How to Feel Safe with Crypto

We have soon come to the end of our article series, and you who have followed us through these stories know that we have used the aspect of security in almost all motivations for the features of the COINiD Wallet. You’d probably not ask why that is, as security has been a concern through the entire history of economy. Pirates hiding their treasures, people stuffing their money in the mattress, down payments when selling houses... Caring for your belongings is a state of mind for most people. As the world of cryptocurrency is still rather new and strange to many, the question of security may be considered natural, especially since crypto does not provide the security that people are used to get from a third party.

True, you can’t go to a bank and ask for help if you have lost crypto, and if coins are lost then they are usually lost forever. Nevertheless, there are many ways to keep your coins safe and make sure not to lose any funds. (That is apart from the common sense of keeping funds safe; people don’t usually walk around and shout out their credit card numbers just because they have a bank as security).

Use a spare, offline mobile device as your cold storage to keep your funds safe!

When developing our COINiD Wallet, we wanted to create something that solved the users’ concerns about the, at the time, existing wallets out there. We wanted a wallet done right. Security became one of our focus points and as crypto owners ourselves, we knew from before where it was lacking and what had to be improved for our future users to trust our wallet with their funds. Following is a brief catch-up on what security aspects we were thinking of when developing our mobile wallet.

First, we have the matter of cold storage. Yes, we know that you might be tired hearing about this when talking about crypto security, but nonetheless, it is the easiest and best way to protect your funds. As it is offline storage, no hackers can access your funds in your cold wallet. The only way someone can get access is if they get hold of the hardware and your keys protecting the wallet, so don’t let that happen. Most wallets offer some sort of complementary cold storage solution to their hot wallets, but we wanted to offer a cold storage solution that people did not have to spend a lot of money on. Everyone should have the opportunity to keep their funds safe.

With Bluetooth and QR-codes you never have to go online for signing in your cold wallet.

Apart from cold storage, we also wanted to dispel the myth that mobile hot wallets are always unsafe just because they are exposed online. Sure, anything in an online environment is more or less exposed to hackers, but there are ways in which you can protect yourself there as well. For instance, we included address validation in the COINiD Vault so that you can compare the generated address in both apps before you sign. We also believe that to be in full control of your own money, you should be in control of your private keys. Therefore, your keys never leave your device but are saved on your local keychain. Your balance is also hidden in idle mode and when opening 'receive'.

Your balance is hidden in ‘receive’ and idle mode.

We also took the liberty to add several unlocking and signing features to our wallet, so that you as a user can choose yourself what you feel most secure with. Apart from a regular PIN, you can also choose to identify yourself with Touch ID, Face ID and Android equivalent. When it comes to signing you can choose to either sign with QR-codes or BLE when using your cold wallet, so that nothing is exposed online. Safe and controllable.

Furthermore, the wallet also supports SegWit which enhances security by separating the signature data from the transaction data. In that way, the receiver cannot modify the sender's transaction ID as it is separated from the input. Another security feature in the wallet is the sign message function which can make both the sender and receiver feel more safe. The sender can prove its ownership of coins without having to expose any private keys, while the receiver can verify where the coins came from.

Sign and verify message to have a reliable identification.

So to sum up; these are what we consider our most prominent security features:

• Cold storage in a separate mobile device that you keep offline.
• Address validation to make sure that you sign for the same address in the vault as you have created the transaction for in the wallet.
• Your balance is hidden in idle mode and when opening the ‘receive’ dialogue.
• Your private keys never leave your device.
• Identify yourself with Touch ID and Face ID or Android Equivalent.
• Sign with Bluetooth Low Energy or QR-codes when offline.
• SegWit which separates your signature data from the transaction data.
• Signed message to prove your ownership of your coins.

If you have any questions or feedback regarding our security features, or the wallet in general, then do not hesitate to ask. We have created this wallet for our users’ conveniency and experience, which is why user security has been such a big part of the development. One shouldn’t worry about one’s funds, no matter where they are invested.