Can crypto hardware wallets become “approachable” to mainstream audiences?

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Trezor has over 2 million users — and wants millions more

When there’s so much noise in the crypto market, it’s important to not start “defocusing on many different things,” Matej Zak, CEO of crypto harware wallet company Trezor, said on Talking Tokens. (Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube.)

“We see new products coming to market where it’s moving quite a lot from the self-custody principles,” Zak said. “With self-custody we always say it’s three pillars: security, usability and privacy. Those we really try to protect and our product decisions are always looked at through these lenses.”

Last week at the BTC Prague event, Matej announced on stage Trezor’s newest hardware wallet, Safe 5, and its Trezor Expert services to help onboard customers with one-on-one educational sessions.

Safe 5 comes about a year after the previous model Safe 3 was launched; it has a larger color touchscreen to be user friendly, a new secure element to protect user information, stronger durability and more. “It’s the most user friendly hardware wallet we have ever built,” Zak said.

Trezor wants its products to be used by millions of people around the world, so the new model has to look “approachable,” Zak said. “But also the user experience has to be really good.”

Even with the updates, the market will decide whether these new products and services are successful, Zak said.

But success has followed the ten-year-old business as it has over 2 million users and is one of the largest hardware crypto wallet providers globally with a suite of products. Zak credits Trezor’s prosperity to it being “true to [its] mission.”

Given that Trezor is a 100% bootstrapped, Zak said there are “huge advantages” like being able to make decisions without investors, but there’s also responsibility “making sure we’re betting on the right decisions.”

So without external capital, they can’t afford to make mistakes, Zak said. “That’s what I’m mainly focusing on, that we’re on the right path.”

Check out the next section for more details and the full episode.

The latest Talking Tokens podcast 🎙️

For this week’s Thursday episode, I sat down with Matej Zak, CEO of crypto hardware wallet Trezor, at the company’s podcast studio during BTC Prague.

We discuss Trezor’s 10-year evolution, how to make crypto products user friendly, its new Safe 5 model, why self-custodying is important and more.

Talking Tokens episodes are released on Spotify and Apple Podcasts at 6AM EST or YouTube at 10AM EST every Tuesday and Thursday. Listen in!

Make sure to subscribe to keep up with the latest episodes. Feel free to leave a review and tell us your thoughts.

Monitoring blockchains

Looking at some of the biggest developments onchain.

• In January, Fox Corporation partnered with Polygon Labs to launch its “Verify Protocol” - this week, the firm onboarded TIME as its first external publishing partner leveraging its Polygon-based protocol to track content online

• Speaking of Polygon…web3 gaming-centric Ronin Network is building a zero-knowledge EVM using Polygon’s chain development kit (CDK)

• Solana-focused layer-2 blockchain Sonic has raised $12 million in a Series A round at a $100 million token valuation

Taking on the tokens 

The total crypto market cap increased less than 1% in the past 24-hours to $2.39 trillion. It is down 2.4% over a 7-day period.

As for the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap…

These metrics were taken prior to publication on Thursday morning EST.

Money and people moves

Latest updates on crypto startups that secured funding and industry players who are starting something new.

1. Stablecoin Issuer Circle Increases Staffing by More Than 15% (Bloomberg)

2. Alongside his role as Morgan Stanley’s head of digital assets, Andrew Peel joins SIX Digital Exchange board as an Independent Non-Executive Director

3. Crypto hedge fund Pantera to pour $200m into AI: ‘Everyone will be using AI’ (DL News)

4. Renzo Capitalizes on Restaking Frenzy to Raise $17M From Galaxy, Brevan Howard (CoinDesk)

5. CleanSpark buys bitcoin mining facilities in $25.6 million deal (The Block)

Talking points for the road 

Here’s some headlines and topics that you can talk about at your next dinner party, crypto event or on a first date to look smart (results may vary.) 

1. Bitcoin, Crypto-Related Stocks Are Ripe for Institutional Adoption: Bernstein (CoinDesk)

2. SEC drops investigation into Ethereum studio Consensys (Blockworks)

3. Martin Shkreli Says He Is Behind Trump-Linked DJT as ZachXBT, GCR Start Poking Around (CoinDesk)

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Please note that this content is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Any views shared should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research. We may have a direct or indirect financial interest in content mentioned in this newsletter.