Ethereum Foundation Debuts Universal Signer App on Passport Prime, Priced at $349

The Ethereum Foundation has introduced the Universal Ethereum Signer, a new signing application that runs on the Passport Prime hardware wallet, which is priced at $349.

The app is currently in beta. Users who want to run the Ethereum Foundation's new signing software must sideload it onto their Passport Prime device themselves, and no installation deadline has been fixed, according to COINOTAG. Sideloading refers to manually installing an application on a device rather than obtaining it through an official or automatic distribution channel, an approach commonly used during beta testing, when software has not yet been released broadly.

The Universal Ethereum Signer was built by Nicolas Bacca, co-founder of the hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger, and runs on KeyOS, the operating system on the Passport Prime device. Ledger, which Bacca co-founded, is among the best-known producers of cryptocurrency hardware wallets, placing development of the Foundation's signer in the hands of a team with an established background in the hardware wallet field.

Passport Prime is a hardware wallet developed by Foundation Devices, designed to store private keys offline and confirm transactions on the device itself. Hardware wallets of this kind keep the keys that control cryptocurrency funds isolated from internet-connected computers, a setup widely used to reduce exposure to online attacks. Running the Ethereum Foundation's signing application on this class of device means its signing software operates on hardware built outside the Foundation, pairing the nonprofit's application with Foundation Devices' KeyOS. The Ethereum Foundation is the nonprofit organization that supports the development of the Ethereum blockchain and its surrounding ecosystem.

As of publication, installation of the Universal Ethereum Signer remains optional and user-driven during the beta phase, with no installation deadline fixed. For readers tracking the rollout, the distribution model itself is the point to watch: the app is currently available only through manual sideloading on Passport Prime.

This content was first published on COINOTAG: https://en.coinotag.com/ethereum-foundation-universal-signer-passport-prime-349