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Topic: World’s first offline system for transacting cryptocurrencies! (Read 334 times)

sr. member
Activity: 812
Merit: 262
Recently, I was reading this news that Israeli cybersecurity startup GK8 has developed the first system that enable the blockchain transactions without the need for an Internet!! How can this be Possible?

Well the new system uses GK8’s proprietary cryptographic techniques that enables the transactions to get executed without Internet. The company raised $4 million in a funding round led by Discount Capital, a venture arm of one of Israel’s three largest banks, Discount Bank, and Marius Nacht, a co-founder of cybersecurity giant Checkpoint.

As reported by Globes, GK8’s new cryptographic techniques allowed the company to develop a cold wallet with “hot wallet functionalities,” securing user funds from hackers and cyberattacks.

GK8 is currently targeting financial institutions, custodians, exchanges and hedge funds which hold cryptocurrencies. GK8's custodian technology is already operational and helps to securely manage digital assets for clients such as eToro, a global multi-asset trading and investment platform.

Current custodian solutions used by financial institutions and state-owned enterprises do not meet institutional scale security standards. In addition to existing security protocols, digital assets based on blockchain technology need a higher security standard since signed transactions are irreversible. To meet this challenge, GK8 experts have developed this technique to provide a secure environment to sign blockchain transactions and execute automatic reconciliation confidently.

The company’s techniques, protected by five registered patents, can bypass core assumptions related to cryptocurrency transfers and eliminate attack vectors to any asset transfer.


>> My question here - Is this technique is really secure than the current solutions? Is our funds are safe from hackers and cyberattacks?


Edit:

I gathered few more information where I found a Video by one of the board members of GK8, and one of the founding scientists of Zcash token, Prof. Eran Tromer explained that -

Quote
The company’s cold wallet offering has "unidirectional communication" from the wallet. It never accepts raw information back into the wallet from the outside. “This minimizes the attack surface and prevents attacks,” he said.

--> Check this Video by Prof. Eran Tromer


Also, a patent abstract associated with Lamesh described the technology as follows:

Quote
“The digital wallet device is electronically disconnected from other digital devices and comprising: a cryptocurrency integrated circuit (IC) that is isolated from any computer interface” … “and a unidirectional communication hardware for sending said transaction to a communication device for broadcasting said transaction via a network.”



Source:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/israeli-startup-that-allows-offline-crypto-transactions-secures-4m
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-blockchain-deals-without-internet-co-gk8-raises-4m-1001301213
https://www.coindesk.com/gk8-blockchain-wallet-offline
https://www.cryptonewsz.com/israeli-start-up-gk8-develops-offline-wallet-for-cryptocurrency-holds-online-transaction-capability/43398/


This article is very unreliable for me, because as of now our world is full of internet connection. How they do some transactions without using internet connection? Are there things run and work without internet connection? i think fewer things right now are still working without internet. With this, our world is run by internet, everywhere there is internet.
full member
Activity: 409
Merit: 100
Recently, I was reading this news that Israeli cybersecurity startup GK8 has developed the first system that enable the blockchain transactions without the need for an Internet!! How can this be Possible?

Well the new system uses GK8’s proprietary cryptographic techniques that enables the transactions to get executed without Internet. The company raised $4 million in a funding round led by Discount Capital, a venture arm of one of Israel’s three largest banks, Discount Bank, and Marius Nacht, a co-founder of cybersecurity giant Checkpoint.

As reported by Globes, GK8’s new cryptographic techniques allowed the company to develop a cold wallet with “hot wallet functionalities,” securing user funds from hackers and cyberattacks.

GK8 is currently targeting financial institutions, custodians, exchanges and hedge funds which hold cryptocurrencies. GK8's custodian technology is already operational and helps to securely manage digital assets for clients such as eToro, a global multi-asset trading and investment platform.

Current custodian solutions used by financial institutions and state-owned enterprises do not meet institutional scale security standards. In addition to existing security protocols, digital assets based on blockchain technology need a higher security standard since signed transactions are irreversible. To meet this challenge, GK8 experts have developed this technique to provide a secure environment to sign blockchain transactions and execute automatic reconciliation confidently.

The company’s techniques, protected by five registered patents, can bypass core assumptions related to cryptocurrency transfers and eliminate attack vectors to any asset transfer.


