Saturday October 03, 2015
21 Inc. Releases First Product, a ‘Bitcoin Computer’
21 Inc., a bitcoin startup backed by venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, is releasing its first product, a computer that seeks to make bitcoin a standard feature of web services and encourage developers to build products that integrate the digital currency.
The 21 Bitcoin Computer, which goes on sale Monday, is a small, bare bones, Linux-based piece of hardware in which the bitcoin protocol is a feature of the operating system. Any products or services built with it – games or music or any online content – would have bitcoin built in as a component.
The 21 computer is aimed at developers rather than consumers, and is part of the company’s wider goal of turning bitcoin into an Internet protocol, a common language shared between connected devices. The computer will sell for about $400 and will be available to order beginning on Monday, and will ship in November.
The computer’s operating system will include a full copy of bitcoin’s code and related software that will allow developers to make bitcoin a core feature of the products they build. It also uses a chip 21 unveiled earlier this year that is linked to 21’s mining pool and provide a steady stream of bitcoin for the user.
Full Story: WSJ