S8 E4: Lawrence Nahum on Blockstream's Jade

Bitcoin Takeover Podcast

In January 2021, Blockstream took the Bitcoin world by surprise by announcing the Jade hardware wallet – a powerful and inexpensive device. In this episode, Blockstream Chief Architect Lawrence Nahum explains how Jade works and what it aims to accomplish. This episode is sponsored by Vaultoro and Blockstream. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Time stamps: 00:00 – Intro 03:38 – Why did Blockstream join the hardware market? 05:46 – Blockstream’s version of the anti-klepto, anti-Exfil 06:46 – How Jade can fix the multisig user experience 08:45 – Wait, isn’t Jade a green stone? 09:37 – Bitcoin wallets and colors 10:10 – How does Jade work with Wasabi and Electrum? 11:39 – Do Jade’s QR code scanning and bluetooth connectivity make it a mobile-specific hardware wallet? 12:40 – Making Jade work as a stand-alone device 13:46 – Air-gapping and false promises by other hardware wallet manufacturers 15:54 – Jade vs Trezor, Ledger, and BitBox02 22:55 – Does Blockstream have a bounty policy for responsible security disclosures for the Jade hardware wallet? 24:44 – Building your own Jade from the open sourced specifications 25:59 – What was the reception like for the Jade? Have any experts tried to hack into the Jade? 28:37 – Tropic Square and open source security chips for hardware wallets 31:10 – Buying a hardware wallet vs building your own from general-purpose parts 35:32 – Does PSBT make your coins more secure? Will Blockstream’s Jade add PSBT? 37:08 – How can you protect your privacy when ordering a hardware wallet? 43:38 – Multisig vs Shamir Secret Sharing 49:27 – When do you know that you need a multisig? 52:39 – What’s next for Blockstream? 53:45 – What’s the next Jade update going to include? 57:09 – Lawrence Nahum’s ideas to integrate Jade with Lightning and JoinMarket 1:00:30 – Shitcoins lying about their contributions to computer science and how newbies fall for it 1:03:00 – Promoting shitcoins is bad 1:04:21 – Bitcoin sidechains integrating interesting ideas from shitcoins (Drivechain, RSK) 1:06:58 – The tradeoffs involved when using sidechains 1:08:10 – When will Jade production meet its demand? 1:08:55 – What is the service life of the wallet? 1:11:46 – The Jade roadmap, revisited 1:15:06 – Can you use Jade for multisig in a quorum? 1:16:20 – Wen Reckless Review? 1:19:20 – Lawrence Nahum also created ABCore 1:20:59 – Why is Lawrence’s wallet called GreenAddress? 1:25:00 – Lawrence Nahum consulted HTC for the Exodus 1s full node phone 1:27:53 – How Lawrence Nahum came up with ABCore after receiving an Android TV accessory 1:30:13 – #BringBackRecklessReview #BuyUdiAMicrophone