[4] Business Today stated in July 2023 that Block was imparting Bitkey a "minimalistic" and "sleek" design with no screen interface on the hardware device itself.

[5] Block officially launched Bitkey on December 7, 2023 in more than 95 countries including the U.S., Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Nigeria and India, making it available for pre-orders for US$150.

[1][2] At the time of launch, the company presented Bitkey as a "self-custody" wallet, enabling users to store bitcoin independently from "custodial platforms" or cryptocurrency exchanges, thereby reducing reliance on third-party custodians.

Furthermore, Block stated that, in contrast to other self-custody options, the wallet would not require users to memorize lengthy passwords or seed phrases for securing their bitcoin.

[1] According to Block, Bitkey was a two-of-three multisignature wallet, meaning there were three keys in the system, but any two of them needed to work together to approve transactions and recovery actions.