Foundation, a Boston-based bitcoin hardware wallet company, has closed a $6.4 million funding round led by Fulgur Ventures. Arche Capital also chipped in. The money will push the firm well beyond storing crypto — into identity, multi-factor authentication, and a new bet: hardware that authorizes AI agents in real time.
Beyond the cold wallet
Most people know Foundation for its Passport hardware wallet, a device designed to keep bitcoin keys offline. That’s still the core business. But the company sees a bigger opportunity in using the same secure hardware to authenticate a person’s identity or authorize an AI agent to act on their behalf. The new funding will go toward building that platform.
Authorizing AI agents in real time
Here’s the hook: as AI agents get more capable — trading, signing, managing accounts — someone needs to approve what they do. Foundation wants to be the physical trust anchor. Think of a hardware token that an AI agent pings before it moves funds or changes a setting. The device says yes or no. That’s a different use case from just holding your bitcoin, but it relies on the same security architecture.
The investors
Fulgur Ventures led the round. It’s a firm that focuses on bitcoin-adjacent infrastructure, so the fit makes sense. Arche Capital, another crypto-native investor, joined in. Neither firm disclosed their exact stake. Foundation hasn't said when the new features will ship, but the company is known for taking its time on hardware releases — the Passport went through multiple revisions before launching.
The timing isn't accidental. AI agents are proliferating fast, and most rely on software-based permissions that can be phished or exploited. A dedicated hardware layer is a harder target. Whether users will want to plug a wallet into their AI stack is an open question. Foundation is betting the answer is yes.
