’ve come to expect from Proton, there’s also two-factor authentication and end-to-end encryption, meaning security is top-notch—even Proton employees can’t access your Bitcoin.
To further protect your privacy, Proton Wallet rotates public addresses every time a user executes a transaction with a new person so that no one can use a blockchain explorer to track all transactions to a specific public address.
Furthermore, Proton Wallet is open source (like all Proton products), meaning anyone can inspect its code and verify the company’s security claims first-hand.
Using Proton Wallet
Now, let’s talk about how to use Proton Wallet. For now, it’s only available in early access to users subscribed to the Proton Visionary or Lifetime plan.
However, the company plans to launch it for the rest of the users very soon. You will be able to use it via its web app or download its dedicated apps for iOS and Android versions.
It’s also worth noting that, as of now, Proton Wallet only supports Bitcoin. However, Proton has promised to introduce more cryptocurrencies, depending on the feedback it gets from the users.
The company also has plans for releasing a Proton Wallet Plus plan in the future that will offer special protection to vulnerable users like activists, journalists, and executives.
The best part is that Proton Wallet is integrated with the Proton ecosystem, which includes a whopping 100 million accounts.
This means that you can send and receive Bitcoin from someone with a Proton Wallet by simply entering their email address—you will no longer have to deal with a long public key.
Proton’s Document Editor
It looks like Proton is on an innovation spree to create privacy-focused products. Just a couple of weeks ago, it introduced an end-to-end encrypted document editor that has the potential to give Google Docs a run for its money.
The biggest selling point of Proton’s document editor is privacy. In today’s day and age of rising cybersecurity risks, finding a digital space to keep your data private is difficult.
Most online services are either tracking your data to understand your behavior better or to sell them to third parties for profit. Some companies are also using personal user data to train AI models.
Proton’s document editor, called Proton Docs, promises to never use any user data for AI training. It has also vowed to never track any data, and even Proton employees won’t have access to the contents of your documents.
It’s important to note that Proton is able to deliver on its privacy promises because of its jurisdiction. The company is based in Switzerland, meaning your data is protected by some of the strongest privacy laws in the world.
Plus, Switzerland is not a part of the privacy-invasive Five Eyes alliance, so you don’t have to worry about both local and foreign government surveillance and interference.
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