Sep 16, 2013:
Most Secure Bitcoin Wallet Armory Raises $600k Led by Trace Mayerhttp://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-wallet-armory-raises-600k-seed-funding/If anyone has been anxiously awaiting "something big" that was it. Armory just got a
huge injection of money, and we're going to start taking Armory -- and Bitcoin -- to the next level
It's a shame I couldn't get the new version of the software out in time, but oh well. I'll have it soon!
To allay any concerns about "selling out", I want to reassure you all that the reason I picked Trace as my investor (I had a lot of investors approach me) is because his vision is very well-aligned with Armory's. He is very insistent that money & revenue is irrelevant for the next 6-12 months. He wants to see Armory get easier to use, multi-sig implemented, Android app, HW wallets, and a server version that can replace bitcoind. He believes that Bitcoin needs these things more than he needs short-term return on this investment. This is very cool, because it means that I can focus on developing cool stuff, instead of figuring out how to make money. Of course, I will eventually have to spend effort on the revenue side, but the top priority for the next 12 months is getting Armory usability expanded for both new users and power users.
Part of it is that Trace and the other investors have a lot of Bitcoin investments, and are really trying to figure out how to get Bitcoin into great adoption/acceptance. Funding Armory to do this development benefits them even if Armory fails as a business (but succeeds as an open-source project). For months, he has been saying that wallet apps are the weakest point of the Bitcoin system, and we need more wallet usability, functionality and security. I'm very excited that Armory will eventually be able to provide all that.
For now, I have a ton of work to do. But you guys can sleep easy knowing that I'm officially on this full-time! Thanks for all your guys' support on this. Armory's reputation doesn't come from nowhere... it takes a userbase to like it enough to talk about it, share it, promote it, etc. So thanks everything for helping me get to this point.
In case you're wondering: the way you guys interact with me and Armory will not really change, I plan to remain very active on the forums, and will probably even continue code development on github. What might change is that I'll have a couple new code wizards joining the team, and will probably be on here answering forum posts and responding to emails. I'm hoping that once these guys are up to speed, we'll really be able to take off. For reference, we currently have two other employees in addition to me, and we'll probably be getting a third. But we're still working out some budget stuff and not sure whether I have time to organize that many brains
Note: I am no longer updating this top post (though the thread is still used for discussion). Please see the
Get Armory! page for information on the latest release.
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Armory Bitcoin Client http://www.bitcoinarmory.com
Armory is a python-based Bitcoin client (with C++/SWIG backend for fast blockchain processing), designed from the ground up to provide a dozen innovative features not found in any other Bitcoin client!
This is the most advanced Bitcoin client to date, by a mile!Features:- Deterministic wallets: Your entire wallet is recoverable from only the root address and a "chaincode." You only need to backup your wallet once, and your funds will be safe forever (with the exception of imported private keys, which must be backed up separately)
- Multi-wallet interface: Manage as many wallets as you want simultaneously. Armory was designed from the start for multi-wallet operations without limit on number.
- Usermode Options: Choose between "Standard", "Advanced" and "Developer", to scale the functionality according to your experience level. "Standard" user mode has a reduced set of functionality and only presents information necessary for basic wallet management and transactions. "Advanced" mode gives you access to all the features advertised here. "Developer" mode is the same as "Advanced" but with more options and a plethora of extra information (viewing scripts, copying raw hex data, etc).
- Paper-backups: Print a paper backup of your wallet on one sheet of paper, and keep it in a book on your bookshelf, or in a safe with your cash. Paper wallets are superior to digital media, because paper is cheap, easy to store, and you can verify the integrity of the backup by eye. If you backup your wallet to a USB key, how do you know that it will still work when you plug it in two years from now? If you can read the characters on the paper backup, you can recover all the funds you ever received to it!
- Watching-only wallets: "Watching-only" wallets can be used generate addresses and confirm incoming payments, but cannot spend the money. Keep the full wallet on an offline computer, and maintain it safely from the online computer. Or create a master wallet for your business, and give a watching-only copy to your employees to do business. It's impossible for a hacker (or employee) to steal your Bitcoins if your private keys are on a computer that never touched the internet!
- Offline Wallet Interface: This is the holy-grail feature of Armory! You can use Armory to create a wallet on a computer that will never touch the internet again, and then make a watching-only copy to use on the internet computer. You can monitor transactions online, and sign transactions offline without needing the blockchain. And since it doesn't need the blockchain, even a computer with 512 MB of RAM can be used as the offline system. Please see the offline-wallet tutorial! (you will need a USB key to shuttle data between computers, but the entire process for offline transactions can be done in under one minute!).
