Today, Investopedia reported that the Uber rich might be keeping up to $10 Billion dollars in super secure high tech cryptocurrency vaults spread over multiple locations located around the globe.
The “vaults” are shielded computer data centers located underground using military-grade physical security factors, such as guards, concrete-reinforced blast doors, plus multi-factor authentication, split key storage, and more. These computers are multi-redundant and are kept completely and permanently off-line – not only are the keys stored off-line but they are also generated off-line for extra security. The fully “a-to-z” off-line nature of this system is referred to as “DEEP cold storage“.
The vaults are designed to withstand natural-disaster, but even if one were to strike and damages the vault, then any customer funds could still be accessed from one of the other redundant vault locations.
All this security does mean that there is a 48-hour delay to withdraw funds, so this vault is not for those who went to day-trade cryptocurrencies.
The system is the brainchild of Argentinean businessman Wences Casares. He founded Xapo and created these vaults. The challenge of physically creating this offline storage system was only half the work. Convincing rich cryptocurrency holders to place their trust in his system was the other half. Xapo is regulated by the country where the vaults exist – in the case of the vault located in an old Swiss army bunker, it is the Swiss government. The US regulates the second location in Delaware.
“What is all this security going to cost an account holder?” you might ask. According to Xapo’s website, it will not cost you anything. Both the wallet and the vault are free services.
Read the full Investopedia article here
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