Today, we're excited to announce the expansion of Block's OpenIP initiative to include patents related to Bitkey, our bitcoin self-custody hardware wallet, and Proto, our brand of bitcoin mining products and services, furthering our commitment to open innovation in hardware development. This expansion builds on our initial OpenIP announcement from October 2025, where we established our approach to intellectual property that puts builders first.
When we launched OpenIP, we committed to expanding our patent pledge across more areas of our portfolio, focusing on where open access can drive the most innovation. Today's announcement represents another step in that direction, as we pledge patents related to Bitkey and Proto. You can see the full list of pledged patents here.
This expansion aligns perfectly with our OpenIP principles:
Our patent portfolio is designed to protect both our own and the broader community’s ability to innovate and to defend against bad actors, including by third parties who might otherwise seek to extract value from open-source or community-driven work. In the context of Bitkey and Proto, this allows open-source development to proceed without constraints.
We consider good faith actors to include legitimate competition, research, education, and innovation. We do not consider it good faith to monopolize markets or create knock-off products designed to deceive consumers.
It's important to note that patents don't always reflect near-term product plans. Companies file patent applications for various reasons, including protecting current and future innovations; maintaining freedom to operate in evolving technical spaces; defending ecosystem participants from patent assertion; or preserving options for future development directions.
We’re being explicit about these patents because transparency makes it easier for builders, researchers, and the broader bitcoin community to evaluate what applies to them, rely on it with confidence, and hold us accountable over time.
While Block is a founding member of the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), OpenIP serves a complementary but distinct purpose. COPA focuses on preventing industry-wide patent disputes in the cryptocurrency space, while our OpenIP pledge is a unilateral commitment that provides more flexibility in how builders can use our innovations and extends beyond cryptocurrency to encompass broader technologies.
This expansion of OpenIP represents our ongoing commitment to fostering an open ecosystem where innovation can flourish. We invite hardware manufacturers, developers, and builders to explore and join us in this effort. For more information about the specific patents included in this expansion and how to leverage them in your projects, visit block.xyz/openip.
As we continue to expand OpenIP, we remain committed to our vision of an innovation landscape that serves builders first. By opening these hardware-related patents, we're taking another step toward a future where technological advancement is driven by collaboration rather than constraint.
For builders interested in learning more about our open source initiatives and how they complement OpenIP, visit our Open Source Programs Office.