Danny Scott, CEO at CoinCorner, today announced the “Hoffline” wallet - a fully automated, fully air-gapped Bitcoin hot wallet where the private key is stored completely offline. Hoffline, believed to be the first-of-its-kind, could revolutionise security practices within the Bitcoin industry.
Bitcoin exchanges run hot wallets - a Bitcoin wallet connected to the Internet which can, unfortunately, leave it vulnerable to attacks. There are solutions - for example, multisig - which help alleviate the problem, but the private key is still never completely offline. Hoffline changes this.
The Hoffline wallet is a simple concept, consisting of one online device (OnDev) and one offline device (OffDev). It works as follows:
- The OnDev gets the transactions to send from the database, creates an unsigned transaction, and displays a QR containing the unsigned transaction data.
- The OffDev camera automatically scans the QR code, validates the request, signs the transaction, and displays a QR code containing the signed transaction data.
- The OnDev camera automatically scans the QR code and broadcasts the signed transaction to the Bitcoin network.
Danny Scott commented, “We’re very excited about Hoffline - it’s still early days with this R&D project, but this is another step forward for security procedures within the Bitcoin industry.”
On speed,
Scott said, “Speed is not an issue for the current purpose of Hoffline. Most exchanges batch out transactions periodically - roughly every 10 minutes on average. Hoffline can still create and broadcast the transaction in seconds.”
Scott and the team - Zakk Lakin, Jack Tyrer, David Boylan, and Alex Delaney - are already looking at improvements for speed and simplicity, one option is using a Blockstream satellite to receive the blocks and run a full node on the OffDev. This would allow for fewer data to be embedded in the QR codes and allow the device to run a Bitcoin Core full node.
Although Hoffline was created with exchanges in mind - CoinCorner is a leading UK-focused Bitcoin exchange - it could also benefit individuals running their own nodes.
Scott said, “Running a node is becoming increasingly popular, so we’re exploring how Hoffline can be used in tandem with the likes of Umbrel, RaspiBlitz, myNode, and Nodl nodes to allow additional security, ensuring your private keys can be kept securely offline.”
The team at CoinCorner believes in Bitcoin as the future of money and is keen to show support for and help strengthen the Bitcoin infrastructure.
Scott said, “We like to look at the bigger picture - this means we can continue to innovate and stay at the forefront of the Bitcoin industry. The team we have at CoinCorner is incredible, and we will continue to help build the future global financial system that is Bitcoin.”
