Elliptic and Gem Collaborate to Reinforce Multi-signature Wallet Security

| Updated
by Eugenia Romanenko · 3 min read
Elliptic and Gem Collaborate to Reinforce Multi-signature Wallet Security
Elliptic CEO Dr. James Smith. Photo: Elliptic

Elliptic, the London fintech start-up, and Gem, Californian API developer, are going to set a new security standard for multi-signature bitcoin wallets.

Elliptic Enterprises Ltd., a full-service bitcoin custodian for investment funds, banks and exchanges, announced a new partnership with Gem, Bitcoin security platform provider. Elliptic is going to ensure the storage of customers’ third private key for Gem’s multi-signature wallet API.

Elliptic is the founding member of UK Digital Currency Association (UKDCA) and is backed by Octopus Venture. Plus, the firm is collaborating with the UK government and financial regulators to help develop regulation framework for digital currencies.

Elliptic is insured by a Fortune 100 underwriter and accredited by a Big Four auditing firm for financial reporting at a standard applied to banks. The company provides exchange integration services and fully insured bitcoin storage.

“Elliptic is the most trusted name in private key storage and our tight integration means that there is no single point of failure for Gem’s multi-signature wallets,” states Micah Winkelspecht, Gem CEO.

Gem, founded in 2014 and located in Venice, CA, provides developers with the possibility to build blockchain apps easily using a few lines of code. The Gem API deals with multifactor authentication and Hardware Security Modules to provide comprehensive security solutions for Bitcoin applications.

As for the private keys, a multi-signature wallet has three of them. Customers are repsponsible for two of the keys, the third one is held by the wallet provider. Through the new partnership, Gem, Elliptic and the customer will each hold one of the keys.

In case the customer’s key is lost, Gem and Elliptic will use their private keys to send funds to a new account. So, Elliptic’s insurance and distributing private keys across two trusted parties will provide a higher level of security for clients.

“This is a major leap forward for multi-signature technology,” Micah Winkelspecht comments on the importance of the partnership. “Now clients can rest easy knowing that even if they lose their private key, they can rely on two independent parties to secure their assets.”

James Smith, Elliptic CEO, adds:

“At Elliptic, our focus is on bringing bitcoin to the enterprise by developing secure and convenient products and processes. By combining Gem’s API platform with our insured and accredited key storage service, a new bar has been set for multi-signature wallet security and usability.”

In fact, splitting off the third private key appears to be a simple but clever move. In addition to that, the insurance is always a bonus. The customers holding a Bitcoin wallet will get an extra degree of protection, which is always needed as far as Bitcoin wallet hacking is not a rare thing as we wish it was.

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