Decentralised Bitcoin wallet provider Airbitz takes security to the Edge

Decentralised wallet provider Airbitz is offering users a more secure means to buy and sell Bitcoin directly from its app, using its Edge Security platform and BitID protocol which does away with password/usernames.

Edge Security works by securing personal devices of end-users such as phones, tablets, etc., rather than trying to secure the central servers where data is held.

This means no user account data is transmitted from the device before it's encrypted, and cannot be viewed or accessed by the service provider. So instead of user accounts being stored in one concentrated location that that aggregates all the valuable data and is a huge incentive to attack, the data is stored in small encrypted files and the value is much harder to find, said Airbitz.

Decentralised value requires more resources to hack since more devices need to be attacked to find this value and the payoff is nowhere near as high as hacking a traditional enterprise server, reasons Airbitz. In addition this system has fall backs to protect against some degree of human error, which more so that theft, has caused the loss of thousands of bitcoin; users are not always great with physical security or remembering to back up our data.

Airbitz co-founder and CEO Paul Puey, said: "We often hear about how Bitcoin isn't just limited to being a currency or alternative payment system. Did you know the same underlying technology that powers these functions can also be used as login credentials? Instead of keeping up with a pile of usernames and passwords, imagine if you could access your online accounts with one private ID. It's called BitID, and you can use it today.

"BitID uses the same cryptography that Bitcoin uses to prove the ownership of a particular key, even when the environment is unreliable or untrustworthy. With BitID, you can use your Bitcoin wallet to sign a message with your private key to login to online accounts. No sensitive, targetable personal information is ever exchanged. Just as sites now allow for logins by connecting social media accounts, BitID works the same way but with far fewer privacy concerns," he said.