Anyone heard of them? Piston Vault hardware wallet.

[CannibalHolocaust]

I got passed this by someone on the institutional side. It's a hosted hardware wallet.

https://vimeo.com/337814182

It looks like they have not launched yet. Anyone has more about them? I think it looks interesting.

CH

[o_e_l_e_o]

So let me get this right. You buy a hardware wallet, but you never actually physically get it in your hands or even see it. This company stores it in their data centres, and you access it remotely via the internet. This just seems like a glorified (and likely very expensive) web wallet.

The whole point of a hardware wallet is so that you don't have to trust a third party to look after you funds. With this set up, you are trusting a third party to store both your funds electronically and your hardware wallet physically. You are trusting their electronic and physical security. You are trusting their software, and you are trusting their employees. Not to mention that a data centre containing thousands of these wallets (as they are proposing in their video) would be a massively appealing target for attackers.

Not your keys, not your bitcoin.

[Pmalek]

This is really a bad idea. That is not even close to how a hardware device is supposed to work. You are again relying on a third party to protect your funds properly and you are trusting someone you don't know with your money.
This is as safe as sending all your bitcoins for safe keeping to a random person here on the forum.
Just stick with the well known brands, there is no need to experiment and potentially get yourself in trouble.   

[CannibalHolocaust]

I still have to trust the exchange when I want to trade since they want me to send them my funds first. I don't see the difference. I also have to trust Ledger or other wallet companies - hardware or software - that they did not put malicious code in their wallet. This thing about "I will not trust anyone" is a bit for wackos that believe in conspiracy theories I think. I trust my bank and doctors - we all do - if these folks are reputable I think it's fine. People trusted ICOs from all sort of shady folks LOL - that was something really stupid - didn't stop them investing and getting screwed though 

I think this thing is like a Ledger minus I don't have to find a hole to hide the wallet into. That cylinder looks pretty solid too to me, and data centers have a ton of security features. Ask any real stock exchange.

[o_e_l_e_o]

First of all, given that you created an account minutes before making this topic, it is clear you are in some way affiliated with this project. Better to just be honest about than trying to create fake buzz.

I still have to trust the exchange when I want to trade since they want me to send them my funds first.

And we all know that trusting an exchange has never turned out poorly before. We've lost count of how many exchanges have exit scammed, closed down, been shut down, disappeared, demanded unreasonable KYC procedures, or otherwise stolen funds from users. It is common knowledge that you should never store you funds on an exchange.

I also have to trust Ledger or other wallet companies - hardware or software - that they did not put malicious code in their wallet.

Both Ledger and Trezor software is open source. You don't have to trust anyone - you can examine the code yourself.

This thing about "I will not trust anyone" is a bit for wackos that believe in conspiracy theories I think.

This thing about not trusting third parties the entire basis for bitcoin. The second line of the bitcoin whitepaper reads: "While the system works well enough for most transactions, it still suffers from the inherent weaknesses of the trust based model." By your metric, everyone who owns bitcoin is a "wacko".

I trust my bank and doctors - we all do - if these folks are reputable I think it's fine.

There is a difference between trusting a multi-national, regulated, insured bank, and a completely unknown, unregulated, and unregistered start up.

People trusted ICOs from all sort of shady folks LOL - that was something really stupid - didn't stop them investing and getting screwed though

Yes, people trusted ICOs, and >99% of people ended up getting scammed. This is not an argument for your case.

I think this thing is like a Ledger minus I don't have to find a hole to hide the wallet into.

This is like a Ledger minus the entire point of a hardware wallet. You don't control your keys, and so you don't control your coins. You might as well just use a web wallet.

[HCP]

Looks shady AF... A newbie account asking about a product/service that has zero web presence? All the vimeo videos have gone, and the only crypto related google results for "Piston Vault wallet" is either this thread(!) or the missing vimeo videos.

In any case, based on the replies here... and the OPs description... a "hosted" hardware wallet seems to be no different to a web wallet where the service provider stores funds in a hardware wallet

If this is actually a "product" that someone is attempting to bring to market, I don't think they've thought it all the way through.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Looks shady AF... A newbie account asking about a product/service that has zero web presence? All the vimeo videos have gone, and the only crypto related google results for "Piston Vault wallet" is either this thread(!) or the missing vimeo videos.

Yes. If the product itself wasn't giving off enough red flags as is, this behavior screams "scam" to me. Brand new account created just to shill the project, and all traces of the project disappear as soon as it is called out for being a bad idea. The whole "Not trusting people is for wackos" suggests the guy hasn't even read the bitcoin whitepaper, but he's trying to sell a bitcoin hardware wallet?

For those who didn't see the video, it was quite professional looking and showed close ups of the individual wallets, their data storage devices, their mechanism for connecting and disconnecting individual wallets as required, etc. I struggle to believe a company would be this far along in the development of a product and have absolutely zero online presence, or be so unable to defend their product that they disappear at the first sign of criticism.

I suspect this project/video will show up again somewhere, perhaps somewhere less technically minded than this sub-board, "accepting orders" which they never deliver.

[HCP]

Well... it appears that they now have a domain (with a placeholder website)... https://www.pistonvault.com/

And the video is now back up as "v6.0": https://vimeo.com/337814182
Vimeo user account: https://vimeo.com/user98720655

I still don't quite understand why you would want someone else having physical possession of "your" hardware wallet? Maybe once they get the website up and running properly it might fill in some of the blanks...

[o_e_l_e_o]

And the video is now back up as "v6.0": https://vimeo.com/337814182

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the exact same video that OP linked to before, except before it was titled v2.0. Not sure what, if anything, has changed.

At least the description in the Vimeo account is honest about this (emphasis mine):

Piston Vault develops, deploys, and manages digital-assets custodial solutions based on proprietary hardware and software.

They are at least admitting that their set up, however over-engineered, amounts to little more than a web based custodial wallet. I honestly cannot think of a single advantage to this set up over say buying a Ledger and carrying it around with you.