Hardware wallets, aka cold wallets, are physical devices that hold the private keys to your crypto assets.
Because they only briefly connect to the internet to authenticate transactions, these specially-designed USB drives are considered to be more secure than a hot wallet, which is always online and therefore vulnerable to hacks.
For those who tend to forget or lose their seed phrase (the “master password” that grants access to all of the crypto linked with your wallet), the new Hugware by local tech company Ukiss (pronounced yoo-kiss) offers a simpler recovery process. It comes with two paired devices with a patented synchronisation technology. The Authentication Key (or A-Key, in dark grey) is the gatekeeper of your private keys and used to manage crypto assets, while the Rescue Key (or R-Key in silver) is the back-up should you lose the A-Key.
How does it work? During setup, the master seed is generated in the A-Key and synchronised with the R-Key. Access your wallet and confirm transactions simply by plugging the A-Key into your device. In the event that the A-Key is missing, connect the R-Key to your phone, tablet or laptop to recover private keys. This way, the seed doesn’t have to be translated into recovery phrases, which mitigates the risk of exposure to human error, phishing or theft. For another layer of security, Hugware is programmed to lock the device after 10 failed logins.
Hugware supports over 10 networks including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron and BNB Chain and is available on desktop for Windows and MacOS, soon on Android. Also in the works are two new features, the U-Archive and U-Hide. The former provides an added security for your archives in the cloud or in your computer by encrypting large folders that only the holder of the associated Hugware can access. Individual files can be encrypted using U-Hide, slated to launch in November this year.
