While Apple races to drum up support for its mobile payments, the first standalone Bitcoin wallet has hit the App Store – and its design may raise a few eyebrows.

Breadwallet, which launched this week, seeks to make the business of owning bitcoins as a novice user as simple yet safe as possible. If that sounds like a familiar gambit, it is worth noting the simplified payment verification (SPV) technology it runs is intuitive indeed.

The result is a wallet which can connect directly to the Bitcoin network, removing the need for middleman servers and allowing performance on mobile devices to remain slick.

“Breadwallet is an iOS bitcoin wallet app designed to make sending and receiving bitcoin simple and safe for everyone, not just bitcoin experts,” a press release issued yesterday explains.

Additionally, breadwallet makes use of deterministic technology, a form of which first appeared in Satoshi Client, to consolidate user data and reduce possible confusion on the part of entry-level consumers.

“One of the first deterministic wallets on the market, breadwallet can recover all a user’s bitcoin addresses and balances from a single unique phrase associated with their wallet,” the press release explains. “This phrase eliminates the need for continual backups and can restore the wallet on another device if theirs is ever lost or broken.”

The project, compiled by mobile app developer Aaron Voisine, is open source and provides protection against malware, browser security flaws and physical theft.

“I wanted to build a beautiful and intuitive bitcoin wallet that real people can use safely,” Voisine said.

The current version is supposedly the groundwork for a more ambitious app which will include support for touch ID and near field communication (NFC) technology. A version for Apple Watch is also under construction.

app.breadwallet.com/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/breadwallet-bitcoin-wallet/id885251393?mt=8

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