Owning Bitcoin might give your inner crypto-anarchist a bit of a rush, but the currency lacks the tactile fat-cat feels of physical notes in your wallet. Plus, only dealing with currency in the ether can make Bitcoin insecure and difficult to use. Case, a Bitcoin wallet that fits in your jeans, hopes to solve those problems.
Case is a device a little smaller than your smartphone, with just a tiny screen, a keypad, a fingerprint scanner, and global SIM card. The idea is that you can send and receive Bitcoin transactions with complete security anywhere in the world, without needing to rely on a third-party service that’s vulnerable to hacking (or, for that matter, super-secure but super-annoying paper wallets).
In theory, Case seems like the perfect solution for anyone who trades Bitcoin face-to-face on a regular basis. But that’s the problem — Case is probably a solution well ahead of its time. At a price of $200, its list of potential customers all probably know each other well enough to just give each other the keys to their wallets.
If you’re one of those select few, however, Case seems like the perfect solution to secure in-person trades (at least until someone comes up with an equally secure phone app). Pre-order costs the aforementioned $200, with shipping slated for later this summer. [Case]
Contact the author at chris@gizmodo.com.