New Ledger Bitcoin Hardware Can Run PGP and Ethereum Wallet

Ledger, manufacturer and developer of the world’s most secure hardware wallet, has showcased its first developer edition of the Ledger Blue, USB, Bluetooth and NFC supported bitcoin hardware wallet launched in early January, 2016.

The ledger team released the Ledger Blue Developer Edition model its schematics and PCB on a GitHub repository, open sourcing the hardware model and various PCB structure. The wallet is based on a secure element and a touch screen, with USB and NFC communications for enhanced user experience and simplified transacting process. The major difference between the Ledger Blue Developer Edition model and its previous models is, developers have teh freedom to run many software and applications, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum wallet and any third party applications like FIDO/PGP/SSH.

“This is a hardware wallet based on a secure element and a touch screen, with USB/NFC/BLE communications. It runs BOLOS and can host different apps, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum wallet, but also FIDO/PGP/SSH and any third party app (the Blue is developer friendly),” explained the Ledger team.

Although the structure and basic foundation of the hardware wallet is ready, the Ledger team plans to delay the pre-sale of their product until the end of June. Until then, the company will distribute a few dozen developer units and continue improving the product during the testing phase.

Over the past few months, many prominent bitcoin exchanges including BitFinex have either added Ethereum support or announced their intentions to integrate Ethereum services. In contrast, bitcoin wallet service providers and hardware manufacturers haven’t released any official statement regarding the implementation of the Ethereum network.

The Ledger Blue Developer Edition model could be one of the first and only bitcoin hardware wallets to support Ethereum wallet in the short term. If developers successfully and securely implements the Ethereum network, some Ledger users will be able to settle both bitcoin and Ethereum transactions on one single hardware model.