>> My question here - Is this technique is really secure than the current solutions? Is our funds are safe from hackers and cyberattacks?


Edit:

I gathered few more information where I found a Video by one of the board members of GK8, and one of the founding scientists of Zcash token, Prof. Eran Tromer explained that -

Quote
The company’s cold wallet offering has "unidirectional communication" from the wallet. It never accepts raw information back into the wallet from the outside. “This minimizes the attack surface and prevents attacks,” he said.

--> Check this Video by Prof. Eran Tromer


Also, a patent abstract associated with Lamesh described the technology as follows:

Quote
“The digital wallet device is electronically disconnected from other digital devices and comprising: a cryptocurrency integrated circuit (IC) that is isolated from any computer interface” … “and a unidirectional communication hardware for sending said transaction to a communication device for broadcasting said transaction via a network.”



Source:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/israeli-startup-that-allows-offline-crypto-transactions-secures-4m
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-blockchain-deals-without-internet-co-gk8-raises-4m-1001301213
https://www.coindesk.com/gk8-blockchain-wallet-offline
https://www.cryptonewsz.com/israeli-start-up-gk8-develops-offline-wallet-for-cryptocurrency-holds-online-transaction-capability/43398/



The articles is not realistic, how can they able to do that? I really feel about this crypto offline transaction.
I will support if they can create something better than the internet connection. We all know that in the entire world
the internet connection was too useful in any aspect of business. And internet nowadays can also big instant communication
in different places of the world now.
full member
Activity: 728
Merit: 101
Bitcoin is the currency of this age
The cryptocurrency space is powered or fuel through the internet, I doubt the possibility of an offline transaction of cryptocurrency, as we have several scammers in the space this day, you must ensure you secure your portfolio in order to avoid been scam, I feel there is realy no demand for an offline CRYPTO transaction.
legendary
Activity: 1666
Merit: 1196
STOP SNITCHIN'
I don't see the point in having an offline system when basically everything today is online. What are we going back to the stone age?

This attitude will not end well for you. Undecided

The minimum bid to send data is 50 mSat/byte.

It's pretty gimmicky since no one is really sending data to the satellite. You upload or type the message/transaction here using a regular internet browser. Once you pay, Blockstream adds your transaction to the satellite queue to be broadcasted.

No wonder it's not popular at all, especially bid system where it could get expensive quickly.

If there was real demand for it maybe, but I think it's pretty easy to pay the minimum bid. You could broadcast a 250 byte transaction for 0.000000125 BTC = 0.05 satoshi/byte.

It's sort of cool, especially because it's payable with Lightning. But it doesn't add any real resiliency to the network. There are already lots of places you can broadcast transactions for free if you have internet access, so it's just an empty gimmick.
sr. member
Activity: 2506
Merit: 368
This is good too for users because it will save them data for being on the internet. The technology is growing rapidly and I have been wondering if we could have something as that. Anyway, we keep an eye to see how it will turn in the future.
Data is too cheap so people need this just to save few cents?

And this is not really an offline transaction I guess,we can initiate the transaction in offline but it will get confirmed once we get connected to internet like that!
I guess someone is not a fan of reading articles, aren't they?

The article is kinda confusing technically since the transaction is not completely offline as what the title says. I guess this is how they do to attract curious people by making a bit of interesting title for the headlines.

I don't know if this kind of system is useful enough for people who like to send cryptocurrency to someone without a delay. Or for people who are trading in short term.
sr. member
Activity: 2380
Merit: 251
Eloncoin.org - Mars, here we come!
This is good too for users because it will save them data for being on the internet. The technology is growing rapidly and I have been wondering if we could have something as that. Anyway, we keep an eye to see how it will turn in the future.
Data is too cheap so people need this just to save few cents?

And this is not really an offline transaction I guess,we can initiate the transaction in offline but it will get confirmed once we get connected to internet like that!
legendary
Activity: 3430
Merit: 1957
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
Quote
“The digital wallet device is electronically disconnected from other digital devices and comprising: a cryptocurrency integrated circuit (IC) that is isolated from any computer interface” … “and a unidirectional communication hardware for sending said transaction to a communication device for broadcasting said transaction via a network.”

