// Cryptocurrency
How to Create a Cryptocurrency Hardware Wallet like Trezor?
// Cryptocurrency
Trezor is a hardware wallet designed to help users store their cryptocurrency within reach and in maximum security. It’s a small USB device that is connected to a computer and used to sign transactions without compromising private keys, as they never leave the internal part of the hardware wallet. Due to that, the Trezor hardware wallet can be used even on devices infected with malware.
Concurrently, Trezor is an open-source platform, – both its hardware and software parts. So if you want to create your own cryptocurrency hardware wallet, you may use Trezor’s open-source and technical documentation. In this article, we’ll tell you how to do that and how much the launch of such a project might cost.
Performs secure operations with cryptocurrency ensuring that malware or hackers don’t get access to users’ cryptocurrency assets and/or private keys. A hardware wallet creates a safe offline environment, which is completely isolated from the internet, external devices (computer, laptop, tablet) and dangers associated with them. This protects people from nightmares and endless worries that coin theft might cause. In addition, Trezor has an external screen for visual and manual confirmation of all actions.
It’s compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux families of operating systems. Notably, the Trezor software platform provides its clients with everything necessary to use modern cryptography to the full extent to protect cryptocurrency assets. The device is provided with clear instructions and a USB cable to connect to both a computer and a smartphone, which makes the Trezor wallet not only as safe as possible but also as mobile as possible, – accessible protection always ready for use.
A compact and lightweight device with a size of 64x39x10mm and a weight of 15g (Trezor Model T). It’s ideal for carrying in a briefcase, backpack, bag, wallet, or pocket. The device is equipped with an embedded processor based on the ARM Cortex M3 core with a clock speed of 120 MHz, which works on a specially designed system and has a 240×240 pixel OLED screen that can be turned 90, 180, and 270 degrees. In a nutshell, Trezor is a small, light, and convenient wallet.
The basic idea of hardware wallets is to store and use private keys in such a way that they never leave the protected part of the wallet. Thanks to that, all operations for cryptographic signature are performed within the wallet and not on the computer or smartphone, which it’s connected to. For this reason, even if the user’s computer or smartphone is infected with viruses and/or hacked, the attackers can’t get the private keys.
Besides, hardware wallets have other protective measures; for instance, the device lock with a PIN code, backup, physical action confirmation (with a physical button or a touch screen), BIP39 support, etc. These considerations defined the most appropriate design of a form factor: this is usually a small device with a display and buttons that are used to enter a PIN code and a crypto transaction signature.
However, the internals of such devices usually vary. Ledger and Trezor, the leading suppliers of hardware wallets, use two different approaches to the construction of the hardware part of their devices.
The base of the hardware part of Ledger devices is two key chips — a security module (ST31H320 in Ledger Nano S) and a microcontroller (STM32F042K). The first is meant for the safe storage of confidential crypto data. In particular, such chips are used in bank cards with a chip and a PIN code and smartphones compatible with Google Pay and Apple Pay.
Trezor wallets are a little different. They don’t use a security model, one chip manages all processes in a wallet – a general-purpose microcontroller based on the 32-bit RISC architecture Advanced RISC Machine (ARM). This chip is responsible for crypto data processing and storage as well as the management of USB connection, buttons, display, and everything else.
The development of such a cryptocurrency hardware wallet as Trezor implies the creation of a user interface, hardware, and the server side. Along with this, all three components have to be implemented as reliable and safe as possible. Here’s what you should create exactly:
User interface. This is a frontend component of a wallet, which is responsible for the interaction with users. With its help, cryptocurrency owners will create accounts, set the system, buy and sell cryptocurrency assets. When developing your Trezor wallet clone, you can copy its user interface design entirely or create your unique design tailored to the chosen niche and audience.
Trezor hardware wallets support three types of interfaces.
Hardware Security Module (HSM). The «hardware» part of the Trezor hardware wallet is a hardware security module (HSM) — an ultra-secure device of the read-only memory with the protection against unauthorized access. Usually, it’s used to store authentication data; for instance, private keys.
The server side of the product. This is a «heart» of a future system, which will be responsible for the processing, storage, and protection of data of the cryptocurrency wallet. You can implement backend on both your own local servers or on the cloud — Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure, which is much simpler, faster, and more economically feasible.
Sign up, log in. In the case of a hardware wallet, the process of registration of a new user implies not only the creation or connection of a cryptocurrency address (account) but also the wallet settings: installation, security settings, PIN code selection, Seed phrase entering, etc. After the initial setting, you will log in much faster and simpler (wallet connection + PIN code).
Currency conversion rates. As with the help of your Trezor clone the users will manage their cryptocurrency assets, they should always know their value against the main fiat currencies and other cryptocurrencies. It’s also convenient that the users will be able to see not only a rate but also a graph of the change of the asset value in your wallet.
Cryptocurrency asset management. This hardware wallet module is responsible for the purchase and sale of cryptocurrency assets. It requires integration with a cryptocurrency exchange or a liquidity provider. Aside from that, the connection to payment systems (PayPal, Stripe, banks) will be necessary as well as the implementation of such features as transaction history, a list of selected addresses, QR payments and the like.
Administrative panel (interface). Using this panel, you and your employees will track the current state of the wallet (number of transactions and users, the work of the server side), manage users, monetization and content and help users solve their problems.
Additional opportunities. To make your Trezor clone popular, apart from the basic functionality, you also need to implement additional opportunities, which improve the user experience. Here’s what it can be:
Tech stack of a frontend component of a Trezor clone:
Here’s the process of the custom development of a Trezor clone.
