Tropic Square Completes Initial Testing On New Open-Source Secure Element Chip

The Prague-based company has been acquiring feedback and data on the performance of their open-source prototype chip for Bitcoin hardware.

Tropic Square, a startup backed by SatoshiLabs, the company behind Trezor, has been testing their new TROPIC01 chip, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine.

Prototypes of the chip arrived from UMC, the Taiwanese production company, in December of 2022. Testing of the secure element chips is slated to continue throughout the first half of 2023.

The press release describes how “initial test results are very positive and have already shown that the chip development can continue as originally planned – to produce a second prototype next year and then, after verification, start mass serial production.”

Tropic Square’s goal with the design and production of the chip is to create an open-source security chip for usage in Bitcoin hardware. Bitcoin Magazine previously covered the announcement of the chip in August 2022, in which the Tropic Square team described how “Being open-source will allow the company to make improvements based on community and expert feedback.”

According to Tropic Square CEO Evzen Englberth, the testing “brings us substantially closer to mass production and closer to the introduction of the first transparent solution. These chips will then have the chance to fundamentally change the current security standards in the market.”

Jan Pleskač, CTO of Tropic Square, describes how “Examining and vetting the chip from every possible angle will help ensure the quality and reliability of the final product that goes out into the world.”

The press release details the company’s plans to make the final pre-production prototypes in the coming year, then hopefully start mass production and launch their product on the market in 2025.