Ether.Li, the first multi-sig Ethereum wallet, has been released by a group of enthusiastic developers from BitGo: Mason Borda, Ben Chan and Bharath Chandrashekar.
Traditional Ethereum wallets require users to be running a full node to access the network and all current wallet implementations are single-signature, which means users don’t have any protection in case of malicious access.
The Ether.Li wallet works by creating a 2-of-3 mulit-sig smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. Users are protected by having the service holding the second key, which is required before any transactions are made. The new wallet also has 2-factor SMS authentication capability.
The FAQ states:
“Our co-signer watches the network for execution (withdrawal) requests on your contracts, and sends you an SMS requesting a confirmation that the transaction is valid.”
While the Ether.Li wallet is fully functional, the developer team has cautioned users to not store large amounts of funds on the system, as the code has not undergone a through review to check for potential bugs and security loopholes, “Our decision to release this product was based on demand and out of a personal need for better security. However, we caution that this wallet has not undergone a security audit.”
The service is currently in the proof of concept stage and BitGo has not officially made any announcements, but in an interview with CoinDesk, Mason Borda mentioned that BitGo CEO Mike Belshe approved of the project and “encouraged” the team.
While BitGo has focused exclusively on providing bitcoin services since its inception, Belshe told CoinDesk that his company has plans to provide services for the Ethereum blockchain:
“We actually haven’t really planned to announce anything yet, but we’re going to be in the Ethereum space.”
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