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I've seen many Android-powered smartwatches out there with capabilities to run apps in the same way (almost) as an ordinary smartphone would. On the other hand, we have the Apple Watch which runs its variant of the iOS system. Imagine being able to install a lightweight wallet like Electrum on a smartwatch to send/receive Bitcoin transactions. After all, most of these (if not all) smartwatches have Wi-Fi capabilities, Bluetooth, and more. By integrating Bitcoin wallets into smartwatches, you can truly send/receive transactions anywhere with ease. I'm sure not if this is possible yet (as I don't own a smartwatch). But if a developer decides to create Bitcoin wallets for smartwatches, I'll be a big hit within the mainstream world.

What are your thoughts? Is something like this practical/secure? Or is it better to continue using smartphones for Bitcoin transactions? ???

Using a smartphone to transact bitcoin is still a great experience for me, but it would be great to see if we can do it through smartwatch! I think this is very easy to apply it in smartwatch through Bluetooth connection as you can't use wifi everywhere!

I actually saw a smartwatch that was designed for this exact functionality just the other day;

Check it out: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5104019.0

Not sure if it's legitimate though, it's worth doing some background research on it before buying.

I did notice that this is their second generation watch though, which indicates they've been in the game for at least some time. Maybe see if there's any of their 1st gen watches floating around on Ebay to demonstrate that they actually shipped.

I don't think it'd be very secure due to the connection method (Bluetooth). When you have your smartwatch connected to your phone, you have to keep the bluetooth permanently on. Watches can be exploited and other devices could pair with it if the smartwatch has the option to deny access to unknown devices turned off. I'm no security expert but I am sure that even with all security options turned on, they still pose a risk.

A 2015 test by Hewlett-Packard (HP) resulted in 100% of the smartwatches successfully exploited (https://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/press-release.html?id=2037386).
If that's too old, a 2018 Kaspersky security research (https://securelist.com/trojan-watch/85376/) on smartwatches ended in negative results too.

Smartwatches are cool and all, but they haven't been around long enough yet imo to be considered secure enough to have Bitcoin wallets on them. An idea I would go for though would be an app that would display QR codes for addresses you'd input from your phone on a list. The only risk you'd be exposed to is having your public addresses exposed to a hacker.

If a wallet would be released for these devices, they would become the next target for hackers. And as today I don't think many hackers are focusing on smartwatch vulnerabilities because there isn't much to be extracted from them, such news would make them turn their focus 180 degrees straight to the smartwatches.

I won't use my smartwatch also for this purpose. I have one, but when it comes to my crypto portfolio, I won't take the risk besides it is too hard to use the smartwatch even when you are copying the btc address to another site. The screen is too small for me. And with the bluetooth in use, this is very easy to penetrate with. I even don't use my smartphone in my crypto transactions. I still prefer computer or laptop to do my transactions in the web.

It will be for ease which I think too. But most reply would might be cons because we haven't experienced it yet. Can't say the potential of it until we use it with our daily lives or with most of our transactions. With sending bitcoin to other addresses, this will still require a smartphone or if not, you can only transact with the person near you to scan qr codes. I'll wait the tech experts to see if this is really a viable idea and if it will be adopted by most.

A wallet app could easily port their app UI to a smartwatch, or better yet, have it paired with the phone nearby. Before making any transaction, the smartwatch would ask for a PIN (for security purposes of pther people trying to connect with the phone to spend someone's coins).

The idea of having it on smartwatch is almost the same as having a card, or using your phone's NFC for payment, which is actually convenient.

I never met a person in my life that owns a smartwatch. The market share of smartwatches compared to smartphones and tablets must be minuscule. And people who own a smatwatch most likely own a smartphone too, so it shouldn't be a problem for them to have a Bitcoin wallet with them. I never used a smartwatch, but I'm pretty sure it's more convenient to do Bitcoin transactions from a bigger screen of a smartphone.

So, to answer your question, it doesn't seem to be very practical or relevant to the userbase, and as others pointed out, it's likely insecure.

I read "crypto portfolio" and this popped up in my mind. A smartwatch app for cryptocurrency portfolios would be a good idea. There'd be no information at risk except balances.

Now regarding the Bluetooth part, I am very curious to know how vulnerable a smartphone with Bluetooth turned on is. If you're using some smart gadgets, be it airpods or a smartwatch, you always have to keep your phone's BT on. But I guess phones' security can not be compared to a smartwatch's..

This would be awesome!
I like the idea of using a smartwatch for crypto transactions but wouldn't the screen too small for this one?
If a smartwatch can connect to the internet alone without your phone I think this is possible.

