Summary
Release the hardware (schematics and PCB layout) design in a public Git repository under a free/libre/open source license (e.g. the CERN Open Hardware License).
Abstract
As Erik outlined in his Medium post https://erikvoorhees.medium.com/shapeshift-is-decentralizing-639bb4c82fc8:
KeepKey will likely migrate into an independent, open-source hardware wallet project and remain closely integrated with the ShapeShift platform.
Seeing as KeepKey is still a product sold directly on ShapeShift’s website, it appears to be a product being sold by/through the DAO. Therefore, it is presumably within the DAO’s ability to make a determination as to what license the KeepKey’s design should take on.
Motivation
Making the hardware open source will allow improvements to be made by competent hardware engineers within the community, such as myself. This move would also attract freedom-conscious audiences to the Shapeshift platform who explicitly seek to use a hardware platform that is fully open source. Additionally, by making the hardware design open source, the product can naturally integrate with the rest of the DAO nature of Shapeshift.
Currently, anyone looking to propose improvements to KeepKey is unable to since the hardware’s design files aren’t open source. I myself would be interested in contributing to the future revisions of the hardware, preventing it from becoming obsolete. If the KeepKey’s hardware design is kept proprietary, then it would not fit into the open source ecosystem of ShapeShift.
Benefits
ShapeShift will be able to accept community contributions to the KeepKey in the same open source manner as its software projects. While the firmware, software, and other associated assets of the KeepKey have been released under free/open source licenses, it is time for the hardware platform to follow suite. By releasing the schematics and PCB layout design files under a free/open source license, ShapeShift’s treasury will presumably incur no cost (0 FOX) and may reap immense rewards from the community.
Funding
The cost to do this should be very low, potentially zero, if all it takes is creating a Git repo and pushing the existing CAD files.