ARCHOS, a French multinational electronics company, has announced that it is providing the cryptocurrency community with the ARCHOS Safe-T Mini, its first hardware wallet to prevent hacking attempts.
The crypto industry has had its fair share of hacks. Last week, South Korean exchange Bithumb was the victim of a hack, resulting in the theft of $31 million worth of cryptocurrencies. This followed the ‘cyber intrusion’ at Seoul-based exchange Coinrail, where thieves reportedly siphoned off with around $40 million of crypto reserves earlier this month.
The ARCHOS Safe-T Mini provides cryptocurrency traders with a cold storage wallet, combining a high level of security for their crypto assets. The wallet is available to pre-order on amazon.com and archos.com for shipment starting Tuesday, 17th July 2018. It is priced at €49,99, £49,99, and $59,99. For the first time, ARCHOS will accept payment in Bitcoin on its online store.
Unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, the Safe-T Mini enables a user to:
- Isolate its cryptographic keys (offline) to protect its assets;
- Send and receive payment securely;
- Check its account securely;
- If a user loses its Safe-T Mini, they can recover the coins using a 24-word recovery seed key;
- Executes all transactions on the device, offline;
- Embeds a screen that displays entire transaction information, so that user can check details on screen before validating;
- All transactions must be validated physically via the hardware buttons of the Safe-T Mini;
- It restrictively requires manufacturer software on the device while requesting the setup of a PIN code and a recovery seed key to ensure that only the owner can access and use it.
According to Statista, nearly 24 million people worldwide own cryptocurrencies. Since Bitcoin’s creation the number of blockchain wallets has grown, and with the industry continuing to attract new investors that number is set to increase. Unfortunately, this put them at risk of cybercriminals gaining access to their crypto assets, which may be stored via hot wallets.
Based on open-source software developed by Trezor, ARCHOS used its expertise in hardware design and security to develop its own product. The company said that the hardware has been designed to include a CryptoMemory as the root of trust, a chip dedicated to security. It is this which protects a user’s private key, allows PIN protection, streams encryption, and has hardware countermeasures to attacks such as anti-tearing functions.
The ARCHOS Safe-T Mini is compatible with Electrum and MyCrypto. It supports over 75 percent of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BCH, Litecoin, Dash, Bitcoin Gold, and ERC20 tokens. ARCHOS has said that it is working on adding new cryptocurrencies.
As a complete plug and play system, ARCHOS has created an intuitive and easy to use web application. Connection is done via a micro USB before going on to the ARCHOS website and then following the steps indicated. Once a user is connected they are required to set a four to six digit PIN password. A private key is then generated and safely stored. Private and recovery keys are stored offline, so the device can’t be hacked.
With the crypto community still at risk of hacking attempts from nefarious individuals, it pays to have something on hand that can be relied upon. Among the hardware wallets available, the ARCHOS Safe-T Mini is aiming to provide the solution when it comes to securely storing a person’s crypto assets offline.
Find out more and buy the Archos Safe-T Mini on their official site