Hitachi and Concordium Developing Innovative Biometrically Secured Cryptocurrency Wallet
Summary:
Hitachi Research & Development and the Concordium Foundation are collaboratively developing a biometrically secured cryptocurrency wallet. The innovative wallet allows users to generate seed words using their fingerprints or facial scans. The project, still in its early stages, aims to increase security and eliminate the requirement for users to remember and store seed words. The wallet will use Hitachi's Public Biometric Infrastructure and Concordium's self-sovereign identity framework once completed. The proposed solution addresses current hurdles in cryptocurrency adoption, such as account recovery.
Hitachi Research & Development and blockchain creator Concordium Foundation are collaborating to develop a "proof of technology" for a biometrically secured cryptocurrency wallet, as revealed in a disclosure made on December 12. The groundbreaking wallet will enable users to produce seed words via their fingerprints or facial recognition scanning, removing the need for storage or recall of these seed words. Users can retrieve their wallet's accounts by repeating the biometric scan, the Concordium team informed Cointelegraph.
Presently, the crypto wallet is in the early stages of development, aptly termed as a "proof of technology" by both working groups, as opposed to calling it a complete wallet. Once finalised, the wallet will utilise Hitachi's Public Biometric Infrastructure (PBI), and the standalone identity structure of the Concordium network, to establish biometric accounts.
In a discussion with Cointelegraph, Torben Kaaber and Torben Pryds Pederson, from Concordium, provided more insights into the project. Pederson expressed that the Concordium network might find a biometric wallet particularly beneficial for users given the mandatory "ID process" before account creation – a measure to avert malicious network activities like hacks and 'rug pulls'. Maintaining user ID accessibility becomes crucial in such a scenario. However, Pederson also added that biometric wallets could, in theory, be useful for any future blockchain, not only the Concordium network.
Users can access their wallets by either reconstituting the seed words through a biometric scan or unlocking a copy of their seed words using a key generated by the scan. Without personally possessing the user's face or fingerprint, an attacker generally cannot access the user's account. If a user's device is lost, the wallet can be imported to another device using a fresh scan. This solution negates the need for storing copies of seed words, as explained by Kaaber and Pederson.
An elucidating blog post from Hitachi written on March 25, 2022, mentioned they faced hurdles due to the erratic nature of biometric data during the PBI's development. Facial or fingerprint scans invariably generate different data, even when they belong to the same individual. The team addressed the issue by employing "fuzzy key generation and tailored error correction technology" to extract feature vectors from the scans, thus enabling the software to differentiate between scans from different people vs multiple scans from one person.
Typically, cryptocurrency wallets mandate users to retain seed words as a backup if their device malfunctions. Losing this backup usually results in losing access to the account and any associated funds. The issue can deter widespread crypto adoption. The innovative biometric wallet from Hitachi and Concordium is a potential solution, with other similar options including MPC wallets and magic links.
Published At
12/13/2023 11:02:16 PM
Disclaimer: Algoine does not endorse any content or product on this page. Readers should conduct their own research before taking any actions related to the asset, company, or any information in this article and assume full responsibility for their decisions. This article should not be considered as investment advice. Our news is prepared with AI support.
Do you suspect this content may be misleading, incomplete, or inappropriate in any way, requiring modification or removal?
We appreciate your report.