Meet Smartwords – Distributed Backup for Cryptocurrency Keys

On the first day of the three-day event Satoshi’s Vision Conference in Tokyo the creator of a project called Safewords presented a new solution to safeguard cryptocurrency ”passwords”. Smartwords is a 2-out-of-3 distributed backup kit for your mnemonic seed words. 

Also read: Zhao Dong Recounts How He Lost 9,000 BTC

Safewords – a 2/3 Distributed Backup Kit Private Keys

This week the founder and CEO of the company Coin Storage Guru, Brenden Lee introduced his new project Safewords. The product is a 2-out-of-3 distributed backup kit for private keys. Lots of cryptocurrency holders have written down 12-24 words for their mnemonic seed on a piece of paper, and then they usually hide the material out of view. Lee has designed a simplified system that enables a way they can safely distribute the mnemonic phrase between two other trusted individuals or two vaults. The system works with any cryptocurrency that uses a 12-24 word backup.

All the items that come with the Smartwords set.

The Smartwords product comes with three cards that holds  ⅔ of a digital currency mnemonic phrase which can be handed out to two trusted individuals like a family member or a personal attorney. The cards also come with three storage envelopes (this particular design was created for the conference) with three numbered tamper evident sticker seals with six unique digits.

Multi-Signature for Your Mnemonic Seed Phrase

Basically, a private key owner fills out the three mnemonic seed card which has 16 available areas to write down ⅔ of the seed phrase on each card. So two of the cards together can unlock the funds, but only one card cannot. The cards also include an area to record the ‘wallet identifier’ and the ‘hardware wallet pin’ if the wallet is a hardware device like Trezor, Ledger or Keepkey.

A close up of the Smartwords mnemonic phrase cards.

After the cards are filled out the owner of the cryptocurrency then puts them into each individual envelope, and seals it with a tamper evident sticker. Then the user simply keeps one and gives the remaining two cards to trusted individuals. For instance, you could give one to your mother and give the other one to a lawyer. As long as you trust that the two individuals won’t collude together, then basically you have created a multi-signature-type method for storing a seed phrase. If one of them happened to remove the envelope seal then it would be quite evident that the seal was tampered with. Other types of examples of trustworthy people could be your son, accountant, or even two safety deposit vaults.

The Smartwords system is pretty straightforward and a unique way to safely store a mnemonic phrase for any cryptocurrency that uses 12-24 word seeds. Lee’s Coin Storage Guru booth was selling the Smartwords (special edition Satoshi’s Vision Conference design) for 0.015 BCH ($15 USD).

What do you think of the Smartwords product? Let us know in the comments below.   

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Images via Coin Storage Guru. 

Source : bitcoin.com

Joystream Test Drive — How To Get Paid Bitcoin Seeding Bittorrent Files

Last week the file sharing Bittorrent client that pays users for seeding and sharing bandwidth, Joystream, announced launching on the bitcoin cash (BCH) network. We decided to give the platform a test drive to show how to use the application that offers BCH incentives.

Also read: Lawsuit Challenges Google’s Ban on Crypto Ads in Russia

Joystream and Bitcoin Cash Mainnet

Joystream is a peer-to-peer application that uses bitcoin cash as an incentive for Bittorrent users that compensate each other for content within a distributed network. Originally the team started off with an attempt to use the bitcoin core (BTC) network but fees and transaction confirmation times became unreliable. On March 20 the application has launched on the Bitcoin Cash mainnet and is available for download in Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems (OS).

Experimenting With Joystream

Joystream & Bitcoin Cash

After downloading the appropriate platform for your OS and opening the software, users are greeted with a “terms of use” page, which asks the user to accept full responsibility when using the Joystream software. This would likely be due to seeders sharing copyrighted materials as there is no discretion to what you can or cannot download and upload. The platform also has an onboarding BCH faucet for users to test out the clients’ features and services. When I first opened the Joystream user interface, the faucet gave me $0.30 cents worth of BCH for purchasing files on the platform.

The interface is basically the same as any torrent engine that allows seeding and downloading all types of content. The difference is that you get a bitcoin cash wallet, and can earn small fractions of BCH by seeding material. You can also charge a fee for sharing rare material or other types of popular content. To start the experiment, Joystream gives you around five free torrent files so you can start downloading and seeding once the file is finished. There is also an upload section where a user can drag a downloaded torrent file or upload via a mirror.

The free content Joystream provides for testing.

I decided to go to my favorite torrent site and tapped a free ‘Kung-Fu Training Guide’  mirror. As soon as I did my computer asked me if I wanted to utilize Joystream for the upload process.

Joystream works with torrent mirrors, and the application will open as soon as you authorize it.

I initiated the process, and the upload began just like any other torrent engine. It shows the number of seeders and sellers in the download section and the revenue and the number of buyers in the upload section. If I wanted to sell the ‘Kung-Fu Training Guide’ book I could set any price I desired for seeding it to my peers. It’s likely that better content, or some exclusive material could be more valuable to Joystream users.

Joystream’s UI shows the user’s BCH balance, downloads, uploads, and the torrents being downloaded, seeded, paused, deleted and more.

A Few Features to Wait for in the Next Version Release

So far there is not much content on the platform, but it’s evident Joystream users are experimenting with the protocol from the discussions within the community Telegram and Slack channels. The BCH faucet and free content in the beginning, however, is more than enough for users to learn how to tinker with the application, and torrent savvy users will have no issues.

The Joystream BCH wallet can send and receive and also shows prior transactions.

At the time of publication, there are three sections which are unavailable at the moment which include the ‘new content tab, the publishing tab, and the live streaming tab’ which can be used to stream content like music and movies. These three features will be launched in the next release, the developers explain.

Overall the platform was straightforward and operated much like the Utorrent, Vuze, and Limewire software. Being the first day and the initial version release it should be expected that the content is lacking. The next hurdle for the team will likely be launching the following version with the rest of the features, and hoping the concept of rewarding seeders with crypto catches people’s attention.

What do you think about the Joystream app? Do you think an idea like this will catch on with seeders and those who use torrent software? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Images via Shutterstock, and Joystream. 

Source : bitcoin.com