Keyless’ ‘Zero-Knowledge Biometrics’ enable crypto wallet to meet MFA requirements

Swiss-licensed crypto wallet Relai has integrated biometric authentication from Keyless for logins, account recovery and account deletion.

Keyless’ privacy-preserving authentication shows that crypto wallets can take advantage of the security of biometrics without risking a loss of the user trust which is vital to the industry, Relai says in the company announcement.

“We founded Keyless on the belief that biometrics must be private, not just secure,” says Keyless Co-founder and CEO Andrea Carmignani. “The crypto community shares this value, so we’re incredibly proud to be working with Relai. We hope this partnership sets a new standard for how biometrics, implemented correctly, can better protect crypto wallets.”

The Bitcoin-only company claims more than half a million downloads and $1 billion in trading volume, with thousands of logins and transactions daily. As it grows across Europe, the company has recently applied for new licenses which require it to use multi-factor authentication (MFA). Relai has previously relied on native device biometrics and OTPs delivered over SMS, which did not meet the requirements.

“We chose Keyless because it delivers true multi-factor authentication — independent, secure, and quick,” says Relai Co-founder and CTO Adem Bilican. “The crypto community expects high privacy standards, but strong authentication doesn’t have to come at the expense of privacy. We’re excited to be one of the first in the crypto space to make privacy-preserving biometrics the default.”

Belian explains why he believes biometrics will eventually render the 12-word seed phrases used in crypto obsolete in a promotional video for Keyless.

Keyless’ authentication must be carried out on the same device the user is enrolled on, which provides a possession factor along with the inherence factor supplied by the company’s face biometrics and passive liveness detection. The user’s biometric data is transformed on the device and stored in unreadable form in the cloud, in a process Keyless calls “Zero-Knowledge Biometrics.”

The biometrics are used in step-up authentication, which is triggered by actions like buying a large volume of Bitcoin, or the aforementioned account deletion, in addition to login and account recovery processes.

Keyless’ biometrics are also being integrated by IDnow through a strategic partnership to deliver “continuous trust.”

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  crypto wallet  |  face biometrics  |  facial authentication  |  Keyless