Trezor Removes AOPP After Community Response

On January 28th, 2022, Trezor announced their decision to remove integration for the "Address Ownership Proof Protocol" (AOPP). The protocol was originally intended to help Swiss exchange users withdraw their bitcoin. In their twitter thread from January 27th, they recognize that “regular users can't get their bitcoins out of [exchanges]. The governments prefer people to stay on KYC platforms, not run for self-custody.”

What is AOPP?

Trezor released AOPP in their January update to help users sign a message that would prove that they own an address that they wish to withdraw funds to. It is similar to Sign & Verify, but was specifically created for the Swiss exchanges that require this feature in order for users to withdraw assets.

Response from the Community

In response to this announcement, other Bitcoin wallet companies stated that they will be removing or not providing AOPP support in the foreseeable future.

The main concern from those responding to Trezor’s original implementation was the adherence to government regulations. The Trezor team states, “Our sole aim was to make withdrawal to self-custody easier for users in countries with strict regulation, but we acknowledge that more harm than good could be done in the end if this were viewed as proactive compliance with regulations we do not agree with.”

This feature would not have affected users who are not required to use AOPP for withdrawing funds from exchanges. In Trezor’s statement, they are removing the feature in order “to return focus to projects and products that will have greater impact on privacy, security and usability combined.”