Maker of Coldcard Bitcoin Wallet Rolls Out Extra-Strength 'USB Condom'

Jun 1, 2020 at 13:00 UTCUpdated Jun 1, 2020 at 13:02 UTC.SAFER SATS? CoinKite's Coldpower allows users to charge their hardware wallets by connecting the USB plug to a 9-volt battery, rather than, say, plugging it into a laptop.

The comedian Dennis Miller once joked about computer viruses, "When you link up to another computer, you're linking up to every computer that that computer has ever linked up to." If so, CoinKite, maker of the Coldcard hardware wallet, has invented an extra-strength prophylactic for bitcoin investors.

The startup just released Coldpower, which allows users to charge their hardware wallets by connecting the USB plug to a 9-volt battery, rather than, say, plugging it into a laptop.

Comparing it to a popular gizmo that prevents accidental data exchange when one device is plugged into another to charge, CoinKite says Coldpower is "Like a 'USB condom,' but self-powered."

"We want to help protect people from 'bad USB' attacks by facilitating air-gap use of their Coldcard," CoinKite CEO Rodolfo Novak said.

Simultaneously, CoinKite rolled out Seedplate, a metal plate for engraving a recovery seed, which is like an emergency password for accessing bitcoin.

Hardware wallets like Coldcard, Opendime, Ledger, or Trezor are considered one of the most secure ways of storing bitcoin private keys since they are devices that are stored offline and are less susceptible to hacks.

"Our ultimate goal at Coinkite is to make all aspects of HODLing safer," Novak said, referencing the "Hodl" meme, a misspelling of "Hold," used as a shorthand for the act of storing bitcoin and waiting to see how the novel digital currency fares over the years.

In April, Novak gave a talk spotlighting his "Disdain" for the USB standard for connections between hardware jacks at a virtual reality meetup.

"There are many USB hacks and someone could make an evil power adapter/bank or an evil cable," he said.