The Czech startup has been gathering information and feedback on the performance of their open source prototype chip for Bitcoin devices.
According to a press statement provided to Bitcoin Magazine, SatoshiLabs, the firm that makes the Trezor, has been funding Tropic Square, a startup that has been testing their new TROPIC01 chip. In December 2022, the chip’s prototypes were delivered by Taiwanese manufacturer UMC. Throughout the first half of 2023, testing of the secure element chips is expected to continue.
The chip was designed and made by Tropic Square with the intention of producing an open-source security chip for use in Bitcoin hardware. The Tropic Square team stated in an article published by Bitcoin Magazine in August 2022 that “Being open source would allow the company to make improvements based on community and expert feedback.”
According to the press release, the firm intends to produce the last pre-production prototypes in the ensuing year, after which it hopes to begin mass production and put its product on the market in 2025.
Initial test outcomes, according to the news statement, “are highly encouraging and have already indicated that the chip development can continue as originally intended – to generate a second prototype next year and then, after verification, launch mass serial manufacturing.”
The testing “brings us much closer to mass production and closer to the introduction of the first transparent solution,” according to Tropic Square CEO Evzen Englberth. The market’s present security standards will then have the possibility to undergo a fundamental transformation thanks to these processors.
“Examining and evaluating the chip from every available perspective will help ensure the quality and reliability of the final product that goes out into the world,” says Jan Pleska, CTO of Tropic Square.
