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Kevin Gislason Abacus DIY Hardware Wallet

Latest release: ?? ( 15th March 2021 ) 🔍 Last analysed 24th May 2022 .    
23rd October 2019

As part of our Methodology, we ask:

Is the product meant to be ready for use "out of the box"?

 
If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Do-It-Yourself Project".

Many hardware wallet projects aim to be as transparent as possible by using only off-the-shelf hardware with an open design and open code. If the product reviewed is not available in an assembled form - if the user has to source his own hardware to then maybe solder and compile software to install on the device it falls into this category.

But we also ask:

Was the product updated during the last year?

 
If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Not updated in a while".

Bitcoin wallets are complex products and Bitcoin is a new, advancing technolgy. Projects that don’t get updated in a year are probably not well maintained.

This verdict may not get applied if the provider is active and expresses good reasons for not updating the product.

The product cannot be independently verified. If the provider puts your funds at risk on purpose or by accident, you will probably not know about the issue before people start losing money. If the provider is more criminally inclined he might have collected all the backups of all the wallets, ready to be emptied at the press of a button. The product might have a formidable track record but out of distress or change in management turns out to be evil from some point on, with nobody outside ever knowing before it is too late.

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Try out searching for "lost bitcoins", "stole my money" or "scammers" together with the wallet's name, even if you think the wallet is generally trustworthy. For all the bigger wallets you will find accusations. Make sure you understand why they were made and if you are comfortable with the provider's reaction.

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The Analysis 

Background

This project builds on Stepan Snigirev’s Micropython Bitcoin bundle which is focused on a STM32F769DISCO chip. Kevin’s project involves the following contributors:

  • Mike Tolkachev
  • Justin Moon
  • hodlwave
  • 6102bitcoin
  • Stepan Snigirev

Device Description

The Kevin Gislason Abacus DIY Hardware Wallet builds on a STM32F469I-DISCOVERY microcontroller.

Its features include:

  • Easy to use, full color touch display
  • BIP39 recovery phrases
  • QR code addresses
  • Extensive validations to protect against malicious transactions

Build instructions could be found here.

Further documentation here.

The device needs a desktop application called the Abacus Wallet Bridge.

Video Demonstration

Analysis

The Kevin Gislason Abacus DIY Hardware Wallet is a do-it-yourself bitcoin project. It was updated on March 15, 2021.

(dg)