We have done that from time to time, for instance like this giveaway on Reddit a few month ago. We do not have immediate plans for a giveaway; but we'll participate to Bitcoin Black Friday on November 27th.Would you ever consider doing a giveaway of some of your products?
As we are building secure signature devices, our low level APIs are in theory compatible with any kind of altcoin of blockchain. We just need to make sure that the curves are supported or that they follow already existing standards. However, a client application (the software wallet) is needed to communicate with the chip, and this is usually the biggest challenge.Would you consider having your products support other emerging cryptocurrencies in the future, especially Bitshares and Ethereum?
Mycelium is open source and has always shown interest for new features. This is why we have almost always worked on showcasing our new products on this wallet. Usually, we implement the changes and features on our side, and request a merge. We then coordinate all PR stuff to announce the news.Have is you relation with the Mycelium Wallet team, I know there is support between the Ledger Wallet and Mycelium, how do you collaborate about such stuff?
We are already VC funded, with a seed round in February 2015. We are most probably planning a Serie A (a new venture round) in 6 to 18 months in order to accelerate our growth.Do you consider taking venture capital? Or maybe you already have?
We have already opened an office in San Francisco (through a 100% owned subsidiairy), but this decision was mainly related to business development (as most of the Bitcoin related projects are in the Silicon Valley). Being in France has actually a lot of advantages: the stance of the government on startup has evolved and we have access to a lot of grants and public funds which is helping us a lot. Also, France being the land of the smartcards, hardware and security engineers are much more qualified here than in the USA (with respect of our very specific engineering scope).Given French reputation about being quite anti business friendly, extremely beaucratic etc. have you ever considered moving abroad to for instance the UK, or US/Silicon Valley?
If we require hardware wallets, it's because generale purpose computers and smartphones are currenctly insecure. With the development of Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) technology, we may not need dedicated secure devices anymore in a few years. The TEE is basically a virtualization of a secure element running in isolation from the main OS, and is right now available in high end Samsung phone (such as the S6). For more information, you can refer to the Ledger Trustlet.How do you think hardware wallets will evolve in the future? What kind of products do you expect to sell in 5 years?
Having a single address based device with no communication except a camera is not something that we intend to develop, because we do not believe it will add any security compared to our existing solutions. It may not be suited to what you are looking, but in term of security it matches your requirement.I want to hold a considerable amount of bitcoins, and I'm looking for a very resilient and attack-proof solution. The problem with the current solutions in the Bitcoin space is that [...]
At La Maison du Bitcoin, we are operating an exchange counter where people buy and sell bitcoins against euros (cash or payment cards). The VAT question is something we have solved a few months ago by sending a letter to the fiscal authorities (they have to answer). The EU VAT ruling was then not a surprise, and we of course rejoice that it has been made official at the European level.Can you tell me more about the bitcoin scene in France? How many people do you think have a bitcoin wallet?
What do you think about the Bitcoin VAT ruling and the recent EU controls proposal
Yes, we could easily offer an external device that would help on implementing those features where they can't be (typically on an iPhone with Ledger Blue). We have no plan to enter that space directly for the time being.Have you thought about collaborating with NFC payment Bitcoin startups such as Onepay and Plutus , or even entering that space yourself?
It's hard to find some good references, so I'd suggest to have a look at different hacker conference presentations. For example that one describes the specific hardware security features you'll find in a typical secure element.Can you provide a link to how secure elements work. I'm yet to find a good (simple, yet informative) guide.
I hold in bitcoins about 5% of my net worth and about 25% of my liquid assets.Do you mind to tell us which percentage of your net worth and/or liquid assets you hold in Bitcoins ?
State of Bitcoin in France is clearly not at its best. There have been only two VC investment related to Bitcoin in France (us and Paymium), banks refuse to open accounts for Bitcoin related businesses (we have been kicked out of two banks already), regulator has a strong negative stance over cryptocurrency (but it's far from being banned or anything, the law is quite positive in the sense that Bitcoin is not regulated at all) and entrepreneurs are not legion. The number of French Bitcoin related startups is quite low, and didn't evolve much in the last year.This one just for you can you tell us about the state of Bitcoin in France (VCs, government, banks, entrepreneurs) ?
Hardware wallets are going to evolve to personal security devices. Not only they'll be used to secure your bitcoins or other digital assets, but they'll manage your digital identities (FIDO) and secure your communications. The Ledger Blue is the first step in this direction, and we are very excited to see what the developer community is going to do with it.What gets you excited in your future product line. Also what worries you the most about Bitcoin's sustainability?
The Ledger Nano is not a USB drive but a secure computer on a microchip. It will safeguard your Bitcoin private keys and sign transaction within the secure element. Thus, secrets are never revealed to the host computer (contrary to a USB thumb drive which would indeed offer absolutely no benefit).For users comfortable with btc what is the benefit of a "usb" disk like hardware wallet. I have read your site and reviews but this makes little sense to me. How does your product improve on an encrypted usb thumb drive, I mean, that's what you're selling right?
As Bitcoin is not an official currency, we are not required by law to do any KYC/AML. This is therefore a pre-emptive compliance, following our own set of processes and amount limits. It's a personal choice, guided by the wish to build a long lasting business.Why does La Maison du Bitcoin in Paris require showing personal ID for using the Lamassu ATM? Is this a government requirement or some kind of pre-emptive compliance?
Having met or read about a few people in the bitcoin community, I have come to think it's a very relevant question and you can better weight their opinions having an idea of how many Bitcoins they hold (or do not hold.)"Never ask anyone for their opinion [...] Just ask them what they have -or don't have- in their portfolio"
I think it per-requisite by law and enforcement agencies to make it safe and secure!Hi Eric,
Why does La Maison du Bitcoin in Paris require showing personal ID for using the Lamassu ATM? Is this a government requirement or some kind of pre-emptive compliance?
Return to “AMA - Ask Me Anything”
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 24 guests