Today Curv, the world’s most trusted digital asset security platform, announced the debut of Curv Air Gap, an industry-first solution that uses Curv’s multi-party computation (MPC) technology to allow clients to supplement their online transactional wallet with an offline, air-gapped machine for signing transactions.
The new solution gives institutions greater flexibility in adapting to changing regulations by deploying diverse signing mechanisms and offline storage schemas for key management. Curv Air Gap’s keyless cryptography also solves key security risks of cold wallets and frees institutions from having to make suboptimal tradeoffs between security and asset availability.
Today, regulatory changes are occurring across KYC and AML, but tomorrow it might be licensing or reporting requirements. To ensure institutions remain adaptable as these regulations are enacted, Curv Air Gap allows institutions to decide which transactions across their portfolio are earmarked for signing via an online wallet or an air-gapped machine. Curv clients still benefit from the same level of security, flexibility and scalability inherent in Curv’s wallet service.
Cold wallet access requires physical proximity to the server or hardware on which digital assets are held. Institutions must grant employee access to cold wallets and trust certain employees to manage these assets. This can introduce other types of risks such as insider threats and physical damage. Curv Air Gap solves these challenges by allowing organizations to receive all the benefits of traditional cold wallets without the operational burden or risks of unauthorized access, insider threats, human errors or physical damage.
“We solved the basic signature and key generation challenges for digital assets well over two years ago,” said Itay Malinger, co-founder and CEO of Curv. “Curv Air Gap is our latest, significant mathematical breakthrough based on the specific needs of our customers and partners. So we’re not only implementing MPC for our customers, but also constantly pushing the envelope of what’s possible with MPC technology.”
Curv Air Gap, which is currently being onboarded by eToro among others, is simple and quick to deploy. Key benefits include:
Keyless Cryptographic Security and Threshold Signing
Curv’s security model utilizes MPC protocols, enabling transactions to be securely signed in a mathematically-proven, distributed way without use of a key. Any transaction signed by Curv’s air-gapped machine is approved systematically by a quorum. Unlike traditional cold storage, room for error or insider collusion is significantly reduced.
Cloud-based, Software Delivery
Curv Air Gap is a cloud-based, software solution. No specialized hardware or HSM is required. Any organizational machine can be converted into an air-gapped machine. In turn, set-up takes a matter of minutes and there is limited training required to be fully operational.
In addition, Curv Air Gap has several flexible deployment models, provides instant access to digital assets, and reduces costs by streamlining operations.
“Curv has the most extensive policy engine and audit capabilities in the market today that allows us to dramatically reduce the operational cost of managing our assets. The fact that MPC is independent of the blockchain allows us to use one infrastructure across all asset types for hot, warm and cold storage,” said Israel Kalush, VP of Engineering of eToro.