Coinkite, a Bitcoin-only wallet developer, recently released MK5, a much better lifestyle and user upgrade to MK4 Coldcard, building on the solid security foundation established by its founders. The MK5 comes in many colors and styles. Today, I will review Orange and Light in dark colors, as well as their features and upgrades for users, to answer the question: is the upgrade of the device worth the money?
Building on the well-known and MK4 defense tower fixedwhich brought two security chips from different manufacturers and MCU to the same device. The MK5 focuses on the quality of life, improving the NFC connection, redesigning the buttons and the plastic chassis of the hardware bag, and adding a larger screen, among other new features. This is the first upgrade to the Coinkite MK range since the MK4 was launched in 2022, and incorporates some of the technologies introduced by Coldcard Q in 2023.
What’s new with the MK5 Coldcard?
The big UX upgrade is immediately noticeable; the screen, for one, is much larger, perhaps 30% larger. Theirs blog announcement they describe it as a “1.54-inch display protected by Gorilla Glass,” which looks and feels stronger than previous models.
The next obvious thing is the buttons. Unlike the MK4’s buttons, which are recessed, requiring your fingers to enter the socket to hit them, the MK5’s buttons are almost flush with the device’s chassis, making them easier to press. The press feels good, it clicks, giving the user a solid tactile response. More comfortable than warm, slightly uncomfortable, unresponsive touch screen, as seen in other hardware bags.
You also quickly notice that the chassis has been redesigned. The window section no longer extends above the keyboard; Instead, it’s all a single rectangle with rounded edges. It looks modern, very elegant, and maintains the cypherpunk transparency that characterizes the original equipment, the signature design principle of Coinkite products.
The MK5 also comes with a button and a half protective cover that slides in and clicks out. It can be completely removed and fit perfectly from the back of the device, exposing the USB power at the bottom of the device without any problem.
NFC Push Transactions
Finally, Coinkite doubles down on NFC and MK5 support. In short for near-field communication, the NFC antenna is very popular in the Bitcoin industry. From the NFC tap to pay Bolt cards with cool designs and laser eyes, or Coinkite’s Tapsigners, to Click on Cashu to send the form made by Calle.
NFC is a powerful alternative to other wireless communication technologies such as Bluetooth or Wifi, which some hardware wallet providers have adopted, but they come with some problems, especially their colors. Unlike other methods, NFC is short by design; We’re talking in centimeters, while Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are measured in tens of meters. So the risk that someone with a long range antenna pointing at your home could work by bypassing or connecting to your remote device, is gone.
There aren’t many ways to connect a device with NFC; phones may have a feature to turn on and off, the program will begin scanning, and transmission may occur. No pin codes, no filtering through the list of Bluetooth-enabled devices. Very simple UX in mind. It is also very successful in terms of user experience when transferring pre-signed SD cards from laptops or smartphones. Although NFC may cross the ‘airgapped’ line in the MK4 and MK5, NFC still has the best qualities of all wireless connectivity options, and is standardised. Similar to the method of connecting the MK5 to a computer via USB to transfer data, the NFC antenna can also be disconnected at the hardware level by cutting another wire inside the hardware.
Coinkite’s NFC push Tx software is open source and much smaller in terms of lines of code than Bluetooth or Wifi. The full NFC push Tx code is open source. The client web app this part of the protocol has no defined license and must be integrated with any Internet connection. When hardware side The code is in the public domain, but is limited by a non-commercial license.
MK5 graphics
Playing into the Bitcoiner’s hunger for collectibles, the MK5 comes in several colors, such as bright gold, bright orange, and glow-in-the-dark! I got to play with the orange and blue glow-in-the-dark, though I wish I could have gotten my hands on some gold.
However, the design is beautiful, transparent enough to see the devices, but beautiful enough to be beautiful. This is what they look like in action.
Supply Chain Security
The makeup was also very interesting; the box that contained the hardware came with a purchase order for the items, which were inside non-standard security bags. The bags were made of very hard plastic, not something you could tear, which required a knife to cut through. The bags are also marked with a unique number, which is shown in the pictures below. In the bag was another plastic note with the same number. And when the device was turned on for the first time, it showed the same number on the screen. This is the flash memory code that is installed on each device at the factory. Making a hack and changing the hardware firmware is very difficult. The next level would be to notify the user of the wallet number via email or behind the login page, so that they can have a side method to re-verify the number.
If you see anything out of the ordinary, you are encouraged to take pictures and reach out to Coinkite support.
The battery is a hardware device visible in the image below COLDPOWER adapter by Coinkitethat I had around I thought I’d give it another try. It means that the device will provide air power, no cables connected to any computer, because even bad Wifi that is repeated in the power supply can send power wires (lol).
Things to fix?
The integration of NFC Push Tx with mobile wallets was a no-brainer. I tried Cove, Bull Bitcoin and Nunchuck. Of the three, Nunchuck had the best combination, with Cove not far behind. Bull Bitcoin seems to have stopped the trend or hidden it well. Cove is a young project that can improve by leaps and bounds in the coming months, while the Nunchuck bag is very high quality and powerful, it took me a few minutes to realize but in the end I became the best form of the three.
Even if I have a strong NFC antenna, I have to remove my phone in vain to get reliable data transmission, but this is not the end of the world.
Conclusion: Is the MK5 worth the upgrade?
As the proud owner of what I now realize is an old MK3, moving to the MK5 is a huge upgrade, and at a low price of $167 plus shipping, I’d say it’s a no brainer. That’s a whole generation of security and UX upgrades I didn’t realize I needed.
For MK4 users, a bigger screen and better buttons are a life changer, and a better NFC antenna can bring benefits and make operations more efficient. Again, compared to other hardware wallets in the market, the price is very reasonable.
For MK4 owners who only trade in a few times a year, however, the juice may not be worth the squeeze. They’re still getting firmware updates and getting all the security benefits, and they probably won’t miss out on the much more streamlined UX.
Disclaimer: Coinkite provided Bitcoin Magazine with several free MK5 Coldcards to use to test their product for review.
