The Litecoin Foundation (LF) is concerned with the losses incurred when a hacker gains access to a crypto hot wallet; one that is mostly connected on the internet. As a countermeasure, the foundation has launched a “completely connection free cold wallet from any network.”
Litecoin Foundation has made this possible in conjunction with Ellipal, a crypto startup that specializes in the manufacture of crypto hardware/cold wallets that can be interfaced with mobile devices. The foundation is responding to the growing interest in crypto/blockchain-enabled smartphones. With the internet speed and smartphone hardware getting better each day, crypto traders are shifting to their smartphones to interface with cryptocurrency exchanges.
The foundation is not a stranger to blockchain innovations, and the interaction with the crypto startup seems like a natural move.
As a notice on its website, LF noted the new hardware wallet:
“Uses QR codes technology to sign transactions created using ELLIPAL Wallet Mobile App. With just a few scans, your transactions can be securely verified and sent to the blockchain without leaving any backdoor for hackers to infiltrate.”
It added:
“Ellipal hardware wallet uses in-device cameras to scan QR codes as a method to communicate between the hardware wallet and the mobile phone app. Other hardware wallets adopt different methods such as via USB or Bluetooth to connect with the computer or phone. This makes Ellipal a very secure air-gapped hardware wallet.”
The Litecoin Foundation has placed the retail price of the new Ellipal offline crypto wallet at 149 US dollars. Notably, the release comes after Binance, the leading virtual currency exchange, experienced a security breach that saw hackers siphon 7,000 Bitcoins from the exchange’s hot wallet. Today, one week after the hack, Binance is back to normal although, at the time of writing, withdrawals were yet to be re-enabled after being deactivated for a system-wide upgrade.