- Wallet encryption with GPU-resistent key derivation function: AES256 in-place key encryption. Encryption key is generated with a scrypt-based algorithm to renders GPU-acceleration useless for brute-force passphrase guessing. Speed and memory parameters are determined via system speed test.
- Corruption-resistent wallet files Wallet code auto-corrects bit-flips on your hard-drive, and also uses a synchronous backup wallet scheme that guarantees no matter which nanosecond the power goes out, your wallet will never be corrupted (or automatically recovered if it does).
- Import/Sweep Addresses: Import trusted private keys into your wallets, or just "sweep" the funds to another address in your wallet. Supports private keys in hex, base58, and mini-private-key format used on Casascius physical bitcoins (it does work with Vanitygen addresses!)
- Optional Transaction fees: Calculates and inserts guaranteed-acceptable fees to transactions (with confirmation, of course). Advanced users can force zero-fee transactions by manually modifying the setting file (designed to be possible but non-trivial -- I want to allow the determined users to do it, but I don't want to be responsible for folks getting transactions stuck)
- Get your private keys! There is no database software obscuring key data. All keys are stored in a straightforward binary wallet format. Unencrypted data can be pulled out directly. If it is encrypted, you can use the in-application dialog for viewing key data after you unlock your wallet.
- Developer Tools! Thoroughly-commented Python code. Thoroughly-commented C++ code. Thousands of lines of unit-test code for verifying almost every sub-function of the entire library. Simple wallet files. And the "Developer" user mode will give you everything you could possibly need to help you with your own development: browse the blockchain, examine tx scripts, etc.
- Windows and Linux! Compiled and runs on both. Exhaustive instructions for compiling on the Building Armory page. Some users have gotten OSX compiled, but the instructions are not complete yet. If you have successfully compiled on OSX, please consider doing complete documentation of the process (preferably from a fresh install). I've been known to donate to users who help with OSX compiling
You can stay up-to-date on Armory news, developments and tutorials through the webpage:
http://www.bitcoinarmory.comCaveats:- Armory must have access to the Satoshi-created blk0001.dat file -- read-only access to see new blocks (usually autodetected)
- You must have the Satoshi client open and on the same network as the Armory client (main-net or testnet -- namecoin is untested)
- Satoshi client must be currently synchronized with the blockchain. Armory is not very good at "drinking from the firehose" when the client is downloading thousands of blocks very quickly...
Short-term development plans: (DONE)
- Customizable SelectCoins algorithm: optimize for anonymity or minimal transaction fees.
- Enabling table sorting
(DONE)
- System-tray and status-bar objects
(DONE)
- Options/preferences dialog
(DONE)
- Tutorials for using the codebase for potential developers/forkers.
(see extras/sample_armory_code.py)
- Better and more robust layouts for cross-platform aesthetics
(DONE)
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Beta-version development plan:- File-based blockchain operations -- reduce RAM footprint from 1.5 GB to 100 MB.
(file-based blockchain DONE -- foot print still large)
- Multi-signature transactions! These are actually implemented 95% under-the-hood, but just needs some testing and interface development.
Long-term plans:- Standalone networking -- will either implement native networking, or integrate Satoshi-client code for finding peers, downloading the blockchain, block validation, security, etc. Will remove requirement to have bitcoin/bitcoind in the background
- Sister smartphone client
- Two-factor authentication using phone and computer without third-party as described here. If anyone wants to help make this happen, I'm 90% done with this, I mainly just need an Android/iPhone app to support the wallet file and ECDSA signing.
And some screenshots!
See all screenshots on the
Armory screenshots pageLICENSE:Armory is currently licensed under the AGPL v3. However, dual-licensing can be negotiated if someone wants to develop with Armory in closed-source software.
PLEASE DONATE. This was a TON of work, and I'm not sure I can continue neglecting my girlfriend without getting some kind of compensation for the development time. Please use the "Donate" button on the send-bitcoins dialog in Armory. Here's the address if you are feeling generous without using the program
1QBDLYTDFHHZAABYSKGKPWKLSXZWCCJQBX (yes, it's real!)
Source Code: For anyone interested in development:
Here is the Armory source code. Yes, there's a lot of code (and unit-tests!).
Build Instructions:I have posted complete build instructions at following website:
http://bitcoinarmory.com/index.php/building-armory-from-source[/list]