The UI would need to be redesigned. I haven't seen any Smartwatch yet so i'm not sure what are their limitations, if they are just Android on a wristwatch, i don't see why it wouldn't work. Interacting with the thing (due to size) might be tricky.

OR

The hardware wallet manufacturers could find a way to make a wearable wrist version and be done with it. Oh, maybe adding a clock would be nice too :)

Yes it would be practical, secure depends.

I've seen a lot of ideas like this in the past years I think even the apple watches are already developing this kind of feature where you are getting notify by your bitcoin wallet in every transaction and I think even sending funds could be possible in the future. For sure it will be going to use wifi than using Bluetooth when it is not recommended for most of the people, also the best way was to develop an application that could support this kind of feature in a smartwatches.

Today this is not going to be used, I think it is not recommended to send a large amount of bitcoin in a smartwatches just being practical you could easily miss pointing in a smartwatch worst you could send it to the wrong address, Even today no one use smartwatches to chat or text because it is not reliable. Surely this is going to be available in the future due to development, we are going to see this kind of technology soon.

If this will happen it will be more convenient for the users since you are just carrying a normal watch. Who doesn't want a smartwatch that can pay bills and trade. However, how is this possible? Maybe if a complicated transactions such as listed above, it is required to use atleast bigger lcd than what smartwatch have today. It is important for the user to be comfortable so I think it will be better to have atleast a larger screen.

In 2019 there was an ICO related to the same concept. The startup was called crypto watch. They had planned to raise 6000ETH. Unfortunately it was a failure. The concept is not knew but will have lot of security concern. If a startup is able to address those concern then I think people will invest.

Allowing to input addresses through the smartwatch by typing them would be a bad, bad idea.

The best thing that could happen is eventually a wallet that lets you send funds to a preset list of addresses. But then again, security becomes a concern.

Nice. Never thought crypto would get this far. I have to admit that smartwatches are not as safe as a PC or a smartphone. But at least, the idea is there. It's much easier to lose funds on a smartwatch than on any other device for many obvious reasons. Considering that it's a "watch" anyone could steal it with ease getting access to your crypto funds in a blink of an eye. While it's still possible to do this with a smartphone or a laptop, they have been battle-tested over time with many security methods that would prevent unauthorized access. The limited specifications of a smartwatch compared to the previously mentioned electronic devices, makes it hard (if not impossible) to implement a strong security mechanism against internal or external attacks.

Still though, it's possible to make a good smartwatch that focuses on security above all else. If there's demand for something like this in the mainstream world, I don't see why we can't use it for crypto transactions in the first place. The smartwatch from the given link is relatively new, so it's not as tested (and recognized) as other watches. A crypto wallet app for existing smartwatches, would've been a better option though. Just my opinion :)



That's certainly true, mate. Smartwatches would only be a "gimmick" or a "niche" for crypto transactions than anything else. If you'd use it for crypto, then it's recommended to store a small amount of money instead of your entire life savings. We'll have to wait and see if the smartwatch market matures enough to be able to talk about a crypto-oriented smartwatch anytime soon. If the crypto phone was announced by HTC, then the next big thing would be a crypto watch (if the need arises). ;)

The idea is good but I don't think it will help Bitcoin because almost people carry their mobile phone ya but Bitcoin may gain some attention from media.BTC ;D

Smartwatches still have quite a small display and you may end up missing some info and making mistakes. I'm not sure what you can type there, the small display is again an issue. And if a smartwatch wallet would be made, in a way or another, such a wallet will have to support hardware wallet.

I think that we should see the notifications on smartwatch, but keep the wallets of the smartphone for now.

Most smart watch which allows payment right now uses NFC to transfer data. Since the Bitcoin URI is rather small, it wouldn't be too much of an issue to transfer data across to the watch. Security is still somewhat alright since you can set smartwatches to require a PIN to authenticate. The screen should be big enough to be able to display at least majority of the address.

Yeah, the small screen of smartwatches makes it more unsafe to transact. I’m using Apple watch and still I find it hard to type letters but when it comes to notification it works well. Smartwatches are growing in term of technology and they really introduce new features every year so who know, maybe the developer will create a better screen for this, the future will tell.

Isn't it relatively satisfactory already to use smartphones to transact Bitcoin/Cryptocurrencies? The integration of applications of smartphones to smartwatches is a result of determining what the normally used apps are in terms of our everyday lives ( IMO that is ). Seeing as most of the world doesn't even know anything about crypto, I doubt a product such as what you want would come. On the other hand, before such features pop up, most smartwatch makers would probably integrate online payments using fiat currency, before the integration of cryptocurrency.

