Published on July 24, 2024
Our long-term vision is for Proton Wallet to be a digital wallet that gives you full control of your digital assets. While the type of assets that you can hold in Proton Wallet may evolve over time as we add more capabilities in response to community demand, Proton Wallet is starting as a self-custodial Bitcoin wallet.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/LrAwBwoVxcg?feature=oembed
Bitcoin is the most widely adopted digital currency used by millions of people around the world, particularly in countries where inflation is high and citizens are still largely locked out of the traditional banking system. While we may seek to add fiat currency capabilities in the future, this requires a Swiss banking license and is, therefore, not possible today. However, Proton Wallet is not just another self-custody Bitcoin wallet — it has a number of features that we believe make it the easiest way to introduce Bitcoin safely to newcomers.
Early in our journey, we experienced first-hand what it’s like being cut off from the financial system and at the mercy of large banks and institutions — an ordeal that affects millions of people across the globe. In the summer of 2014, as the original Proton Mail crowdfunding campaign was in progress, Proton had a near-death experience when PayPal froze our funds(new window), questioned whether encryption was legal, and whether Proton had government approval to encrypt emails.
Fortunately, in that instance PayPal returned the blocked funds, and Proton was able to start the journey that we’ve been on for the past decade. However, that dangerous moment has always stayed in our minds, and we still keep a proportion of Proton’s financial reserves in Bitcoin.
Having experienced firsthand the unreliability of the traditional financial sector, building Proton Wallet is an important strategic move to make Proton more resilient and independent in the future. By enabling us and the entire Proton community to more easily adopt means of payment that deliver on the promise of financial freedom for all, we better insulate Proton from the risks posed by traditional finance.
Earlier this month, when we launched Docs in Proton Drive, unprecedented demand meant that at the end of the first day, Docs suffered half an hour of partial downtime when we were temporarily unable to bring capacity online faster than new users. To prevent a similar situation, we are employing an early access system for Proton Wallet.
You can find out more about Proton Wallet at the Wallet homepage. From there, you can create a Proton Account to access Proton Wallet or log in to Proton Wallet if you already have a Proton Account. You can also either get Proton Visionary or join the waiting list after you log in.