Frozen Security adds Bitcoin Core contributor Ján Sáreník to advisory board

By AI, Created 11:11 AM UTC, May 20, 2026, /AGP/ – Frozen Security has formed an advisory board and named Bitcoin Core contributor Ján Sáreník to help guide its Bitcoin custody product as the company moves from patent work toward production. The Tel Aviv startup is pitching a physically governed custody system designed to keep private keys from ever existing as stored digital data.

Why it matters: - Frozen Security is trying to solve one of Bitcoin custody’s core risks: the stored digital key that can be extracted from many hardware wallets. - The company’s design aims to keep private keys off chips, out of firmware updates and away from vendor-controlled storage. - Sáreník’s appointment adds protocol-level Bitcoin and enterprise security expertise to a product aimed at self-custody users.

What happened: - Frozen Security announced the formation of its Advisory Board and appointed Ján Sáreník, a contributor to Bitcoin Core and enterprise systems architect. - The announcement was made May 4, 2026, from Tel Aviv, Israel. - Frozen Security is a Bitcoin self-custody company developing what it calls physically governed custody. - Sáreník is one of fewer than 400 engineers who have contributed to Bitcoin Core. - His background includes engineering leadership roles at Red Hat and Tk Open Systems.

The details: - Frozen Security says its custody system uses a titanium plate that encodes a standard seed phrase as a physical pattern. - A stateless signing terminal reads the plate, derives the private key in memory, signs a transaction and then discards all key material immediately. - The architecture is protected by a published US patent application. - Frozen Security says the system does not keep the private key as stored digital data. - Neevai Esinli, Frozen Security founder, said common hardware wallet setups can expose digital keys to extraction in under 15 minutes with standard equipment. - Sáreník said most custody tools still require trust in a chip, a vendor or a firmware update, and said Frozen’s design removes that dependency. - Frozen Security says the plate can be read without any device and is compatible with standard Bitcoin wallet software. - The company also says the system requires no firmware updates. - Frozen Security says there is no vendor dependency. - Esinli founded Frozen Security after earlier startups BitDam and Spendl, both of which were acquired. - Esinli also previously served as an engineer in Unit 8200. - Sáreník is based in Slovakia and remains active in Bitcoin’s open-source ecosystem. - Frozen Security is accepting pre-orders at the company’s announcement. - The company also shared social links to LinkedIn and X.

Between the lines: - The board appointment signals Frozen Security is moving from patent development toward production engineering. - Bringing in a Bitcoin Core contributor may help the company bolster credibility with technical users who care about protocol fidelity and security design. - The product pitch is built around a clear contrast with standard hardware wallets: physical seed storage plus transient signing instead of persistent digital key storage.

What’s next: - Sáreník will guide the systems architecture of the signing terminal and oversee critical engineering decisions as Frozen Security moves toward production. - Frozen Security is now taking pre-orders as it transitions into the next phase of product development. - The company has not disclosed a launch date in the announcement.

The bottom line: - Frozen Security is betting that Bitcoin users want hardware-level custody without hardware-level key storage, and it is adding high-level protocol expertise to push that idea toward market-ready product.