There's also the issue of security and UI design which makes it kind of unsuitable for transactions. By the end though, in the future, smartphones may cease to exist already and people just use smartwatches with some kind of hologram visible only to their eye or something, Just a guess cause imagination is the limit, right?

Today one of the fastest and growing technology and innovation is the smartwatch. Many people make a lot of investment because of that watch because it is like a smartphone and converted into a clock with the use of the connection like the Bluetooth of both devices; they can now access both. In smartwatch, we have the same applications as our mobile phones that can play music, view photos, time, and more. But today I think the application like cryptocurrency trading is still not supported by the smartwatch because we want to have a good quality of transactions and security it is better if we use our smartphones to make transactions. After all, having a small screen into the smartwatch and sending some addresses can make a mistake by having misclicks still; it is better to use the phones or computers to transact.

smart watches are like smartphones so expect that it can also run a crypto wallet or access the web to do crypto transactions but the only difference is that its more portable which is good because people on the go can transact easily   . it was like carry a credit card on you   . when it comes to security  id say apple are more secure compare to android smart watches but they are more costy  . i dont own a smart watch but im already happy with my phone and lappy . i can still transact normally without major issues  .

I am not using a smart watch primarily because I don't like wearing one, and also because I don't think it is really needed. It is more of a product of consumerism more than it's an invention to add convenience to my day to day life. That's just my personal idea, though. So in terms of practicality, I think it does not really make things significantly better. If the role of the smart watch is to copy that of the smart phone in terms of Bitcoin wallet compatibility and capability of sending or receiving Bitcoin transactions, it is an unnecessary technological addition. It is enough that a smart watch notifies us of an incoming transaction, or a failed one, or a confirmation, and so on.

What's the use of the smartphone if you will adapt it in a smartwatch? That's useless, although smartwatches are more handy. But if you have a smartphone, you don't really need to buy a gadget that also have features in a smartphone, because that's a waste of money. But if you don't want to be hassle when you go out with your friends, it is preferable to use smartwatch. But being practical bitcoin holder, smartphones are more secured and safe when having transactions in bitcoin. Also the screen of smartwatch are most likely small and it is hard to read, in transactions, to ensure things before sending it into a wallet address is very necessary, so it is risky to use smartwatches. 

Major smartwatch manufacturers are: Apple, Fitbit (owned by Google), Samsung, Xiami, Huawei, Garmin and others.
I highly doubt we will link between crypto and smartwatch by Apple and Fitbit because both of them have their own payments methods (apple pay and google pay) and it's their priority, not bitcoin.
But can't say the same on others, it's 100% expectable from another smartwatch companies, especially from Samsung since it put blockchain wallet on S10. But at the same time, to be able to pay with bitcoin, you need to scan QR code and as for now none of smartwatch has that capability, that's recently when they added voice recognition option and can talk via smartwatch (On fitbit you can talk to Alexa too).
I think it will be good if coinbase and similar services offer people NFC payment via smartwatches (they need contracts and etc) where we will be able to pay from our bitcoin wallet that will be automatically converted into USD during payment.

You can show QR on watches and via this recieve money. sending is harder but its a good start

With a small camera to scan qr codes from others? That part is actually simple. And the connection direct wifi.

People could also scan bill amounts or type numbers in. I see it easier thinking hardware wallet on a wrist than a full android device, but that could be done too.

Of course the point is that it could work without any other device around, otherwise it makes no sense. Its fine to do some minor syncing and configuration at home but that should be it.

It is practical actually. The security would be a bit of questionable though. I don't really use mobile crypto wallets that much but it would seem like I would use soon when this gets implemented.
I kinda remembered a thread in an altcoin discussion about a device that could help people mine crypto by mining. That feature could also be an addition to these smartwatches, although it wouldn't be as powerful as desktop mining.

I do not know if you have heard about a project called gymreward. They intend developing a wrist band that can monitor your heartbeat rate with the help of Bluetooth and mined a GYM token. This wristband can also serve as a wristwatch and will also be capable of receiving a different type of tokens. Unfortunately, the project could not even raise up to 5 ETH but the team has been running and developing the project using their own money. I think this is a fantastic idea and it one of the novel ideas that has not dominated the crypto project base compare to some other projects such as crypto banks and developing exchange platforms.

Dont know if this one do able to pull it off or not https://www.coindesk.com/aegis-wallet-wear-brings-bitcoin-android-smartwatches
I would say that this isnt a bad idea though but when we do talk about the demand of these bitcoin crypto smartwatches wont really be that high.
Yes, its truly accessible and less hassle but we can actually do those things on our smartphone.

