We have seen many intriguing creations in the world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Stash may be one of this year’s more interesting projects, as it is a combination of a Bitcoin full node promising full financial control and an augmented chain. According to the team, this mobile financial platform and service has been in development for seven years. Now is a good time to look at what the Stash Node Pro entails exactly.
Stash Node Pro is Versatile
When it comes to deploying new Bitcoin-related hardware outside of mining equipment, people will always remain skeptical at first. Setting up a full Bitcoin node or running a proper Bitcoin wallet on one’s own system is not exactly difficult. Nor does it require expensive hardware to do so, as all you need is a Raspberry Pi 3 and a hard drive with enough space. At the same time, the Stash Node Pro is about a lot more than just this, by the look of things. According to its website, it is the first turnkey plug-and-play solution with support for Open-Transactions.
To be sure, the Stash Node Pro is still a Bitcoin full node first and foremost. It has a self-hosted copy of the blockchain and doesn’t discriminate chains based on their block sizes. This means the project is viable for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and whatever other iterations we may see in the future. That’s a smart decision by the team, as it is important to introduce solutions which support all forms of Bitcoin.
Secondly, the Stash Node Pro purports to provide “financial control”, as there is no third-party service involved. Instead, users are in full control of their money, wallet, and private key. Moreover, this project contains support for Open Transactions, which is something we haven’t seen in other products to date. This feature allows for recurring payments, invoicing, smart contracts, and even end-to-end encrypted messages. All of these features are pretty interesting and may attract a lot of enthusiasm from Bitcoin enthusiasts.
Furthermore, there is a standalone Bitcoin wallet app which can be used on Android, by the look of things. The companion app is capable of pairing with the Stash Node Pro, which gives users full access to their own copy of the Bitcoin blockchain at all times. Additionally, it introduces reusable payment addresses, which are based on BIP47. There is also an option to issue refunds, which is something that hasn’t been presented to Bitcoin users in a convenient fashion until now.
As one would expect, all of this goodness doesn’t come cheap. In fact, the Stash Node Pro is one of the most expensive Bitcoin hardware gadgets that has nothing to do with cryptocurrency mining. The price of US$987 may not necessarily be warranted at this point, even though it packs a ton of interesting features. At the same time, anyone in the world could set up a rather similar system for far less money. Those who value convenience over learning things on their own may be willing to pay full retail price for this product, though.
In the end, it all comes down to finding the right market for a project such as the Stash Node Pro. With its massive price tag, this is not something which plenty of people will put on their Christmas lists. This device is not available as of right now due to extreme demand. Anyone purchasing now will have to deal with a delay of multiple weeks before their unit is shipped out. It is evident there may be a market for a gadget like this, but advanced Bitcoin users may not see the added value in the Stash Node Pro.
