BitPay created their Bitcoin wallet solution quite some time ago.In order to properly test this new Bitcoin wallet service, CoPay has undergone vigorous beta testing for over a year. But the time has come to reveal CoPay to the public, as this is one of the only Bitcoin wallets available to Windows phone users.
CoPay 1.0 – Multiple Wallets And Completely Open Source
Whenever a Bitcoin payment processing company develops their own mobile digital currency wallet, users are usually locked in to that company’s ecosystem. it goes without saying this is in stark contrast to the very nature of Bitcoin, which is all about decentralization and restoring power to its users.
BitPay has been looking at this problem from the right angle, and created a Bitcoin wallet that gives users all the freedom they so desperately crave. Developing this wallet was not an easy task, as it had to adhere to certain strict security requirements. All in all, CoPay was designed to be safe enough to store even BitPay’s own funds, regardless of the device it is being used on.
Using a Bitcoin wallet is all about being in control of your funds. With digital currency, that is a bit trickier than with cash, as your Bitcoin wallet gives you an “ownership token” of a certain amount of BTC. On the other hand, Bitcoin does not involve the usage of a bank or any other financial institution to access your funds. There is no middleman involved, making Bitcoin a far more secure way of storing value compared to traditional banks.
Furthermore, CoPay is trying to cater to all kinds of crowds. On the one side, you have the privacy-centric individual who wants to use Bitcoin as a way to send and receive money semi-anonymously. And there are also businesses, who need to be able to accept and send Bitcoin at any given time. CoPay keeps funds carefully separated for all its users, making address management a thing of the past.
Speaking of wallets, CoPay offers a few different types of “wallets” to store your funds in BTC. Shared wallets, which require the approval of multiple users to complete an outgoing transaction, are perfect for larger companies or “joint accounts”. The application’s personal wallets are centered around the everyday user, who is looking for a quick and convenient way to use and store Bitcoin.
What makes CoPay truly interesting is the fact that both the wallet and the platform are completely open source. In doing so, BitPay enables all types of users to deploy their own version of the CoPay filling their needs. And for those users who would rather not tinker around, the existing application is at your disposal, free of charge.
A Windows Phone Bitcoin Wallet
In terms of mobile Bitcoin wallets, most developers are focusing on both Android and iOS. That should not come as a big surprise when you consider these two mobile OSes represent the lion share of the mobile OS market. However, Windows Phone is being used by quite a few people as well, and they were waiting for a Bitcoin mobile wallet for their platform.
CoPay is available for Windows phone users, as well as a ton of other desktop, laptop and mobile operating systems. Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Android, iOS, Chrome [as a browser extension] and Node-powered CLI are all supported at this time. BitPay has made sure that coPay is one Bitcoin wallet spanning every popular operating system or browser.
“Dozens of bitcoin developers have already contributed to Copay, and we’re not finished yet. Every part of Copay, wallet and server, is available to be forked, changed, and developed by the community. You can follow along, discuss improvements, and join in on GitHub at bitpay/copay and bitpay/bitcore-wallet-service.”
Source: BitPay Blog
Images courtesy of BitPay & CoPay