NEWS: Blockstream buys bitcoin wallet software provider GreenAddress

We're pleased to announce that we've acquired GreenAddress, a leading bitcoin wallet software provider based in Europe. GreenAddress has a demonstrated track record of delivering an industry-leading product that prioritizes security, privacy and convenience.

GreenAddress's excellent reputation is the product of a three-person team with a deep commitment to Bitcoin. Their users are passionate, technically minded early adopters who have sought the highest levels of privacy and security for their bitcoin wallets.

Today's announcement is not a signal of our intention to begin acquiring companies in the Bitcoin or blockchain technology space. As we looked at our sidechain technology roadmap, the addition of an open source, well-tested, production quality wallet was a natural choice. It increases the reach of our platform and allows us to meet the requirements of our enterprise applications.

Lawrence met with our co-founders in one of our rented Airbnb houses in California while we were still forming Blockstream. It was clear to all of us that we shared a vision about the importance of putting Bitcoin users first and striving for the right balance between security and usability. We have collaborated extensively since and after almost two years, coming together as one team just made sense to us.

GreenAddress is available for Android, iOS, and Chrome. All apps are and will remain open source. The source code is published on GitHub. The wallet's per-transaction, two-factor authentication, multi-signature and deterministic design provides unprecedented control over transactions. A key feature we really appreciate as fellow bitcoin users ourselves is that GreenAddress never stores users' private keys, not even in encrypted form.

GreenAddress was one of the first wallets to deliver features like HD multisig, hardware wallet support, dynamic fees based on Core fee estimation, and transaction replacement. The team has already started on an impressive lineup of new features, too, including a new, multi-platform wallet library, privacy and security enhancements, and sidechain support throughout the platform. Extending GreenAddress to work with sidechains will mean you will have the ability to support not only Bitcoin, but other assets and features coming online via this exciting area of innovation.

GreenAddress's founder Lawrence Nahum emailed users of the wallet this morning informing them of the acquisition and our shared commitment to support their continued use of the wallet and some of our plans to make the wallet even more convenient, private, safe, and feature-rich. The GreenAddress development team is joining our engineering teams, and Lawrence is assuming the role of Senior Architect to continue to oversee GreenAddress as well as contribute to our other products and services. We will update the Team page soon!

We are pleased to welcome Lawrence and his team to Blockstream, to commit to the GreenAddress user base our continued support and development of their wallet of choice, and to share our excitement for adding wallet support to an end-to-end sidechain technology stack.