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| Kevin Lee, co-CEO and co-founder of IT security firm Keypair, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the firm's office in Gangnam, southern Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Keypair |
By Jun Ji-hye
While news about cyber attacks targeting cryptocurrency exchanges are making headlines day after day, demand for "cold wallet" systems has been rising to ensure safe virtual currency transactions.
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| Keypair's card-type cold wallet, "Key Wallet Touch," which can be connected to mobile phones via near field communications / Courtesy of Keypair |
The concept of cold wallets, which refers to hardware devices that look like USB storage drives or cards, is compared to that of hot wallets that create and store data online.
Keypair co-CEO and co-founder Kevin Lee said that the cold wallet system keeps virtual money separate from PCs or mobile phones. This makes cryptocurrency transactions safer from cyber threats as the devices, equipped with individual crypto-chips, are separated from the internet when not in use.
"Existing cold wallets were difficult to use due to a complicated setting process. We have simplified complex setting procedures when developing the Key Wallet Touch," Lee said during an interview with The Korea Times, Wednesday. "Users can simply touch the card on their mobile phones a few times for automatic setting."
When using the Key Wallet Touch, users can also save remittance charges significantly, he said, noting, "The charges are 30 to 40 times cheaper."
Lee said the "life span" of the device is almost indefinite. In case of losing the card, users can optionally be offered two cards at the beginning.
The Key Wallet Touch supports various virtual currencies including bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.
"Our device also supports ERC-20 Ethereum-based utility tokens," he said. "Most cold wallets currently on the market allow users to store about a maximum of five kinds of tokens, but there is no such limit in the Key Wallet Touch."
Lee added his firm has received many inquiries from customers around the world since the latest device was released.
The Key Wallet Touch is the second in the lineup of the firm's cold wallets. In March, the company released a USB-type "Key Wallet."
The firm plans to release the third, "Key Wallet Pro," an on-the-go type employing fingerprint verification technology, next month. This device was first unveiled during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018 held in Las Vegas in January.
The CEO noted that his firm is also developing the cold wallet system for corporate customers, tentatively named, "Key Wallet For Enterprise."
"We plan to unveil the new product for corporations within the year. Potential customers are cryptocurrency exchanges and investment companies," he said.
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