How to Develop a Bitcoin Wallet Application
Due to developing blockchain technology, it has become possible to implement cryptocurrency payments along with any other online payment method. Now, you have an opportunity to build your own Bitcoin wallet app that will follow all your business requirements and goals. In this article, we’ll explain the benefits of integrating Bitcoin and discuss how to implement this technology.
Advantages of Bitcoin Cryptocurrency
- Anonymity stands for encryption of all the transactions, messages, and other data. To create the cryptocurrency transaction, it’s necessary to know the Bitcoin address of the recipient. Having this address, you can only see the amount of sent money.
- Security means that you can’t change anything in the blockchain. Each transaction is signed with a digital signature and sent to the blockchain. After that, the transaction is processed and fixed.
How to Use Bitcoin Wallet
There’re several ways to use Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
- Payment in stores. CryptoPay is a startup that provides stores with an opportunity to pay with cryptocurrency with a credit card terminal. CryptoPay is a Bitcoin wallet with a debit card that you can pay in stores with.
- Wages payment. BitWage has created a platform that offers to pay wages for the workers in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The service is perfect for freelancers working with international partners.
- International transfers. Due to high taxes for transactions, small companies don’t sell their products to other countries. However, Bitcoin can decrease expenses with cheaper transboundary payments.
- Fraud prevention. Bitcoin is a well-protected cryptocurrency nowadays. Unfortunately, the banks can’t provide users with the same protection level.
How to Build a Wallet App with Bitcoin
There are several existing Bitcoin applications, e.g. Coinbase and BitcoinJ. They have some common MVP features, let’s list them.
- Authorization. To get access to the wallet, it’s necessary to log in;
- Profile. To sent and get transaction or check the balance;
- Exchange rate. To follow Bitcoin price;
- QR scanner. To send money;
- Push notifications. To be notified about transactions, price changes, and more;
- Security. To set a password or PIN to protect the data.
Bitcoin Libraries for iOS and Android
A lot of people that work with cryptocurrencies tend to use Bitcoin. So, we’ve decided to discuss Bitcoin libraries that can be used for creating your own application. Their functionality is wide, so they can be used for Bitcoin wallet or any other cryptocurrency investment app. Blockchain is one of the most wide-spread Bitcoin wallets. It provides a full set of free API for engineers. Blockchain supports many platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, etc.) and various coding languages (Java, Ruby, etc.) and you shouldn’t pay for using this app.
The service provides two API keys:
- V2 API KEY. It’s a good option for websites to get Bitcoin payments.
- Blockchain wallet API KEY. It provides access to all functions, e.g. wallet development, transactions, and more.
If you want to get these keys, you should make an API request and give your name, e-mail, and the URL of a website or app. As a result, the amount of using keys for something illegal is reduced.
One more library is BitcoinJ SDK. It’s available on Windows and Android and supports such languages as Java, C++, Python, and so on. Moreover, you don’t need to register to use the service. This library has got good functionality, e.g. wallet creation, balance monitoring, sending Bitcoins, etc.
Bitcoin becomes more wide-spread nowadays. As you can see, there are a lot of use cases of this cryptocurrency. Additionally, you can bring some profit to your business due to saving on transactions.
About the author
Vitaly Kuprenko is a technical writer at Cleveroad. It's a mobile and web app development company in Ukraine. He enjoys telling about tech innovations and digital ways to boost businesses.