Blockstream acquires Bitcoin wallet provider GreenAddress

Bitcoin infrastructure builder Blockstream has acquired bitcoin wallet provider GreenAddress, a move the startup says will impact the development of its Signature, a sidechain solution still under development.

Following the acquisition, GreenAddress Wallet’s team of three developers will continue to provide privacy and security features to the wallet, as well as compatibility with sidechains, a component of Bitcoin infrastructure that Blockstream raised $76 million for engineers in two investment rounds.

Lawrence Nahum, former GreenAddress founder and CEO and now senior architect at Blockstream, said in an interview that the goal is to shape the wallet into a gateway to sidechains, a technology that is bringing a new wave of interoperable blockchains that can be anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain.

Nahum told CoinDesk:

“Blockstream will not only provide some node service functionality, but they will also provide an interface, a wallet interface. This can provide an integrated solution for Blockstream consumers.”

Such a move might not be surprising, as the two teams have been working closely together for two years.

GreenAddress Wallet was launched in 2014 and has long supported innovative wallet features such as deterministic wallets, improved key creation services, and multi-signature wallet security.

Sidechain compatibility

But in addition to acquiring GreenAddress, the two companies also plan to merge their technologies.

Nahum explained that GreenAddress has been supporting Blockstream’s initial sidechain functionality, which other wallets do not appear to publicly support, and the plan is to further merge the two technologies.

One way wallets can integrate the technology is by supporting Sidechain Elements, an open source tool that allows developers to mix and match features, such as Segregated Witness or new scripting language opcodes to extend Bitcoin, to create custom sidechains.

Nahum said:

“Schnorr transactions and confidential transactions, these are all transactions that we support.”

Sidechains currently in development include an alpha testnet and the first commercial sidechain, Liquid, which enables faster transfers of funds between exchanges.

Incorporating the technology into the wallet means that interoperable blockchains can be further explored for GreenAddress users, ultimately enabling support for multiple assets and innovations.

Future plans

Looking ahead, the team hopes to continue working on additional privacy and security features, including support for updates to Bitcoin smart contracts, as well as updates to core Bitcoin code such as CheckLockTimeVerify and CheckSequenceVerify.

Nahum said that because bitcoin provides trustless transactions, these features can also provide "more trustless" transactions.

The team is also working on a multi-platform wallet codebase that will eventually become open source and usable across platforms and programming languages.

Overall, Nahum believes this new ownership bodes well for wallet development.

He concluded:

“I can’t wait to make the acquisition. I think GreenAddress will grow better and faster than ever before.”