Developing Branded Bitcoin Wallet App from open source resource

[nagleatorcoin]

I want to develop a branded Bitcoin wallet app for android & iOS. I was looking at the Copay open-source wallet. Before I contact any developers I'm currently just trying to understand is there much involved in using Copay code and branding it and then launching it on the app store?

Or if there are any other good open-source wallets people can recommend. Thank you

[BitMaxz]

I don't have any source for IOS but there is a well-known open-source Bitcoin wallet for android.

Here's the source https://github.com/bitcoin-wallet/bitcoin-wallet

I'll add more soon if I found another good open source for IOS and Android.


Added this whole list of open-source wallets.
- https://awesomeopensource.com/projects/wallet

[pooya87]

You have to check the license of the project you want to make a copy of. Read the terms to see if that license allows you to make a copy and distribute the same code under a different name, whether for commercial purposes or for free. Some licenses don't allow that.

I'm curious why you don't just contribute to the wallet you want to copy and help improve that one instead of re-branding it?

[nagleatorcoin]

Thanks BitMaxz, I can see from the list you linked Copay has the highest rating.

pooya87 The main reason I want to develop my own branded wallet is to create a business around the wallet.

Something similar to what Polispay have done with Copay https://walletscrutiny.com/android/com.polispay.copay/

[nagleatorcoin]

Thanks ETFbitcoin, would I be correct in saying if I was to develop a branded clone of Copay that I would also have to make that open source?

[HCP]

Thanks ETFbitcoin, would I be correct in saying if I was to develop a branded clone of Copay that I would also have to make that open source?

The details are usually in the license...

The MIT license is described as:

A short and simple permissive license with conditions only requiring preservation of copyright and license notices. Licensed works, modifications, and larger works may be distributed under different terms and without source code.

So, it seems you can basically do whatever you like and don't have to provide source-code... providing you adhere to the license conditions... which for CoPay are:

...
Copyright (c) 2014-2016 BitPay, Inc.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
...

[NotATether]

If your wallet software is using significant parts of Copay files, as in if you copy all the code verbatim along with adding more code than the things you're copying, or you are copying more than a handful of functions from Copay code without significantly rewriting them, then you have to include their license notice in those files. Usually people put them below their own copyright notices at the top of the file.

I've seen people copy a function/snippet or two from another project and not provide a notice.

Besides no warranty or liability there are no other conditions that you need to abide by. Including that you don't have to open-source it.

[pooya87]

If your wallet software is using significant parts of Copay files, as in if you copy all the code verbatim along with adding more code than the things you're copying, or you are copying more than a handful of functions from Copay code without significantly rewriting them, then you have to include their license notice in those files. Usually people put them below their own copyright notices at the top of the file.

When developers copy someone else's code, they always include some information about the source as a courtesy otherwise when it comes to MIT licence you don't "have to" do anything, you can literary make a exact copy of the entire project, compile it with another name and sell it!

[Coding Enthusiast]

It is worth adding that "shall be" in legal terms is not just a word, it is used about something that "is a requirement" and there is no way around it.

[Theb]

If I may ask why will you use your time on basing your crypto wallet on a open-source code? In this way you will just create another kind of generic wallet or worst an exact copy of the copay wallet. For eyes of any crypto users I think the majority will just see you as some kind of duplicate copy or a phishing website for the original one when you have not exactly modify anything with that wallet you are basing in. Maybe you can try to make the source code as your guide and create a unique kind of crypto wallet from scratch as uniqueness scores a lot of points for the crypto users.

[DaveF]

Are you just branding it, or are you branding it and selling it?

In the end it probably does not matter if you are using the bitpay/copay code since they do give you permission to do whatever you want with it but you shave to think about 2 things using their app:

1) If you do try to sell it without major re-work people are going to know and call you out on it.
2) bitpay does not have the best reputation here and some people actively dislike them, you can agree or disagree about that entire thing BUT you WILL get pushback from those users if you use it.

Every set of code is going to have a different set of advantages or disadvantages that are external to the code itself you have to consider those too.

-Dave