Today, Rambus announced the availability of Vaultify Trade, the first product that enables banks, exchanges, and investment portals to leverage tokens to secure the purchase, storage, exchange, and sale of cryptocurrencies. The platform enables the secure storage and transfer of crypto and digital assets using proven, bank-grade, field-deployed tokenization and encryption technology.
Rambus has extensive payments and tokenization expertise of 18+ years providing payments security in a wide range of industries and customer use cases. Parlaying this security, tokenization and encryption expertise into the cryptocurrency and blockchain market is a natural fit.
Since the peak of value of cryptocurrencies in late 2017, along with the accompanying rise of GPU prices in the wake of a cryptomining rush, blockchain has gained increased traction in the technology industry. In particular, blockchain has become important among industries with the decentralized public-ledger framework opening new use cases daily, extending beyond cryptocurrency into financial services, retail, real estate, healthcare and insurance. While it provides a trusted and immutable record, the blockchain is not completely secure.
Blockchain stores assets of value at an address in a public ledger using a private key. Much like a card or account number to access funds, that key is all that is required to access that digital asset, and if it is lost or stolen, that value is gone. Multi-signature enhances the level of security by introducing additional distributed keys for recovery and authentication of transactions, but still relies upon the use of original keys that are vulnerable to attack. Given the high-value financial and safety-critical nature of some proposed use cases, it is imperative that nothing alters data prior to its placement on the blockchain.
Anybody familiar with blockchain and cryptocurrencies is that while there are many advantages to reap from the anonymity and decentralized nature of the technology, the technology is far from secure. A string of heists and thefts from cryptocurrency exchanges, alongside the use of the cryptocurrencies in illegal activities has necessitated the need for better security.
Jordan McKee, Director at 451 Research has said that, “While cryptocurrencies represent significant opportunities, a major risk factor is that they are prone to theft, in large part due to the lack of strong security solutions for the blockchain.” He also went on to say that the aforementioned gap in security “undermines consumer confidence and limits the ability for financial services companies to offer products that help comply with regulations and best practices. With additional trust and transparency, the potential for cryptocurrencies to transform financial services can be realized.”
Tokenizing Crypto Assets and the Blockchain
To meet this critical market gap, Rambus has created Vaultify Trade. Vaultify Trade combines multi-signature with proven, bank-grade tokenization technology to enhance security, confidentiality and privacy by replacing sensitive credentials—such as private keys for blockchain and crypto assets—with a non-sensitive equivalent token that is unique to each transaction. Unlike the private keys used to authorize blockchain transactions, tokens cannot be used by a third party to conduct transactions if intercepted.
By replacing sensitive private keys with a limited use token that can include domain controls for device or channel, tokenization mitigates fraud risk and protects the underlying value of credentials. This reduces cryptocurrency security risks, which have led to enormous losses, adverse brand impact and suspensions of trading
“Crypto assets are on the verge of going mainstream, but many of today’s consumers find cryptocurrency to be inaccessible and confusing, and are concerned by high-profile hacks. In order to accelerate adoption, consumers are seeking a secure, familiar way to access, trade, and own crypto assets through their trusted banking or trading apps,” said Jerome Nadel, General Manager of Payments and Chief Marketing Officer at Rambus. “With over 100 billion transactions secured by Rambus technology, Vaultify Trade is a logical extension of our tokenization expertise. Banks, exchanges and investment houses can now quickly incorporate blockchain technologies into their product portfolios, armed with the confidence that data, value and assets are secure.”
Designed for virtual assets on the blockchain, Vaultify Trade features include tokenized security, multi-signature, segregated wallets, and a white-label app and Source Development Kit (SDK).
Potential Use Cases for Vaultify Trade
There are multiple use cases for Vaultify Trade’s tokenization and encryption technology, particularly in retail, real estate, healthcare, and insurance. In retail, blockchain is capable of recording each step in a product’s lifestyle. In real estate, there is the potential for blockchain to maintain a public record and hold sensitive data like land titles and property ownership. As for healthcare, blockchain can secure healthcare records like audits and clinical research results. Finally, with regards to insurance, policy placement, subrogation, and claims management can be simplified and encrypted using blockchain.
The Bottom Line
The rise in prominence of blockchain and cryptocurrencies have opened new, exciting possibilities for technology. However, that rise has also been accompanied by the growing pains of gaps in security, as evidenced by numerous cryptocurrency heists, the use of cryptocurrency in illicit, and even some companies banning the use of the digital currencies altogether in the case of AliPay and WeChat. Some have even questioned if cryptocurrencies can continue to be treated seriously with serious security gaps like the aforementioned. However, with the arrival of Vaultify Trade, cryptocurrencies can be faster and safer.
To learn more about Vaultify Trade, please visit www.rambus.com/vaultifytrade.
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