Same though bro, This is what innovation brings us. But It's true that there's a higher chance that it won't be highly marketed and the demand might be low because the smartphone really can do the job, The only thing that makes it as an advantage for me is it is wearable and you can flex it out on your friends  ;). In our country, There's not so many stores or merchant that is accepting bitcoin as payment so I think it might not be used much. Plus the security of the wallets, A watch may fall or be lost in somewhere and it might be hijacked by somebody, It has a safety feature I know but I think it won't do much.

This can be possible, as we can see many of the devices nowadays have many features for the convenience of the users. If bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be used as a usual method of payments, there will be high chances that it can be launched in smartwatches. With the technology we have nowadays, it is not impossible to create that feature in the near future.

of course using smartwatches can do bitcoin transactions it's just possible smartwatch will be equipped with sensors for barcodes to make transactions because if it will facilitate its use and because of the very small display of smartwatches I think only barcode sensor solutions can be used for transactions with cryptocurrency because if you have to enter Manually address it will complicate its use.

the usage scheme might be like this
Smartwatches -> Scan For Login -> Verification -> Display balance -> Scan for transactions -> Confirmation -> Payment successful.

I think it would be a hard time if we will be do bitcoin transaction through the use of smartwatches because first of all smartwatch are small in terms of size and it would be a hard time to use it when transacting bitcoin especially when we will do trading in the smartwatches so it is kind of hard.
It would be hard also to apply it on smartwatch because smartwatch need some ip address in order to make a transaction with bitcoin thing.

Well, then.. why use a smartwatch for messages and calls when you have a smartphone that has the same features. Right?

Practicability is the answer to your question. But practical doesn't always mean secure. As I said, the smartwatch screen could act as a "Receive" QR code display for ease of use, as it would be easily accessible within the tap of a finger.

Another problem comes with usage though. You will only probably use the app on your smartwatch once every few months.. You don't use it everyday.

This would be great but it wouldn't really be something that we would want to have,
I mean it would be hard for the owner since they would need to put their password anytime that they would use it and people could easily see it.
What if some people found out that they have a big amount of crypto on their wallet and they have seen the password from the smartwatch ?

That's what I thought as well when it comes to apps on smartwatches, but it seems that I was wrong thinking so. I know a few people around me who keep interacting with their smartwatch even though I don't see why they bother wasting time on such a small screen trying to figure out the weather, price information of stocks etc, typing messages and the list goes on.

Somehow they convinced themselves that it's useful, which means that the companies behind those watches have done well marketing their product. I wouldn't buy one myself, but if people want to waste their money on those gadgets then so be it. They waste their own time and money, not mine.  :D

It takes me a few seconds to pull out my smartphone and properly utilize the applications. Having a smartwatch will only form a burden to my daily use.

I have been making use of a smartphone and it has been working perfectly, I have never had any problem with using a smartphone to store my cryptocurrencies and also for a transaction. As for using a smartwatch, it is something that the devs need to look into and in this case it would be best to recommend it straight to them so they can look into it and see whether it is possible.

I once used a smartwatch and its really cool, but to be honest I never used it for anything else except from checking time lol. I did see other features in it and you can even receive WhatsApp messages on it, but I still preferred my smartphone to it. Everyone's choice differs and like I said, it's up to the devs to meet up to that.

Honestly, I haven't seen anyone used smartwatch to do Bitcoin transactions. Although, there might be advantages like convenience and ease of usage through required acute steps in performing transactions there may also be drawbacks. I don't think the transmission mode will make this very safe due to smartwatch should be connected to a smartphone, and interruption of connection between devices could result into error. Watches can be hacked and if the smartwatch has the ability to cut off access, switch off impairment and could be coupled to unidentified devices other devices then there is a great risk.

The small display is a BIG issue for crypto transactions. It'll be quite difficult for people to be able to clearly read public keys or transaction hashes on the device. If the need arises for a Bitcoin-powered smartwatch, companies could simply create some sort of mechanism that would solve this issue (bigger fonts, scrolling text, etc.). But if people in the mainstream world continue to use smartphones more thoroughly, it would be rather unprofitable for mainstream companies to design a smartwatch that acts as a hardware wallet for crypto transactions.

Until now, a Bitcoin-powered smartwatch is more of an idea/dream than anything else. I've seen a new smartwatch company announced on BitcoinTalk a new smartwatch that acts as a hardware wallet for crypto. But I wouldn't trust it with my hard-earned funds as smartwatches are not proven to be safe unlike a computer or a smartphone. Besides, the company is relatively new to the crypto/Blockchain space. This makes people skeptical about using its products. But some serious companies like Samsung or Apple, could gain a lot of traction in the future if they ever decide to create a smartwatch that would serve as a hardware wallet for Bitcoin/crypto transactions. Just my thoughts ;D