Usability vs Security in storing your crypto

Transcript

[Music] hello hello are we ready so next up Adam it's going to talk about security and usability com on up thank you so U hello uh my name is Adam and I'm engineer at treaser and today I would like to share some thoughts on uh us versus Security in storing your crypto so the question uh what is the safest method to store crypto uh I would argue that it's like secure self- custody uh let's break down these two

free words like secure I would say like everyone knows what secure means like others can uh steal funds uh funds it's unhackable Etc but with self- custody uh I think that uh in the community there is sometimes like misunderstanding what these words really mean uh so I would like to uh probably introduce you to a small town called swab and on this uh example show you what self- custody is not so uh this town uh had 2 million euros uh store in sparbank which is a Russian Bank uh and like everything worked fine uh they probably uh have it there because of some like nice

conditions uh but then the Russian Ukraine conflict uh began and uh everyone was feeling like nervous and panicked and actually wanted to uh withdraw uh their funds from this bank but what happened if like multiple uh people uh do this at the same time that's called Bank Run uh and uh Bank in this uh like situation uh stops withdrawals so you are not able to withdraw your funds and you basically uh like uh are um like you are understanding that the money uh on your bank account is not really the money you own uh so uh right now let's uh get back

to the self custody this is not self- custody uh self custody means ownership that you and you only uh can transact and like uh send these uh assets and crypto uh to to other addresses uh so yeah uh right now let's uh let's uh get to the main topic of the presentation uh which is the security and usability uh here you can have you can see a chart uh with like two axis y- axis and x-axis the y axis means like security uh how the solution is secure and uh on the x-axis is usability like how usable how user friendly the

solution is uh but before that I would like to uh talk about this quote uh which says security at the expense of usability comes at the expense of security I would like that sync in so you can think about it and then I will say what this actually means so this actually means that if you uh like technically improve the security of your product uh uh then and and you are at the same time reducing the usability then you are like uh reducing both security and usability because users will shot uh in the L so yeah uh now let's get back to the chart and uh

on the top uh left corner uh I would say I will put this picture that you will loog yourself in a cave uh like this is actually not really accurate picture you should be there alone uh and uh like you uh know your uh private keys in your mind and like everything you have no social interaction so it's basically impossible to to uh steal your your like your funds from you right but uh usability not that big so uh that's that's this manual cave then there are like some di DIY Solutions so you'll bought uh some air gaped uh machine you

install Linux on it and uh yeah you are good to go but this really like the security of this solution really depends on how uh on how uh you are like how L how experienced you are as a Linux user uh so uh this will determine the uh the the setup of the computer next uh like there are traditional apps such as revolute or conbase uh but we like everyone probably knows that uh these are solutions where you are not in charge of the money because the private keys are stored on their back ends and uh they can just like say you can't send it uh to anyone

yeah so uh good usability like the UI uix of these apps we all know them they are like perfect but uh security not that big uh also I don't want you to uh like mean by this that you should not use coinbase or revolute like these are fine apps for uh like transacting or interacting with like lower amounts like amounts that you are like comfortable having in your physical wallet yeah but for bigger amounts uh the best solution in terms of both usability and security uh is a hardware wet Hardware vet is a single purpose device that does just one thing and that is to store your private

Keys uh as a treasure uh we developed the first the world's first Hardware volet uh so we know what we are doing and also there are other competitors uh yeah uh so on the top right corner uh would be like the best solution in terms of both usability and security because you are not in the cave in the cave there is just the hardware bullet uh if uh your computer gets compromised uh it doesn't mean that you will lose your funds because uh treasure uh or any hardware wet is basically uh unhackable or the probability of hacking it is much uh lower than traditional computer and uh you get you get a nice uiux app that

when you plug in the Treasure or any uh uh other hard wet you get nice UI for sending receiving trading Etc but because we are on ethereum conference uh it's not just about uh storing uh your crypto but it's actually about like getting some yield uh and interacting on chain like swap in terms of both usability and security because you are not in the cave in the cave there is just the hardware bullet uh if uh your computer gets compromised uh it doesn't mean that you will lose your funds because uh treasure uh or any hardware wallet is basically uh unhackable or the probability of hacking

it is much uh lower than traditional computer and uh you get to you get a nice UI uxix app that when you plug in the Treasure or any uh uh other hard wet you get nice UI for sending receiving trading Etc but because we are on ethereum conference uh it's not just about uh storing uh your crypto but it's actually about like getting some yield uh and interacting on chain like swaps uh uh borrow money Etc so I would like to uh also have a section uh about like eips three three top eips in my opinion that boosted the protocol security so first

