- Wallet developers will be able to incorporate Face ID, fingerprints, and other convenient authentication methods into their products as a result of the addition.
- Dfns hopes to change the dynamic by incorporating biometric authentication into its wallet suite, which will help developers create more user-friendly wallets.
Dfns, a crypto-security firm based in Paris, has announced plans to integrate biometric identification into its wallet-as-a-service toolkit. It allows crypto developers to create wallets that use Face ID, fingerprint scanners, and other biometrics to secure user funds.
The collapse of the FTX exchange last year and numerous other similar incidents reinforced the importance of storing cryptocurrency in a personal wallet rather than entrusting it to a business or custodian.
Despite this, many people continue to store their money with companies such as Coinbase and Binance. What’s the reason? Crypto wallets can be challenging because they frequently include private keys with long strings of letters and numbers.
“The first place a new user may start their Web3 journey is by opening a wallet,” says Clarisse Hagège, CEO of Dfns, which has raised $15 million in funding. “If the UX feels foreign, cumbersome, or unfamiliar, the likelihood of conversion and retention drops precipitously.” UX is an abbreviation for “user interface.”
Dfns hopes to change the dynamic by incorporating biometric authentication into its wallet suite, which will help developers create more user-friendly wallets. “The beauty of using biometrics here is that it’s extremely efficient in terms of UX,” Hagège stated.
The biometric feature is based on the open-source WebAuthn standard, which allows users to authenticate without directly sharing their biometric data with third parties.
“Everything is saved on the phone,” Hagège explained.
Adding biometric support to cryptocurrency wallets could start a new trend. Coinbase, the exchange and wallet provider, has stated that the feature will be added to its wallet-as-a-service suite.
Hagège claims that the Dfns setup fundamentally differs from Coinbase and other wallet services. Coinbase and other companies frequently employ a technique known as multi-party computation (MPC) to secure private keys. This clever technique allows wallet providers to manage a user’s private key without having complete access to it.
Dfns accomplishes the same goal by combining MPC with a different technique known as “delegated signing.”
Instead of a single user and a service provider, this method distributes the key across a distributed network of nodes. According to Hagège, the process makes wallets more secure, less vulnerable to downtime, and more regulatory-friendly.
