At a bitcoin conference in Miami last week, Square CEO Jack Dorsey said the company was considering creating a non-custodial hardware wallet for bitcoin, a move Dorsey said could help “take it to the next level and get to 100 more million people.”

Why should we care?
According to Gemini Trust, a digital currency exchange and custodian that allows customers to buy, sell, and store digital assets, most web-based crypto wallets are custodial wallets, for which the exchange is the custodian, which holds the user’s keys and is tasked with securely storing their funds. A non-custodial bitcoin wallet may appeal to users who want more control, giving users sole control of their private keys. Despite the appeal, a non-custodial crypto wallet may present other challenges. “While a custodial wallet may be considered less secure than a non-custodial wallet, many prefer them because they don’t require as much responsibility and are usually more convenient,” Gemini said in a blog post earlier this month. “Losing your password to a non-custodial wallet could be financially devastating if you do not take sufficient precautions.” Dorsey said Square would build the non-custodial hardware wallet for bitcoin “entirely in the open, from software to hardware design”. The move was motivated by the need for an inclusive product that brings a non-custodial solution to market, he suggested.