BitGo

BitGo
Headquarters Palo Alto, CA
Key people

CEO & Co-founder, Mike Belshe

CTO, Benedict Chan
Services Bitcoin / Blockchain Security Platform API's
Website https://www.bitgo.com

BitGo is a Blockchain security company.[1][2] It is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, and was founded in 2013 by Mike Belshe[3] and Ben Davenport.

The company offers a multisignature bitcoin wallet service, where keys are divided among a number of owners to manage risk.[4] Specifically, BitGo wallets have three keys: one held by BitGo, and two - one hot and one cold - held by the wallet's owner.[5][6]

History

In June 2014 the company received US$12 million in venture capital funding led by Redpoint Ventures.[7]

In January 2015 BitGo announced the general availability of their Platform API.[8] The following month the company bought an insurance policy from XL Catlin against theft from its wallets.[9][10]

In June 2015 the company launched the Verified by BitGo program, a "proof of reserve" service for bitcoin companies.[11][12] In October 2015 the company published an open protocol for sharing keys between bitcoin service companies called the "Key Recovery Service".[13]

Bitfinex hack

In 2015, digital currency exchange Bitfinex and BitGo announced a system whereby multi-signature wallets would be provided to each Bitfinex customer, with two of the three keys held by Bitfinex.[14] On August 2, 2016, more than $60,000,000 worth of bitcoin was stolen from Bitfinex.[15] BitGo was not itself hacked,[14] but blindly processed withdrawal requests from the hacker, who had obtained access to Bitfinex's keys.[16]

References

  1. ↑ KING 5 News (January 20, 2014). "Seattle entrepreneur mines Bitcoin phenomenon". KING-TV.
  2. ↑ Robert McMillan (April 9, 2014). "A Hack That Makes Bitcoins a Whole Lot Harder to Steal". Wired.
  3. ↑ "yBitcoin.com / Introducing the Future of Money". ybitcoin.com. Retrieved 2015-12-18.
  4. ↑ Danny Bradbury (December 19, 2013). "BitGo Safe Aims to Secure Bitcoin Wallets With Multi-Signature Transactions". CoinDesk.
  5. ↑ Michael J. Casey (June 16, 2014). "Bitcoin Security Startup BitGo Gets More Funds; Ex-Verisign CEO Joins Team". The Wall Street Journal.
  6. ↑ Kim-Mai Cutler (June 16, 2014). "BitGo Raises $12M Led By Redpoint For Multi-Signature Bitcoin Wallets, Services". TechCrunch. AOL.
  7. ↑ Dara Kerr (June 16, 2014). "Bitcoin security platform BitGo raises $12M in funding". CNET. CBS Interactive.
  8. ↑ Andrew, DeSantis. "BitGo Launches Platform API Opening Its Bitcoin Security Infrastructure to the Masses". Bitcoin Magazine.
  9. ↑ Wanda Carruthers. "BitGo Unleashes FDIC-like Insurance Ushering in a New Era of Bitcoin Security". Bitcoin Magazine.
  10. ↑ Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna (February 25, 2015). "BitBeat: BitGo Adds Comprehensive Insurance to Its Services". The Wall Street Journal.
  11. ↑ Laura Shin (June 30, 2015). "BitGo Launches Verisign-Like Certificate To Prove Solvency For Bitcoin Companies". Forbes.
  12. ↑ Pete Rizzo (June 30, 2015). "BitGo Launches New Financial Transparency Service". CoinDesk.
  13. ↑ "BitGo Unveils Open-Source Bitcoin Key Recovery Service". CoinTelegraph. Retrieved 2015-12-18.
  14. 1 2 "The Bitfinex Bitcoin Hack: What We Know (And Don't Know)". News Article. CoinDesk. 2016-08-03.
  15. ↑ "Bitfinex Reports Security Breach, Bitcoin Price Slumps". Cointelegraph. 2 August 2016.
  16. ↑ "Bitfinex hack raises concerns over multisig technology". News Article. CoinFox. 2016-08-03.
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