Terms have not been disclosed, but today we learned that Blockstream has agreed to acquire bitcoin wallet software maker and FinDEVr alum, GreenAddress.
Adam Back, Blockstream president, called GreenAddress a company with a “demonstrated track record of delivering an industry-leading product that prioritizes security, privacy, and convenience.” Back said the acquisition was key to Blockstream’s goal of building out its sidechain technology roadmap. “The addition of an open source, well-tested production quality wallet was a natural choice,” Back said. “It increases the reach of our platform and allows us to meet the requirements of our enterprise applications.”
GreenAddress founder and CEO Lawrence Nahum during his presentation, “GreenAddress: Instant and Secure Bitcoin” at FinDEVr 2014 in San Francisco.
Writing at the GreenAddress blog, company founder and CEO Lawrence Nahum thanked those who have been using GreenAddress’s bitcoin wallet and ensured that GreenAddress wallets will continue to work (“Your funds are safe by design,” Nahum wrote). He listed a number of upcoming improvements to the technology, including a multiplatform wallet library, better privacy and security, as well as sidechain support. This last enhancement will enable GreenAddress wallet holders to manage other assets in addition to bitcoin, including assets to be developed by Blockstream and others over the coming months and years.
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Malta, GreenAddress participated in the inaugural FinDEVr developers conference in San Francisco in 2014. The company’s presentation, titled “GreenAddress: Instant and Secure Bitcoin,” focused on bitcoin’s multi-signature features, which pave the way for both better security and services like instant confirmation to make arbitration easier. Earlier this year, GreenAddress launched its replace-by-fee option, which aims to facilitate bitcoin transactions. Its wallet is available in both iOS and Android.
With more than $76 million in funding, Blockstream is a Montreal, Quebec, Canada-based blockchain firm that specializes in sidechains. Sidechains are decentralized P2P networks that promote interoperability between blockchains, helping to improve liquidity and reduce fraud in alternative-currency transactions. Speaking of the importance of the technology, Blockstream investor Reid Hoffman wrote that the success of the company “will in turn generate new waves of technical and entrepreneurial innovation; it will help make Bitcoin the kind of open, highly adaptive platform upon which a vast array of complementary products and services can be built.” And with GreenAddress now onboard, let the building begin.