Phone with integrated cold wallet microchip
AssigneeUnited Services Automobile Association (USAA)
InventorsPooja Krishnaswamy, Gideon Bowie Luck, Ahmad Ali Shaik
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cold wallet microchip includes a cold wallet that holds various cryptocurrencies. A method provides for operation of a smartphone in which the cold wallet microchip has been inserted that allows for interaction with the cold wallet. The cold wallet can be incorporated into a system that includes secure storage, a battery, and communications hardware. Based on authentication signals the cold wallet microchip can power up and connect the secure storage to the rest of the system, thereby only providing secured access to the keys in the cold wallet. After use, the system disconnects the secure storage and the powers down to cold wallet, protecting the private keys.
Claims18
A cold wallet microchip configured for insertion in a smartphone, the microchip comprising:
- a cold storage memory module embedded in the microchip, the cold storage memory module storing at least one private key associated with a cryptocurrency account;
- a security module embedded in the microchip, configured to:
- receive an activation signal from the smartphone after the cold wallet microchip is inserted into a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) slot of the smartphone;
- power up the cold wallet microchip in response to receiving the activation signal from the smartphone;
- send a request to the smartphone for authentication credentials;
- receive authentication credentials from the smartphone;
- validate the authentication credentials from the smartphone;
- in response to the authentication credentials being valid, form a physical connection between the security module and the cold storage memory module;
- receive a request for a cryptocurrency transaction associated with the cryptocurrency account from the smartphone;
- and
- conduct the cryptocurrency transaction requested by the smartphone using the at least one private key-,
- wherein the cold wallet microchip is deactivated upon receiving, at the power module, a deactivation signal from the smartphone, and
- wherein deactivation of the cold wallet microchip involves a decoupling of the security module from the cold storage memory module.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.