Cheesy offline signing. then carrier pigeon to another location to broadcast Cheesy

I think too many people are pissing on innovation and we should be happy when a wide variety of unique services are developed to cater for everyone needs.  Wink  This might not be new or a groundbreaking innovation, but it might be a option that some people want.  Wink

When 3rd party services started offering services in the Bitcoin scene, some people frowned on this, but in hindsight a lot of adoption was triggered from the convenience of services like this. Yes, it might not be the ideal solution and it comes with pros and cons... but it is also helpful to some people.  Wink
sr. member
Activity: 630
Merit: 250
Let us assume that it could be done, but what for? For additional security? because I understand that even with that tech I don't think it will drastically lessen the chances of being compromised since most systems I believe "is as good only as its weakest link" and in this case, the human factor!
full member
Activity: 868
Merit: 104
Although offline transactions of cryptocurrencies is something difficult to accept but its possibility cannot be ruled out. When we do not have idea about anything it looks impossible to us but when the things come into existence, all of the sudden our mindset gets changed. Blockchain technology is a game of coding only, it needs some media to travel, it may be somewhere digital media like internet or may be other media like air, human mind or anything. Technology is evolving ,lets wait for their outcome, Israelis are worth believing.
full member
Activity: 1554
Merit: 115
0xe25ce19226C3CE65204570dB8D6c6DB1E9Df74AC
All these offline transactions are just another piece of sugarcoated gimmick, they’re some of the most notorious target for double spending attack. It’s all good when you try to spend offline within yourself and your own wallet, if you are receiving payment thru offline method, you better be sure to broadcast the signed hash as soon as possible before all the balance in the wallet being move to a new one, I’m talking about a matter of milli-seconds at the interval between receiving and broadcasting it. Imagine you receive the signed offline hash and when you try to broadcast it later due to laziness, and then realize the said wallet has zero balance left (or just moved recently) and the transaction will be immediately deem invalid, ( you should expect the broadcast to return error when there is no balance to transfer) so basically you receive a payment from scammer and get nothing in the end, why get yourself into this hassle just trying to be safe by being offline? It’s a big trap to scam all the less tech savvy miner, want to be safe? Follow the basic rule, use the core wallet and install full client, any service that promote safety are outright there to get their hand into your gullible crypto by exploiting your Opsec mistake.
full member
Activity: 1750
Merit: 118
i think i have heard simillar news like this before but thier idea was it was like a wifi hotspot where users can connect and transact even if no internet is available as long as they are  near on the coverage area  .

 idea like this are great and must be introduced on the countries or to those places that internet is not really accesible or out of coverage area   even if its only work like an extension but still this will greatly help people to experience the use of cryptos   .
full member
Activity: 854
Merit: 104
I regularly read blockchain-related technology news and realise that this is one of the security features for your assets. However, offline transactions can still cause errors, and this is what worries me, we still need to verify the absolute value of the offline exchange. However, with offline, you can ensure the safety of all Bitcoin and Altcoins.
In any case, this is all very interesting information that deserves close attention. Assuming that such a technical solution is possible, then this can produce a new wave of the technical revolution in cryptocurrency. After all, hackers and various fraudsters this year alone stole more than $ 4.3 billion in cryptocurrency holders. If such a technical solution is possible that will increase the security of cryptocurrency so much, this will completely change the attitude towards it for the better. Cryptocurrency has only just begun to develop, and it is still largely imperfect. Therefore, I believe that new technical solutions will inevitably arise.
sr. member
Activity: 1638
Merit: 300
I regularly read blockchain-related technology news and realise that this is one of the security features for your assets. However, offline transactions can still cause errors, and this is what worries me, we still need to verify the absolute value of the offline exchange. However, with offline, you can ensure the safety of all Bitcoin and Altcoins.

Well, the idea of an offline transaction is quite more concerning than the safety of bitcoin and other crypto currencies. I don't even know how will that work but I don't see that happening in the future. It will not cause errors, it will not worry you since this will not be a thing. Or even if it is a thing, I don't think people will like this.
legendary
Activity: 3444
Merit: 10558
i would never even go near something like this simply because they are obviously lying about a ton of things and exaggerating what their product does. an honest company would simply first acknowledge the previous works and the already existing tools (for example in this case the hardware wallets that already exist) and then explains why their product is any different from others. but they chose the lying route saying their crap is "world's first" whereas it is repetition of what was already created.
maybe they are doing it this way because they are afraid they might get sued soon for ripping off other patents.
legendary
Activity: 4214
Merit: 4458
Quote
“The digital wallet device is electronically disconnected from other digital devices and comprising: a cryptocurrency integrated circuit (IC) that is isolated from any computer interface” … “and a unidirectional communication hardware for sending said transaction to a communication device for broadcasting said transaction via a network.”

