How to Make a Bitcoin Wallet App

Bitcoin has redefined the fintech Industry by managing payments and offering easy transactions. Bitcoin is basically a cryptocurrency as well as a digital payment system. The transactions occur between the users, without any intermediary, making things easy and simple. So, how are these transactions recorded? There’s the blockchain which logs the transactions and can be termed as the ledger for the digital payment system. Together, Bitcoin and Blockchain have made things easy for the financial industry.

How does the digital payment work? Like a physical wallet, there is a bitcoin wallet which makes its presence felt on your mobile phone. So, it is basically in the form of an app, and you can use the digital money to make all your transactions.

It works in a simple way. You add money from your bank account or, any of the cards of the wallet as you would in the case of digital payments through your bank. Once the money is added, you can easily pay, make payments, transfer money, and conduct multiple transactions. It is your on-the-go money that makes your life digitally easy. There is the web wallet which is hosted using a web service or, a software wallet which is stored locally on your phone or desktop. Either way, the function remains the same for both.

If you are an app seeking payments, you can opt for Bitcoin payments, which can later be transferred to your bank account as well, if you have permission from the Central Banking Institution. Let’s have a quick account of how to develop a Bitcoin wallet app for your business.

Features that a Bitcoin Wallet App must have.

Since the app caters to a very specific set of people and requirements, there are some essential features which a Bitcoin wallet app just can’t do without. Here are some of those features.

1. General wallet functionality. The app should allow users to exploit all basic wallet features, which include buying or selling cryptocurrency with credit or debit cards, current balance and transaction history viewing, and sending/receiving currency from others.
2. Conversion rates. A live feed of exchange rates updating in real time would be helpful for users to carry out their trades. It could also potentially save them a lot of money since the crypto market is very volatile.
3. Integrating merchant services. For places which accept bitcoin as payments, the app could offer them the services of those retailers which allow payments to be made using cryptocurrencies.
4. UI/UX features. Push notifications, QR codes for faster payments, timely alerts, and other good design features will help you increase your user retention rate. A bitcoin wallet app, on the face of it, seems tricky to operate. Therefore, it is up to the developer to integrate good UI/UX features in the wallet, so that the user faces minimum hassle while operating the app.

Developing your Bitcoin Wallet App

If you want to implement a bitcoin wallet app, it is easier than you think it to be. You need to standardize the functionality and choose the apt Bitcoin wallet API that can help you with building the apt wallet app.

There are a few standard libraries that you need to be aware of when developing the Bitcoin wallet. You may need to sync these libraries with blockchain to award transactions.

Chain-Java is the Java library specifically for chain.com, wherein the Bitcoin API allows you to access the blockchain. The bitcoin library helps in conducting the wallet functions with ease. The standard libraries help you with accessing blockchain and conducting transactions with ease.

The bitcoin is an open-source software, and you can easily charge up the source code, and create a bitcoin wallet app from the scratch, in case you don’t want to use the existing libraries.

In case you are creating for both Android and iOS, it is a great idea to develop a common module using Java, which can be converted to Objective-C using a standard plugin. Make sure the module is easy to comprehend and test at a later stage. This module will be same for both the platforms.

• You will need to install the API responsible for managing the Blockchain wallet
• Once the API is installed, you will need to create the bitcoin wallet.
• Once the bitcoin wallet is done, you need to set permissions for the different transactions. You will need to use policies for both outgoing and incoming transactions
• You will need to insert programs to fetch the balance, manage the transactions, and generating the address for transactions

For the web-based wallet, you may need to search for the apt software wallet that will help you realize your bitcoin goals. Once you have the software wallet for your app, you may need to download the core for the same. Set up the wallet following the instructions laid out in the software version.

You can even use one of the many web-based wallets, and then add Bitcoin to it via API integration as mentioned earlier.

There are many ways of integrating Bitcoin or devising a bitcoin wallet app for your business for easier transactions.

Ensuring security of your bitcoin wallet app

Now, a bitcoin wallet app is one which, no excuses, absolutely needs to have top-notch security. Dealing with people’s money isn’t as easy as it seems, after all. Here, we list a few security features that should be included as part of a bitcoin wallet app.

1. The most obvious yet important safety feature, encrypting user details on the host device is the most basic way to ensure security. Although this is not a hundred percent foolproof, when used in conjunction with other features, it becomes really powerful.
2. 2-factor authentication. Confirmation of a user login process with biometric details, OTPs, and other means of authentication is important to ensure the user’s identity, and keep his/her funds secure.
3. Multi-signature feature. The number of needed signatures should me at least 2-3 for making payments with bitcoin. Since this is the essence of using bitcoin as a payment method, implementing multi-signature in your bitcoin wallet app is simply a must.
4. Secure bitcoin storage. A majority of the coins should be stored offline, far from the reach of hackers. Only a small percentage of the currency should be stored on online servers.

Integrating Bitcoin as Payment Option

If you don’t want to devise a bitcoin mobile app, you can always integrate bitcoin as your payment option. We also did a blog on how crypto based POS Billing solutions can be made. You can have a look at it here. Several times holding onto the cryptocurrency means accepting the fluctuation that comes along with it. If you don’t want to be a part of that, you can opt for the different payment service providers i.e. PSPs and integrate them into your app. This means you don’t need to keep the cryptocurrency, instead, you can easily transfer it to actual currency and then into your bank. There are PSPs that support buying and selling of the cryptocurrency, which offers easy dealing with the currency without being involved with the fluctuations that come along with it.

Bitcoin is indeed a great way to move ahead. It makes transactions easy and comes with a secure base, making it easy for you to deal with the fintech ecosystem. Though there is no one to manage the transactions, you have blockchain that logs the whole information, and keeps up with your business needs.

If you want to get a bitcoin wallet app for your business, connect with us at SODIO. We have a team of experts that help you with devising the apt bitcoin solution for your business.

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