Ahead of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Archos has announced that it will debut a cryptocurrency hardware wallet at the event. The Safe-T mini wallet will allow cryptocurrency owners to better secure their digital assets.
If unfamiliar with Archos, the company has been around for quite some time, producing electronic products such as tablets, netbooks, portable media players, and more. While it currently still offers devices to retail channels, there hasn"t been much excitement for the firm since its early days. With the introduction of the Safe-T mini, that could all change, especially as cryptocurrency and related topics have gained more attention over the past year.
The hardware wallet product will be a first for the company, but it has ensured that security is of the utmost concern and priority. As for how it works, the wallet will:
- It generates and stores a private key on the wallet offline and prevents hackers from gaining access to the private key while online.
- It executes all crypto operations on the device, offline.
- It embeds a screen to display transaction information to let the holder check the transaction details before signing, for security. There is no way for hackers to modify transactions unnoticed.
- It restrictively requires manufacturer software on the device while requesting the set-up of a PIN code to ensure that only the owner can access and use it.
The hardware will connect to a computer via micro-USB and will require a PIN number. The transactions that occur will be displayed on its OLED display and will need to be executed using physical buttons on the device. Some might be concerned with the hardware wallet failing, but if that does occur or if the wallet is stolen, users will have a solution of using a backup recovery seed key.
As far as functionality, those in possession of the hardware will be able to send and receive coins from other wallets with support for Electrum, MyCrypto, GreenAddress/Greenbits, and Mycelium. At the time of its release, the Safe-T mini will support Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, Litecoin, Zcash, and Ethereum. The firm has plans to expand this to include other currencies but did not give a timeline of when this would happen or what new currencies would be added. The Safe-T mini will be available in June and will be priced at €49.99
Source: Archos via Next INpact, TechCrunch