The cryptocurrency wallet evolution | Tech Biz

Presented by OraSaifu

Daily trading volume has reached nearly $3 billion for the top 10 cryptocurrencies, the number of active blockchain wallet users has grown to 26 million, and companies are scrambling to take advantage of a market that seems to be ever-expanding, because investors are required to set up a cryptocurrency wallet before they can even get started investing. What you’re looking at, essentially, is a captive market of cryptocurrency investors. Enter the smart wallet.

In the same way that cryptocurrency is more or less the digital equivalent of cash, a cryptocurrency wallet is, in a sense, the digital place you stash it. But unlike a physical wallet, cryptocurrency isn’t stored literally; what they do is secure your private key for accessing the public address of your cryptocurrency, and set transactions in motion.

There are three cryptocurrency wallet types on the current market: hardware wallets, software wallets, and paper wallets. Hardware wallets are physical devices, such as USBs, with private keys encrypted in them, while a software wallet is electronic, living either on your desktop or phone, or in the cloud. Paper wallets, which actually exist in this digital world, are physical, analog documents with private keys recorded on them.

Each of the types of cryptocurrency wallet varies in terms of its safety and security and how convenient they actually are to access and use.

The old-school paper wallet

If you’re looking to remain immune to online hacker attacks, you can’t go wrong with a paper wallet, which seems almost quaint – but given the value of cryptocurrency, and its potential vulnerability, it’s unsurprising that some investors think going old school is the only way to stay safe.

It’s an actual physical document that records the public address at which you can get cryptocurrency, plus the private key that lets you use them as currency or transfer them. You can generate them randomly via services across the web and then print them. Some services offer tamper-resistant designs or let you order a bonus holographic label to seal the deal.

And of course while the top advantage means hackers and various flavors of malware aren’t getting anywhere near your coins, you have to generate the wallet in the first place on a clean operating system, generate the keys offline, and use a physically connected printer, not a network one. You’ve also got to keep that slip of paper secure – no setting your coffee on top of it while you’re sitting at your computer surfing.

The hackable software wallet

If you’re an active cryptocurrency user, a software wallet is generally more convenient and easier to access, storing your private key electronically. Mobile apps allow you to trade or pay face-to-face efficiently from your phone, sometimes even enabling tap-to-read features. Like mobile wallets, a web wallet lets you access your cryptocurrency when you’re out and about, when you’re connected to the internet. Both keep keys stored on servers controlled by third parties, however, putting you at someone else’s mercy, essentially, whether that means your wallet’s exchange goes on the lam or a hacker breaks in and starts merrily downloading.

A desktop-based e-wallet is more secure than either. They’re on your hard drive so the data’s all yours, and thereby harder to steal – but a constant connection to the internet also introduces vulnerability, as ever.

The secure hardware wallet

Hardware wallets are considered the most secure kind of cryptocurrency wallet, hardened against viruses and other attacks. Funds can’t be transferred out of the device in plaintext, a device with a screen can be used to add security layers and verify payments.

Smart wallets: the next stage

As the cryptocurrency market grows, demand for a mobile, secure payment avenue are growing – and as the number of ways you can pay electronically expand, some manufacturers are seeing opportunity in creating a new kind of smart wallet. OraSaifu, a smart tech company based in Japan, is developing an all-in-one hardware-style wallet that folds in store credit cards, cryptocurrencies, membership cards and door cards, can function as as Apple Pay in Starbucks, and more.

“Business cards, club membership cards, Costco card, your gym membership card, your work badge, your smart lock — everything NFC enabled, we can copy it and store it, so you don’t have to go through millions of cards just to make through the door,” Liu says. “We anticipate that because it marries secure function with elegant form, it will become the tech professional’s new lifestyle gadget.”

For security, the company has gone all in on both TEE and SE technology, offline storage, and 2-step transaction authentication. Cold wallet mode uses NFC and Offline QR code reading technology for internet-isolated point-to-point transactions, and the wallet’s anti-theft solution will wipe the hardware clean, if authentication fails five times in a row.

About the size of a bank card, and thinner than 0.1 inches, OraSaifu supports the leading digital currencies, and can send and receive payments and checking account details, as well as manage multiple addresses. It’s designed to be sexy, too, with a smooth surface, sleek cut, round angle and 4-inch bezel-less display and a 83.87 percent screen-to-body ratio – better, Liu notes, than an iPhone. It’s also packed in a premium Italian genuine leather pouch, to impress the other kids.

The OraSaifu R&D team members are former employees from Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Nokia and Huawei, with extensive experience in blockchain, big data, internet security, and mobile hardware fields. OraSaifu gained millions in first-round angel investment and is actively building connections with top block chain technology parties. The OraSaifu global launch starts in late July, on indiegogo.

The OraSaifu smart wallet global launch will start on Indiegogo on July 19th, 2018, with early bird sales registration starting now.

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