Amsterdam-based BlockTrail B.V. is stretching its virtual legs and launching a brand new multiplatform Bitcoin wallet service for iOS, Android, and the web. The service, which has been in the Bitcoin industry since 2014, started originally with a blockchain explorer — a service that allows users to view historical transactions on Bitcoin’s distributed ledger–as well as a developer API for accessing that information. The company’s newest product is much more consumer-oriented and will allow users to store and transfer bitcoins.

The company is backed by a €500,000 (just over $565,000) seed funding round from its own co-founder Lev Leviev, who is also the founder of the Russian Facebook, Inc. rival Vk.com (VKontakte Ltd.). Leviev sold his controlling interest in Vk.com in 2013 along with another investor to the tune of $1 billion.

The BlockTrail wallet supplies all the standard services expected from a Bitcoin wallet: the ability to send and receive bitcoins securely, storage of said bitcoins and payments and receipt using QR codes. The service also promises that users will be in control of their own private keys (the encryption keys needed to transact with stored bitcoins), which greatly increases the security of the wallet.

Higher security wallets through private key ownership

BlockTrail says that the company provides this security by implementing multi-signature wallets and HD wallets (also known as Hierarchical Deterministic key wallets). With multi-signature wallets more than one private key is needed to release bitcoins for transaction–often this is used to allow multiple parties to have access to a wallet, but requires two or more of those parties to sign off before a transaction can happen.

When users can control their own private wallet keys it, means that the wallet provider cannot access the bitcoins in the account without the owner signing off themselves. It also means that if the wallet provider has hardware problems, or folds up and vanishes due to financial problems, the owner can still transfer their bitcoins.

“The whole reason why people get into Bitcoin is to no longer be dependent on a bank,” BlockTrail CTO Ruben De Vries said to TechCrunch speaking to the multi-signature and private ownership provided by the wallet service. “The motto that I like about Bitcoin is ‘be your own bank’. You don’t want to be part of a financial system that keeps you hostage when they own your funds.”

“People [in the Bitcoin community] know us,” added BlockTrail CEO Boaz Bechar, “and there’s reason to trust our brand and use our apps. But in the case of Bitcoin you don’t even need to trust us, so if we were to disappear… people still own their Bitcoins. We cannot run away with their Bitcoins. And they could still use the app and restore their wallets even without us, which is really what makes us special.”

Standing out in a market filled with competitors

Amid BlockTrail’s competitors in the Bitcoin wallet space, Coinbase, Inc. also provides a private-key and multi-signature wallet service for long term storage called the Coinbase Vault.

The first implementation of BlockTrail’s multi-signature web HD wallet was released in April, 2015 that made use of the company’s API for developers to implement its capabilities in their own apps using Python, PHP, and NodeJS via the company’s own SDK.

This move brings BlockTrail from an analytics and Bitcoin developer company into the realm of consumer financial services. The company’s background in secure wallets makes it ideal for entering into a market already thick with solutions–aside from Coinbase, Xapo Inc., Circle (Circle Internet Financial Ltd.), and Blockchain.info (Blockchain Ltd.) are a small selection of companies that offer Bitcoin wallets.

Feature image credit: Bitcoin IMG_1924 via photopin (license)