Bridging the gap between ’90s nostalgia and secure cryptocurrency storage, a small team of developers at crypto startup Keyp is taking the original Nintendo Game Boy handheld console and transforming it into the Game Wallet, a crypto hardware wallet that aims to be a truly offline cold storage option without the need for firmware updates.
Unlike a simple Game Boy console cover for a hardware wallet, the Game Wallet is an actual Game Boy game cartridge that uses gamification to generate users’ seed phrases through random quests and interactions with non-playable characters (NPCs). This innovative approach means that once set up, the Game Wallet will be capable of storing any cryptocurrency that uses BIP-32 seed phrases, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Furthermore, the software will be open-source, allowing anyone to create their own implementation if they so desire. The wallet’s game experience is said to be “Pokémon-like,” according to Keyp founder Joseph Schiarizzi, with the startup’s core mission of making Web3 accessible and safe for everyone reflected in the Game Wallet’s fun, gaming-focused approach.
While the idea itself might sound like a fun novelty, the need for truly offline storage solutions has become more pressing in light of recent controversies surrounding Ledger’s new “recovery” service. Keyp co-founder Sascha Mombartz alludes to this on the Game Wallet product page, stating, “with all the drama around the recent Ledger hardware wallet update, we realized the need for truly offline cold storage that minimizes trust.”
Far from being a gimmick, the Game Wallet developers see their creation as a potential solution to the challenges faced by users in trusting the supply chain for new security devices. Mombartz explained, “trusting the supply chain for new security devices can be scary because we don’t know who has messed with a device, but I know exactly where the Game Boy on my shelf has been for the last 20 years.”
Although the Game Wallet has no official release date yet, Schiarizzi revealed to Decrypt that pre-orders would open soon, with a summer launch targeted, provided there are no supply chain or technical issues. This is not the first time a Game Boy has been repurposed for the crypto community, though; two years ago, an IT security researcher transformed one into a Bitcoin mining device, albeit a rather slow one.
Source: Decrypt
