Cryptocurrencies are fantastic ways to hold and store value, but a common mistake people make is thinking that the platforms, companies and institutions that are now using them are new or recently created. That is not necessarily true: older, more traditional companies are now opening their eyes to the future and adopting digital assets, as well.

A perfect sample of the last remark is the fact that an Austrian printing business with origins in the early 1800s recently launched a cryptocurrency storage device, which is enough proof that digital assets can fit just about everywhere and anywhere.

A Hardware Wallet to Prevent Hacking Attacks

The project comes in the form of a hardware wallet, and the company in question is YOUNIQX Identity, a subsidiary of the old Austrian State Printing House (Oesterreichische Staatsdruckerei or OeSD,) based in Vienna, the country’s capital city. The OeSD is Austria’s secure printing business and its high-tech passport maker. It also provides other ID-related solutions and services.

The hardware wallet in question is called Chainlock. By design, Chainlock is far safer than online wallets, in the sense that it is better equipped and prepared to combat the single most crucial issue related to “hot” wallets: hacking attacks. Whilst making the announcement of the product at the start of the week, OeSD officials identified online wallets as a “great security risk.”

The crypto fever, now in full-on mode after the markets have shown marked recovery in the last couple of months, still has not quite reached its full potential or ceiling because of specific sectors of the community fearing hacking attacks that can make them lose all of their investments.

One Hundred Percent Offline

The Chainlock wallet is, according to the company, “100 percent offline,” which takes a very high percentage of the risk off the table. It provides customers with the opportunity to generate private keys in a high-security enclave that the Austrian State Printing House stated that cannot be accessed or viewed by any third-parties, not even YOUNIQX or OeSD staffers.

There is an app that can help the user control the wallet if he/she so desired, and if it is done that way, the company says that it is safe from unauthorized access to private keys on the web, WiFi and NFC. To alleviate some concerns, the firm has made sure that CryptoLocker and other forms of crypto-stealing malware cannot access the keys on the device.

The Chainlock hardware wallet is as small as a credit card: it is a little sliver of plastic that, according to the development team, can resist the rigors of heat and water, not to mention everyday use.

Bitcoin or Ethereum Options

The company also observed that, in the event of blockchain-based coins on the hardware wallet are forked, clients will stand to benefit from new tokens being created. The price of the product is €59.99 (a figure around $67) and, as of now, it is obtainable in bitcoin or ethereum options.

The Austrian State Printing House, or OeSD, was known to be a high tech paper printer, but in recent years, it has migrated its business and modus operandi to attend the high-tech identity and security services and items. That is why the company set up YOUNIQX, which has already developed a system dubbed as MICK, which stands for My Identity Check (a video-based tool,) and MIA (My Identity App.)

By Andres Chavez

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