Unikeys launches Ukey card to store cryptocurrencies

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Venture



Ukey Card

We’re still at the beginning of the blockchain and crypto journey, and making it easier to store and use cryptocurrencies through common platforms and devices will be essential to mainstream adoption.

With that in mind, Biometrically secured hardware wallet solution provider Unikeys has announced its hardware wallet, the UKey card, which introduces fingerprint technology to secure users’ cryptocurrencies in a familiar form factor: a credit card-style device.

Hardware wallets aren’t new, but they usually take the form of a USB key that requires a connection to a computer or tablet device for storage and retrieval of digital assets. And software wallets, while popular, are vulnerable to hacks.

So what makes the UKey card different?

A smart hardware wallet, it offers three-factor authentication by introducing patented biometric security to a design that looks like a regular credit card. In partnership with French smartcard designer MeReal Biometrics, Unikeys has included a fingerprint sensor that lets users store biometric data without ever exposing that information to the internet or storing it with a third party.

“The UKey card is a cold wallet,” Unikeys CEO and cofounder Alexandre Tabbakh told me. “Cold storage wallets refer to any type of wallet that is independent of any internet connections (paper wallets, brain wallets, or hardware wallets), like physical devices that safely store and isolate private keys.”

The card only works after successfully authenticating a registered fingerprint, and it has various failsafes and backup procedures built in for emergency access. The UKey card is compatible with all Apple and Android phones and tablets via NFC and Bluetooth functions, and it supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, ERC20 Tokens, and the Unikeys Token.

The design works independently from the smartphone, which adds an extra layer of protection for budding cryptocurrency holders.

“With the UKey card, the private keys are isolated inside the card and can only be utilized to sign transactions through an accurate fingerprint authentication,” Tabbakh said. “Even if the user’s phone gets hacked, the hacker won’t be able to retrieve the private keys.”

With a commonly accepted design and three-factor security, Unikeys hopes to make cryptocurrencies more acceptable to the masses.

“We intend to accelerate and facilitate the process for users to adopt cryptocurrencies by enabling them to use cards that are easy to use, secure, and versatile for more flexibility,” Tabbakh said. “The biometric feature also provides a sentiment of security that is needed on the card market, which is at the moment proposing very little security [for] NFC connections.”

I do not know how safe biometrics is, but I find it much more practical to use biometrics than having to always type long passwords or read them on paper.

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I do not know how safe biometrics is, but I find it much more practical to use biometrics than having to always type long passwords or read them on paper.

It's a trade off between security and ease-of-use. As one goes up, the other goes down.

Fingerprint security is not hugely difficult to break. Fingerprints can be duplicated from near enough anything you've touched, or even just a high enough resolution picture of your hand. Or, as that old XKCD comic goes, someone can just hit you with a wrench and then use your actual finger when you are out cold.

Having said that, it looks like this company is combining fingerprint security with traditional 2FA.

[HCP]

That looks pretty cool... If it works as they say, that could be a very handy way of totting about some crypto without being as obvious as a usb based hardware wallet.

I'm not completely sold on the biometrics, but it's probably better than trying to implement some cumbersome PIN entry system. I'm also curious as to the "thickness" of this card... and how much bulk it might add to my wallet (I only use a "card sleeve" type wallet that is pretty thin, so every mm matters to me )