I'm Alena Vranova, business developer, Co-founder of SatoshiLabs, the creator of TREZOR hardware wallet. AMA - 24th Nov!

[Alena]

Thanks so much, this is a valuable feedback.

Hi Alena,

I get the advantages of Trezor at the high level, but I think you're site does a rather poor job of explaining the abilities and workflow of the device. I'm referring specifically to the FAQ.

The way to work with Trezor is best explained in the User Manual. But we will update a basic feature list to the FAQ too.

Here are the questions I'm left with:

Can I use it to sign arbitrary files?

Not yet.

Can I use it as an ssh-agent?

Yes, please read more here https://medium.com/@satoshilabs/trezor- ... a622d7e609

I'm not a bitcoin user as of yet (researcher who got pulled into the blockchain hype) but those two feature alone are enough to make me consider buying the device. What I'd really like as well is to be able to link to Trezors together and have them automatically trade public keys and trade back key signatures. Give me a secure device that does that (solves strong identity) and I'll not just buy it I'll order bulk and start handing them out to friends.

Exchange of public keys is quite straight forward, you can share an xpub for each Trezor account. Please check out the TREZOR Connect API.

As for automation, that is quite opposed to the security model that Trezor is based on. The idea is, that no virus/intruder can push the button instead of you. Once you automate, you run into potential risk of signing some forged challenge. That also happens with using any security token without an independent display.

But I'm sure there are ways we could explore. I would need to better understand your goals - feel free to contact me at alena@satoshilabs.com if you have some concrete usecase in mind.

What other features might it provide that have nothing to do with bitcoin?

Besides working with Bitcoin and several altcoins, Trezor handles colored coins = smart assets.
Colored coins can be used to represent stocks, bonds, smart properties, other currencies (such as dollars, pounds, yen, or euros etc.), and different tokens like access tokens, discount coupons or employee benefits points, entry tickets and much more.

Document Timestamping is another usecase for Trezor. It allows everyone to create an anonymous, secure and public proof of existence for any document. Very low or zero costs and distributed proof of existence could replace costly notary services. Proving the ownership of copyrighted material; proving that certain data existed at a certain moment of time; verification of document’s data integrity – these are just some practical use-cases of document timestamping.

Further on: Login with Trezor to websites, SSH Login, Wordpress Admin login etc.. All that is possible already. Encryption and signing of just about anything. There's a lot that is/will be possible with Trezor, again, contact me to discuss more in person.

Why does it need or care about myTrezor.com? Doesn't this break the whole notion of decentralization?

It doesn't need myTrezor.com.
Trezor is a security component to any service out there, myTrezor.com is just one of the services using Trezor. Honestly, it was not our intention at first to build it but at the time of release, there was no wallet implementation that could allow the users to set up the device and make transactions with it. So we did it. You can use Trezor with other bitcoin wallets, apps and generally speaking with any service that implements Trezor support.

How do you protect against keylogging?
- If a system has been infected with a root kit and you can block it's key logger I think you just put every other anti virus system out of business

:) We do so by using the secure environment of the Trezor display, that generates a randomly shuffled PIN matrix. So instead of typing in the PIN to the computer, you only click appropriate positions according to the randomly generated matrix that you see on your Trezor.
Like that, you authenticate yourself to the Trezor, but the computer "has no idea" what you just did. This allows us to completely skip traditional user authentication with usernames and passwords, the users only have to remember a good PIN instead of using complicated and vulnerable passwords. It's a fairly new concept, but once you do it for the first time, it's easy from then on.

Check out the User Manual - Entering PIN

[nyeko_12]

Hi Alena!

When will you be able to pay for your items at satoshi labs with Paypal and 3D Secure by Visa?

Not Paypal but credit/debit cards are in the process. We still prefer bitcoins and we will always give incntives for paying with BTC .

Will you have discounts during Black Friday,Boxing Day and New Years?

Black Friday - yes, Xmas - probably, Boxing Day??

We inform our newsletter subscribers so unless you are one of them already, you can opt-in via bitcointrezor.com.

Also What are your opinions regarding the Blocksize-issue? are you for BIP100(increase of up to 17%)/BIP101(8 MB and up to GBs)/BIP103(2-4-8-32MB)?

Please check out some other responses in this AMA on this topic and surely don't miss the AMA of Slush on 3rd December

Do you hold bitcoins yourself(in the trezor,web Wallet,mobile wallet or desktop wallet)?

Of course, I live of bitcoin since 2013.
My BTC are in a Trezor and I have some smaller amounts in my Mycelium wallet and on my BTC NFC card issued by Paralelni Polis.

Soon, I'll have some coins transferred to a multisig wallet via Copay - which has just released a beautiful Trezor-multisig implementation today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day
Usually there is a huge sale during Boxing day(The day after Xmas)