uh is EIP 1559 and uh this EIP I think is quite well known uh it introduced uh base fees which are basically paid like every time you uh execute and send uh a transaction uh and you also have like priority fees on top of this and uh because we introduced base fees uh like uh scammers are not right now able to push uh like transactions with really low fees uh into the network so uh there was EIP y5 59 then uh there is account abstraction I think uh there were like um hundreds of presentations of uh about this topic so I just like uh quickly uh revise what

what this does uh actually uh account abstractions uh brings uh the ability of smart contracts uh to be first class citizens so uh you can uh send and execute transactions just like from externally owned accounts uh also uh because like uh these smart contracts are uh basically up to you how they will behave then you can uh you can go crazy and you can uh for example have there some mechanism if you lose if if you uh lose your private Keys then uh WEA some like social channels you are able to retrieve them and the third uh EIP is uh transaction security uh which basically

introduce a new type of transaction uh that uh you you uh like submit the the transaction on behalf no sorry uh a third party is able to submit uh a transaction on your behalf but you are not giving them uh the private keys at all uh but actually uh these were just like tools about like security and usability but the biggest threat in like actually uh losing your funds is yourself because uh if you uh fell about uh with some fishing attack then uh not a hardware Wallet not a software wet will save you right so uh you also need

to be educated so you don't uh be fooled and uh I would argue that also practice secur Key Management to have it on like multiple places don't tell your friends Etc especially on X so yeah uh so what we have learned today uh use a hardware wallet for larger amounts and the other one from Treasure uh thank you thank you and by the way we are hiring at Treasure so uh if you would like to know more about this opportunity then ask or reach out to me or tomash uh and we can talk thank you questions we have plenty

of time two questions uh what is your opinion on the Argent or brows accounts that like stored on on the phone uh you mean to like arent X the client or yeah um I used their like smart contracts wallet because actually it was like the first smart contract wallet ever made right by Argent X I mean it's nice uh but it's it's uh it's on it's not on ethereum right it's on some side chain no Stark net Stark net right yeah so on ethereum I'm not sure right now what are the options for you to create like a account

obstruction account wallet so yeah but uh I I like the UI I use I use their app so yeah nice hi my question will be I believe less technical thank you for your your pitch anyways uh I would like to ask you yeah you guys are the first device wallet that ever existed and actually I'm using you for the big amounts but question is why is it so slow when it comes to adding new chains like if you will be comparing yourself to other wallets you're far behind when it comes to usability and accessing to the new Chains new blockchains new coins uh what's your take on this mhm yeah um

good question it's something that we are like in right now uh because I think as you know treaser from like the uh year 2013 when it all started we were and I would say also uh are right now like a Bitcoin uh first company uh so uh like are uh from the from the like Founders point of view and product uh for a long period of time there was like no need uh to adding like a new chains quickly uh but right now we understand that there are like uh competitors on the market uh that have these chains and uh we just don't have them but uh I would I would say that in like uh 6 to 12 months you

can expect uh quite a new chains uh to be introduced in the app such as uh optimism Avalanche Etc on top well 11 years after right and on top of that the question is why amongst well you're the first ones one of the best teams in in town and why is it that you're still having the connectivity through the Through the Wire like most of your competition goes Wireless and this is the safest way as we know but why are you still working Through the Wire uh also a good question and I would say like uh wait and you will uh you will see a in a foreseeable future a product with uh Bluetooth connection all right

good luck with that thank you hi uh thank you for your talk um interesting points there um my question is um what typical easy mistakes or more difficult mistakes do you see like most people make but mostly like I'm interested in the most easy mistakes people make when securing crypto and like fixes for this mhm uh do you mean more like on like Behavior like uh fishing attacks or like the tooling like in en when losing um crypto and I think like most people don't use treasure when

when when they're interacting on chain so yeah uh like I would say like everything comes from the fact that uh if you are like falling uh for these types of attacks that your knowledge and like your um security uh knowledge is not that good and if uh you would just like slow down a bit and thicken through like is this alleg air drop or can I somehow damage Myself by by doing this transaction or like I would say like the first first thing like never tell anyone your private keys because I would that that's that's the most that's the biggest and the most

often problem with with because if you give someone a private key or Keys then you are basically giving them access to your bank account or to your wallet so yeah if this aners your question any other questions uh from my experience treasur is not working with too many DBS or uh applications in uh in ethereum ecosystem with the wallets so uh do you do something to improve this because usually I can connect my ledger to many wallets like browser extensions but

rather not yeah uh this is a good question when I uh come when I like was uh in the company for the first first few months I also didn't know that uh we like enable users to interact with dabs it's that with metamask in like in metamask you have option to connect a hardware wallet and there is also treasure so if you connect uh your treasure to metamask then metamask with like with metamask you're able to use Unis Swap and like other dabs for for example so if you can try this then tonight yeah