Blockstream Launches New Bitcoin and Liquid Wallet

Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream announced the launch of the AQUA wallet earlier today, as per a release shared with the BTC Times.

The wallet marks the second mobile wallet project under Blockstream's umbrella, after the firm acquired GreenAddress in 2016. AQUA will initially be available on iOS and support Bitcoin as well as any Liquid assets. 

Liquid is a sidechain-based settlement network for traders and exchanges aimed at enabling faster, more confidential Bitcoin transactions and the issuance of digital assets. Up until now, Liquid users were limited in their wallet choice, with Blockstream Green being the only mobile wallet option next to a number of exchanges and the Elements Core desktop wallet.

Samson Mow, the Chief Strategy Officer at Blockstream, commented on the launch that AQUA is designed for anyone to quickly get started with Bitcoin and Liquid assets. “From the scrolling home screen, AQUA gives you access to all of your Bitcoin, Liquid Bitcoin, Tether, L-CAD, Litenite game tokens, and any other assets available on the Liquid Network,” Mow explained.

Sending and receiving assets in AQUA is made as smooth as possible and does away without complicated features, the release stated. Notably, AQUA users will be able to skip the recovery phrase backup step during the wallet creation process and opt to write down their 12-word recovery phrase at a later point in time.

Users can also purchase bitcoin directly within the app using a debit card or Apple Pay. 

“AQUA is built upon the years of fantastic work from the Blockstream Green team,” said Lawrence Nahum, Chief Architect at Blockstream. “The Green Development Kit (GDK) provided us with a secure, reliable foundation for the production of AQUA,” he added.

The AQUA wallet is fully open-source, making it available to all Liquid Federation members - who oversee and maintain the Liquid Network - to offer a branded wallet experience and use the AQUA codebase for fast deployments. 

Blockstream said it will continue to develop AQUA alongside Blockstream Green: “AQUA caters to casual Bitcoin users that want to keep things as simple as possible. Blockstream Green will support all major operating systems, while AQUA will be mobile-only.”