The Frontier

Zach Herbert says Foundation’s operating system Kiosk uses a 9000-line microkernel for granular app sandboxing, isolating each app's memory and requiring kernel permission for actions like camera access.

Herbert explains Passport Prime's Magic Backup uses Shamir secret sharing split into three parts: two stored on NFC keycards, one encrypted in Envoy app via iCloud Keychain.

Foundation's app store requires all apps be open source and reproducible, with the CLI allowing developers to build and release apps that run in a sandbox with hardened child seeds.

Herbert estimates the total hardware wallet market outside China is around 10-15 million devices sold, with Ledger holding roughly 90% of that market.

Passport Prime includes 50GB of encrypted storage usable as a flash drive and functions as a security key for FIDO authentication via USB or NFC, with automatic backup.

Herbert criticizes Ledger's newer E Ink devices like Stax and Flex for lacking haptic feedback and being manufactured by Foxconn in Vietnam instead of France.

Foundation assembles Passport Prime in the USA using industrial-grade components, a point Herbert contrasts with Ledger's shift to Foxconn production.

Herbert sees Passport Prime as a personal security platform beyond hardware wallets, aiming to consolidate YubiKey functions, 2FA codes, encrypted storage, and password management.

The Quantum Link protocol uses post-quantum encryption MLKEM over Bluetooth for firmware updates and connections, with a V2 update switching to AES-256 for faster streaming.

Herbert argues duress PIN modes are ineffective against educated attackers, recommending passphrases for plausible deniability instead.

Cake Wallet has over 750,000 downloads and is building the first third-party app for Kiosk, allowing users to bring their UI and brand onto Passport Prime.

Passport Prime's active tamper circuit wipes the seed if the device is opened, subjected to liquid nitrogen, or loses power, protecting against physical attacks.

Herbert praises Trezor Safe 7 and BitKey for improving their designs with screens and privacy fixes, but critiques most other hardware wallets as subpar.

Foundation's NFC keycards offer better data retention than SD cards, quoted at 25 years, addressing longevity concerns for backup storage.

Herbert envisions AI integration where Passport Prime reviews and approves critical actions like financial transactions, storing credentials securely off phones and computers.

Hunter Beast warns that institutional investors' sudden awareness of quantum computer theft risk may be contributing to the current bearish market sentiment.

Hunter Beast criticizes opaque quantum wallet proposals and insists any cryptographic solution for Bitcoin must be specified via the formal BIPS process.

Hunter Beast's Surmount Systems will collaborate with Bitcoin Core, Knots, Libbitcoin, and other fork implementations to test and propose a comprehensive quantum-resistant upgrade.

Hunter Beast notes that HD wallets and xpub functionality, which rely on elliptic curve cryptography, will likely be lost with the transition to hash-based post-quantum signatures.

Mark Karpelès explains that Mt. Gox lacked modern wallet encryption and HD wallets, highlighting the technological progress since then.

Mark Karpelès warns that exchanging reused public keys or Kebra addresses presents a significant quantum vulnerability, a risk he has observed in some exchanges.

Hunter Beast identifies 1.7 million Bitcoin (spread across 34,000 keys) as dormant coins secured with exposed public keys (P2PK), making them primary quantum attack targets.

Hunter Beast proposes a throughput restriction for P2PK coins via BIP 360's GlassS V2, allowing only one coin per block to move, which would take 32 years to secure all 1.7 million coins.

Hunter Beast argues a permanent burn of Satoshi's coins would violate Bitcoin's private property promise, preferring a controlled recovery mechanism instead.

Hunter Beast cites Edward Snowden's 2013 leak of the NSA's 'Penetrating Hard Targets' program, which spent $80M annually to build a quantum computer for breaking cryptography.

Hunter Beast notes a US government policy mandates no new elliptic curve cryptography for federal systems after January 1, 2027, creating urgency for Bitcoin's upgrade.

Mark Karpelès predicts Solana's high throughput will suffer under quantum-resistant signatures, as signature size increases from 64 bytes to potentially several kilobytes.

Hunter Beast suggests Bitzip, a STARK-based proof aggregated by miners, could increase Bitcoin's TPS to around 80 without expanding the burden on node runners.

Hunter Beast opposes coupling functionality upgrades like Simplicity with the essential quantum security upgrade, advocating for a conservative, incremental approach.

Mark Karpelès explains that trustees are legally required to distribute assets from successful forks to creditors, as will be evaluated for the upcoming eCash fork.

Mark Karpelès is developing Tiban, a wallet that replaces BIP 39 seed phrases with a three-part key split encrypted by a password, phone biometrics, and cloud storage.