Cheesy offline signing. then carrier pigeon to another location to broadcast Cheesy
full member
Activity: 236
Merit: 117
Thanks everyone for explaining your thoughts on this. I felt few information are missing in this post. I gathered few more information where I found a Video by one of the board members of GK8, and one of the founding scientists of Zcash token, Prof. Eran Tromer explained that -

Quote
The company’s cold wallet offering has "unidirectional communication" from the wallet. It never accepts raw information back into the wallet from the outside. “This minimizes the attack surface and prevents attacks,” he said.

--> Check this Video by Prof. Eran Tromer


Also, a patent abstract associated with Lamesh described the technology as follows:

Quote
“The digital wallet device is electronically disconnected from other digital devices and comprising: a cryptocurrency integrated circuit (IC) that is isolated from any computer interface” … “and a unidirectional communication hardware for sending said transaction to a communication device for broadcasting said transaction via a network.”




Source: https://www.coindesk.com/gk8-blockchain-wallet-offline
https://www.cryptonewsz.com/israeli-start-up-gk8-develops-offline-wallet-for-cryptocurrency-holds-online-transaction-capability/43398/
sr. member
Activity: 906
Merit: 262
I don't see the point in having an offline system when basically everything today is online. What are we going back to the stone age? Even the poorest of countries still has the technology and some access to the internet.
The cost to buy a cheap phone and some airtime to go online is much much cheaper and much easier than opening a bank account. You can buy a phone and add airtime and make crypto transactions within a few minutes of your time. Banking would take forever and carry heavy fees. Heavy banking fees are what pusher poorer families away from using banks but now they can get their own bank and they have the power. All thanks to crypto.
full member
Activity: 593
Merit: 100
BBOD The Best Derivatives Exchange
I regularly read blockchain-related technology news and realise that this is one of the security features for your assets. However, offline transactions can still cause errors, and this is what worries me, we still need to verify the absolute value of the offline exchange. However, with offline, you can ensure the safety of all Bitcoin and Altcoins.
hero member
Activity: 1442
Merit: 629
Vires in Numeris
Pure marketing bullshit (IMHO), they know that if they do the first step in this blockchain security solution thing, the competitors would always be the 2nd or 3rd solution on the market...
So despite of that possibly they don't have a working solution for the problem, they can communicate like they already have and people will believe it...
Also, if they can make contracts beforehand, they can secure their position on the market...
The communication is a bit like this: OK, we have the solution, we have patients to protect it, so you have to make business with us, because the others won't be able to serve you with this kind of solution... we're not ready yet but as soon as we are, you'll be the first who can use this revolutionary thing, etc, bla-bla...

Or, it's also possible that they will create a centralized database and fill it with pre-generated public/private keys, and they will fund these addresses with bitcoin.
After, when a customer (because they are a bank and they have customers) wants to buy bitcoin, they just assign the proper public keys to the customer to show that he has the bitcoin. Probably they won't let the customer to move the funds, they just let them sell the bitcoins (meaning that they will cancel the assignment of the public key and the customer). This is possible because they are trusted by the customers, so they can run a centralized system (because of the trust). Bitcoin is a working system were the trust is excluded from the system so for those who really understand what bitcoin (and the blockchain system) is about, these kind of 3rd parties are just useless things...
legendary
Activity: 1666
Merit: 1196
STOP SNITCHIN'
Exactly and doesn't the block stream (core?) Team have a satellite literally already in space to be able to transmit without data?  I could have sworn this happened over a year ago.

True, you can check it at https://blockstream.com/satellite/. AFAIK there's no cost to use their satellite to broadcast bitcoin transaction, even though you might need few hardware so you can connect to the satellite.

The minimum bid to send data is 50 mSat/byte.

It's pretty gimmicky since no one is really sending data to the satellite. You upload or type the message/transaction here using a regular internet browser. Once you pay, Blockstream adds your transaction to the satellite queue to be broadcasted.
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