Blockchain-powered identify verification startup Civic announced on Tuesday (July 23) that it is working on the “first consumer digital wallet built on top of BitGo’s multisig technology,” and that it is planning to release this in Q4 2019.
According to the press release shared with CryptoGlobe, Civic is trying to build next-generation digital wallets that store both identity information and digital assets.
Civic’s upcoming product, which is called Civic Wallet, will use multisig technology from BitGo to allow “consumers to have more control and security over both their crypto and their personal information.”
Private keys are held in the user’s mobile device. However, if this device is lost or stolen, the digital wallet can be restored via “redundant backup systems.”
Civic “uses blockchain technology built on top of identity.com and is creating a network based on trust.” After a user “signs up with Civic Wallet,” he/she is “authenticated as a real person, using groundbreaking blockchain-based technology that securely verifies a person’s identifiable information.” Civic does not share identity information with any other parties, but users can “selectively share parts of their verified identity with third parties,” for example when paying for age-restricted items (such as alcoholic drinks or cigarettes).
Vinny Lingham, co-founder and CEO of Civic, had this to say about Civic Wallet:
We’re building a new financial and identity ecosystem. This is the wallet of the future. With Civic Wallet, it will be easy and safe to transfer, hold, or use crypto, so that people who are not technologically savvy can use it too. The world needs tools that lower the barrier to entry for blockchain technology.
As for BitGo, Co-Founder and CEO Mike Belshe said:
With the Civic Wallet, individual users are getting more privacy and security in managing their cryptocurrency than ever before. It used to be that if you lost your mobile device, containing your digital wallet’s private key, you lost all of your crypto. This is not the case with Civic’s new wallet. This is a big step forward for individual users.
