Why This CEO Stopped Calling It a Hardware Wallet

<p>Zach Herbert has been building Bitcoin hardware since 2020, and Foundation no longer calls its device a hardware wallet. Cam Stromme sits down with the Foundation CEO on open source, why self-custody is still early, and why your most important keys belong off your phone in an age of AI agents.</p><p><br></p><p>Guest: Zach Herbert, CEO and co-founder of Foundation, maker of Passport Prime.</p><p>X: https://x.com/zherbert</p><p><br></p><p>JOIN US IN MINNEAPOLIS</p><p>Onramp After Hours: a happy hour with Cam Stromme at Pryes Brewing in Minneapolis on October 28. Save your spot:</p><p>📍 https://luma.com/7o9q1hta</p><p><br></p><p>BOOK A CONSULTATION</p><p>Holding Bitcoin for decades raises two questions: who protects it, and how it reaches your family. Onramp answers both. Three institutions protect it, and no single one can lose it, move it, or use it. Inheritance built in. Insured through Lloyd&#39;s of London. Speak with our team to see if it fits.</p><p>👉 https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/consult-fp-pod</p><p><br></p><p>GET ON THE LIST</p><p>Our research, event invites, and the week&#39;s Bitcoin news in one free email.</p><p>📩 https://go.onrampbitcoin.com/research-fp-pod</p><p><br></p><p>ABOUT THIS EPISODE</p><p>Zach Herbert has been a Bitcoiner since 2013, from air-gapped laptops running Armory to selling hardware wallets on OpenBazaar, and he started Foundation on the first day of the 2020 lockdowns. He tells Cam why open source matters more for Bitcoin than for any other kind of money, why he sees it as free market capitalism rather than charity, and what the big custodians are actually running behind the curtain. Zach argues the industry has been judging self-custody devices on the wrong things, explains how the KeyOS microkernel gives every app its own sandbox and its own key, and walks through the design choices behind Passport Prime. He makes the case that self-custody has not even crossed the chasm yet, why Foundation now calls Passport Prime human authority hardware, and why everyone needs a root of trust outside the reach of their phone and their AI agents. They close on simple steps to lock down your email and accounts, documenting your setup, and planning for inheritance.</p><p><br></p><p>CHAPTERS</p><p>00:00 - Foundation, Asimov and Zach Herbert</p><p>02:56 - Why Zach started Foundation in 2020</p><p>06:50 - Why Bitcoin demands open source</p><p>18:26 - What custodians run behind the curtain</p><p>25:01 - The state of self-custody</p><p>25:5