We're not chasing features — we're chasing longevity. This week's decision was about the two parts of the wallet you physically touch: the buttons and the USB-C port. We chose both for one thing — how long they last.
On a hardware wallet, the button is not a convenience. It is the consent mechanism: every transaction the device signs is a transaction someone physically pressed a button to approve, and that press is the last thing standing between a compromised computer and your Bitcoin.
Buttons rated for a million presses
The buttons are the parts you touch most, so they shouldn't be the first thing to wear out. We picked a tactile switch from Alps Alpine (the SKHC series) rated for a mechanical life of 1,000,000 cycles. Press it ten times a day and it will outlast the rest of the device many times over.
A USB-C port good for decades
The connector is the one moving part that meets a cable every time you use the wallet. We chose a GCT USB-C port rated for 20,000 mating cycles. Plug in once a day — 365 times a year — and that's over fifty years of use. The port should never be the reason a wallet dies.
Durable, not fancy
That's the whole aim in one line: we're building a durable hardware wallet, not a fancy one. Every part is chosen for lifespan over novelty. Bitcoin is meant to last for decades — the device that guards it should comfortably outlast the five years we set as our floor, and then keep going.
Why cycle ratings matter on a device like this
Work the numbers against a real lifetime. A button rated for 1,000,000 presses, on a device used weekly with a handful of confirmations each time, will outlast the person's interest in counting. A USB-C port rated for 20,000 insertions covers plugging in twice a week for twenty years. Neither figure is chosen to look impressive on a spec sheet — they are chosen so that the parts you physically touch are not the parts that decide when the PHYLAX hardware wallet stops working. Cheap tactile switches and cheap connectors are the usual first failures in consumer hardware, and they are the two things you cannot avoid using.
More component choices from the bench soon. Want to press those million-cycle buttons yourself? We'll have the prototype at Bitcoin Thailand Conference 2026.