BuyTrezor.com Kicks Off Cryptosteel in a Limited Bundle with First Edition TREZOR Metallics

SatoshiLabs
4 min readMar 23, 2016

March, 23 2016 — SatoshiLabs, creator of TREZOR, the world’s first and most popular bitcoin hardware wallet, today announced the availability of just twenty First Edition TREZOR Metallics at BuyTrezor.com.

Each TREZOR comes with a first edition of Cryptosteel, the indestructible backup tool for a bitcoin wallet and original wood-print artwork by Rafael Akahira, the designer of Cryptosteel’s packaging.

Cryptosteel appears as an indestructible stainless-steel alternative to the paper backup - the usual way to store the “Recovery seed”, a backup of a bitcoin wallet. An offline media such as a piece of paper is recommended to be used in order to avoid the risk of being compromised.

Cryptosteel enables users to store up to 96 characters of confidential information in minutes. The Cryptosteel for TREZOR comes with a container of 280 stainless steel letter blocks engraved on both sides. To store the 12, 18 or 24 word TREZOR recovery seed in a Cryptosteel, the user only needs to assemble the first 4 letters of each word (How is this possible?).

Wojciech Stopiński, the creator of Cryptosteel, explained that “with a frequency analysis done by SatoshiLabs we were able to determine the exact amount of each letter needed for a Cryptosteel container. Enough to create 99.99% of the possible mnemonics generated by a TREZOR or other wallets using the same standard — BIP039.”

Cryptosteel survives extreme conditions, it is acid resistant and fireproof up to 1200°C / 2100°F.

Without requiring any third-party to store information, Cryptosteel users remain in full control of their anonymity as well as the security of their data.

Speaking on today’s announcement, Alena Vranova, CEO of SatoshiLabs said, “Last May we announced an exciting partnership with Cryptosteel to produce the most durable solution to backup the private keys to bitcoin wallets. Today we are delighted to make the very last 20 Metallic TREZORs with the very first Cryptosteels available for purchase.”

Customers can order the bundle for $999 here. Cryptosteel alone is available for $49.

First Edition TREZOR Metallics

TREZOR is the first and most highly trusted bitcoin hardware wallet. Used in nearly 100 countries worldwide, TREZOR’s development dates back to 2012, when a hacker and security expert Pavol Rusnak, aka “Stick,” partnered with legendary bitcoin innovator Marek Palatinus, aka “Slush,” to create the first functioning, secure hardware wallet. The development of TREZOR required the creation of brand new standards and multiple daunting technical challenges, but in early 2013 they were able to broadcast the first test transaction with a secure TREZOR device, then still in beta.

TREZOR Metallics First Edition was the first hardware wallet ever produced. It was delivered to the earliest crowdfunders in May 2014. TREZOR Metallics come in a brushed aluminum case with the words First Edition engraved on the back.

TREZOR sales launched to the public in August 2014, and in a few short months it became the global standard for bitcoin security. TREZOR is now used in nearly 100 countries worldwide and boasts the highest customer satisfaction rating in the industry, with a return rate of less than 0.3%.

SatoshiLabs

SatoshiLabs is the innovator responsible for some of the most pivotal and influential projects in Bitcoin worldwide, from TREZOR to CoinMap.org to Slush Pool, the world’s first bitcoin mining pool.

Cryptosteel

Cryptosteel is a project of Wojciech Stopiński, a Bitcoin enthusiast from Poland with a strong family background in the artistic-metal industry.

The concept for his “ultimate cold storage” as an indestructible, everlasting, and private stainless steel bitcoin wallet backup was born back in 2013. Cryptosteel joined forces with SatoshiLabs in 2015 to finalize the design and components of the product. After a successful crowd-funding campaign, Cryptosteel was finally launched on an open-source basis just a few days ago.

Cryptosteel-TREZOR Wood-Print by R.Akahira

While working on Cryptosteel Wojciech asked Rafael Akahira, an experienced artist and master of origami, for help in designing the paper box for the product. During the process, Wojciech and Rafael spent evenings talking about Bitcoin, blockchain and the TREZOR, discussing the innovation and advantages that Bitcoin brings to people worldwide.

Wojciech revealed the story of the inception of the artwork: “We have been reading Satoshi Nakamoto’s original messages form the cypher-punk forum, we have been discussing some of the Nick Szabo’s articles. We’ve had a lot of fun learning the terms tech-savvy gurus were using to describe their new developments and discoveries. One day, Akahira called me to tell me he had a dream. It was futuristic vision of a harmonious world with half-animal-half-men-creatures. Friendly extraterrestrials coming to Earth to rebuild it from the MASTER SEED(!). He described an image of friendly humanoids standing in the Garden of Eden with Trezor in one hand and Cryptosteel in the other. I asked him to paint his dream.”

Sixty original prints were made by Rafael Akahira using the wood-print reduction technique. To produce the design Rafael used a single plate reducing it each time before applying a new color. The work was printed with four colours — psycho-orange, life-green, black and steel-silver. Every single print is unique.

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SatoshiLabs

Innovating since we founded the industry in 2013 with production of the first crypto hardware wallet, the Trezor One. Open-source, secure, community-driven.