Security solutions for crypto are broken
Crypto key storage, management, and usage solutions (including hardware wallets) today rely on “off-the-shelf” semiconductor chips. Unfortunately, no company makes chips tailored to this market. Therefore, crypto market must “borrow” chips designed for consumer electronics, centralized banking, or other applications. These off-the-shelf chips were NOT designed for the specific needs of a rapidly-evolving crypto market with sophisticated security needs.
Some of the shortcomings include:
- Wrong cryptographic primitives
- Non-secure, vulnerable memory (which also limits chip performance)
- Archaic single-key system
- Closed solutions, secret architecture
- Restrictive NDAs
- Little to no protection of CPU/MCU capability, for example, no “physical countermeasures” shield
Blending crypto and semiconductor cultures
There is also the issue that crypto and semiconductor worlds have different “cultures” and need to be harmonized to design and fabricate a commercially viable chip.
| Crypto Culture | Semiconductor Culture |
|---|---|
| Shorter timelines | Longer timelines |
| Start and fix on the way | Maximum validation before buying masks |
| Little to no tooling | High fixed tooling (masks, IP, testing, qualification) |
| Costs to acquire customer is key metric | Gross margin is key metric |
| Point solution, focused narrowly | Single-chip, multi-purpose, large volumes |
| Can build value gradually | Quantized - one chip is a major undertaking |
At Cramium, we are building a security solution from the ground-up that is crypto-native. Cramium’s new security architecture addresses problems plaguing current solutions and uses a new class of memory called Resistive RAM or ReRAM and high-performance integrated logic at an advanced node.
While system-level thinking for advanced and more secure key management are already well-established in the industry, there is a lack of a proper silicon platform for implementation. Cramium’s solution will provide the right foundation to support next-generation best-in-class security standards. Our solution will support advanced key management and storage and permit ease-of-use and integration in a robust manner. As such, the solution will offer much higher security for cryptocurrencies, NFTs and other tokens for the emerging Web3 economy.
