Elliptic and Gem team on multi-signature bitcoin wallets

The most important part of holding bitcoin is safeguarding the private keys (or passwords) to the account. A typical multi-signature wallet has three unique private keys, two of which must be submitted before a transaction is authorised. In most situations the client is responsible for two of the keys and the wallet provider holds the third.

In the new partnership, Elliptic will act as a trusted and independent third party to provide insured storage of the third (backup) private key. Gem, Elliptic and the client will each hold one of the keys. If the client loses their private key, Gem and Elliptic will use their private keys to sweep funds into a new account. Distributing private keys across two trusted parties, and the addition of Elliptic’s insurance cover, provides clients with a higher level of security than can be achieved through a single multi-signature provider.

Gem CEO, Micah Winkelspecht, said: “This is a major leap forward for multi-signature technology. 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. 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.”

Rapidly-growing fintech start-up Elliptic is already the trusted bitcoin custodian for publicly listed trading firms, banks and exchanges, safeguarding their private keys in its enterprise-grade insured storage through its Elliptic Vault service.

Elliptic CEO, Dr. James Smith, said: “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.”