Hardware wallets have been around for quite some time now, the market is growing, and more solutions are available. KeepKey, the manufacturer of the Bitcoin wallet with the same name, has announced support for ether, the token of the Ethereum network.
Ethereum is a protocol which supports an $850 million economy and has quickly been positioned as the second cryptocurrency by market capitalization. It’s not a surprise, then, that new applications, services, and products have and will continue to emerge.
Hardware wallets are secure devices that store the private keys (the unlock mechanism that gives control over the token balances of a public address) in a secure environment, i.e. the device’s flash memory. Storing this information in dedicated equipment is one of the most secure ways to hold any cryptocurrency.
With a hardware wallet, a user can authorize transactions in any computer without having to worry about malware intercepting the private key.
KeepKey offers an innovative hardware wallet, featuring a 3″ OLED screen, a single button to authorize transactions, an aluminum case to house the electronics, and a hardware-based random number generator.
CEO of KeepKey Darin Stanchfield said:
Of all the assets we get asked to support on KeepKey, Ethereum is by far the most requested. It’s a massive project with a huge following and we are thrilled to release our public beta on Friday. The KeepKey and KeepKey Chrome Extension will be the first hardware wallet and application that supports Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum in one single user interface.
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, had some words to share over a KeepKey announcement:
User account security is one of the most important problems that must be dealt with for blockchain technology to achieve mass consumer adoption, and we highly welcome efforts like KeepKey that aim to solve this challenge.
Although today it’s very easy to have an Ethereum account and address, as well as markets to purchase ethers, security is still a great concern. Previously, the only hardware-based solution in the market was the Ledger Nano S, a competitor from KeepKey.
A couple of months ago KeepKey announced the support of ShapeShift, a service to easily and quickly swap between multiple cryptocurrencies. Erik Vorhees, CEO of ShapeShift, commented on KeepKey’s new update to provide secure ether storage:
Ethereum and Bitcoin on one hardware device provide immense value to the digital asset ecosystem. Companies like KeepKey have done more to advance individual financial security than banks have done in the past hundred years.
Cryptocurrency users should rejoice, as the market for hardware solutions continues to showcase growth.
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