On January 4, 2019, we officially launched the imKey hardware wallet. The imKey hardware wallet not only received strategic investment from imToken Ventures but also achieved deep integration with the imToken wallet.imKey and imToken will work together to safeguard users' digital assets.
Why do you need a hardware wallet?
In 2018, the blockchain industry saw rapid growth and witnessed a boom and bust cycle. We believe that this is not the end of the story but only the beginning.
According to Statista, in 2018, the number of global digital asset wallet users reached 35 million, accounting for 0.5% of the world's population. In less than a year, imToken's user base grew from around 1 million to over 7 million.
Although 7 million users may not seem like a lot compared to the total number of digital asset wallet users, its staggering growth cannot be underestimated. More and more users are choosing wallets to manage their digital assets, and the public's awareness and importance of digital asset security are gradually increasing.
Currently, many users choose to entrust their digital assets to centralized trading platforms, but these systems are not reliable and face risks such as platform closures and hacker theft. Therefore, decentralized wallets are a better choice. By storing digital assets in a decentralized wallet, users have greater control over their assets and they are more secure.
When it comes to wallets, there may be a misunderstanding that wallets are used to store digital assets, like a safe deposit box. In fact, wallets store not assets, but private keys. Whoever owns the private key has control over the assets. Although this understanding may be counterintuitive, it has been the responsibility of wallets since the birth of Bitcoin to defend their security.
Ensuring the security of digital assets is essentially ensuring the security of private keys. Hardware wallets are the best choice for security because they store private keys in a highly secure encryption chip that hackers cannot easily access.
This aligns with imToken's idea of connecting to hardware wallets from the beginning, and we jointly launched this hardware wallet, "imKey."
How to choose a good hardware wallet？
A good hardware wallet must balance security and ease of use.
The imKey team always adheres to the principle of delivering a "secure and user-friendly" hardware wallet to users, with product security and user experience as the two most important standards.
In terms of security, imKey adopts the following security designs:
Security protocol to verify authenticity:
- Based on the GlobalPlatform SCP11-C security protocol, it distinguishes between genuine and fake devices, preventing device counterfeiting and supply chain attacks.
Secure chip to protect private keys:
- Integrating a bank-grade EAL6+ secure chip, the wallet creation and recovery, PIN generation and verification, and signature processes are all completed inside the chip, which cannot be touched by the outside world.
- Uses HRNG physical true random number generator to generate random numbers, ensuring seed security.
Device binding to prevent illegal access:
- Using a binding mechanism, the hardware wallet is bound one-to-one with the mobile device, preventing illegal access by unfamiliar devices.
Multiple verifications and protections to prevent malicious tampering of transaction data:
- Two-way signature mechanism effectively resists man-in-the-middle attacks and prevents data from being maliciously tampered with during communication.
- The LCD screen display and physical button double confirmation ensure "what you see is what you sign."
Wallet recoverable to prevent loss or damage:
- Following community standards such as BIP32, BIP39, and BIP44, the wallet can be recovered using the backed-up mnemonic words, without worrying about asset loss due to device loss or damage.
In terms of ease of use, imKey has carefully designed the following aspects to maximize the user experience:
Convenient management:
- Supports imToken to manage a variety of tokens and DApps.
Cold and hot separation architecture for smooth transactions:
- Adopts a cold and hot separation architecture, with the cold wallet end signing offline and the app end broadcasting hotly, making transactions convenient and efficient.
Use anytime, anywhere:
- 2.3mm ultra-thin body design, easy to carry.
- Bluetooth wireless design, allowing unrestricted use and enjoying a free experience.
Constantly improving the user experience:
- No need to replace the hardware, you can enjoy regular software update services.
- Provides one-stop interface access services, currently supports the imToken wallet, and will gradually support more wallet apps to meet diverse user needs.
The road of imKey product research and development is long and arduous. Security and ease of use are both the minimum and the highest requirements. The imKey team never forgets its original intention, focuses on the product itself, and continuously delivers a trusted hardware wallet to users.
The imKey team
