Keystone Hardware Wallet Support Grant Application

[Lixin]

Hello Zcash fams,

My name is Lixin, CEO of Keystone, a leading hardware wallet provider dedicated to ensuring the highest standards of security and user experience in the cryptocurrency space.

Website: https://keyst.one/
Twitter: https://x.com/KeystoneWallet

At Keystone, we believe in the fundamental principles of privacy, security, and decentralization. These principles are not only at the core of our product development but also align perfectly with the ethos of Zcash.

Now we plan to add Zcash into the Keystone hardware wallet, which will provide Zcash users with a robust and secure solution for managing their assets. Our wallet is designed with state-of-the-art security features, including air-gapped communication, open-source firmware, and a user-friendly interface. By supporting Zcash, we aim to offer its users the same level of security and convenience that has made Keystone a trusted name in the industry.

To achieve this goal, we are seeking a grant from the Zcash Foundation. The grant will enable us to allocate the necessary resources for development, testing, and deployment of Zcash support on the Keystone hardware wallet. Our team is dedicated to ensuring a seamless integration, and we are committed to working closely with the Zcash community throughout this process.

Here is the application - https://zcashgrants.org/gallery/25215916-53ea-4041-a3b2-6d00c487917d/47175676/

If you have any questions or want to give us some support, please leave a comment below. Really appreciate that!!!

Quick note: We have recieved many requests on Twitter for the integration and we have been working with ECC closely for week discussing the integration.

Reference links:
https://x.com/BitcoinLixin/status/1813755615166255160
https://x.com/BitcoinLixin/status/1820472493024657642

[aquietinvestor]

Hi @Lixin - Welcome to the forum, and thank you for submitting your grant proposal! We will review it in the upcoming weeks and reach out if we have any questions.

In the meantime, if you have any questions for us, you can post them to this thread or DM us at @ZcashGrants.

Zcash Community - We want to hear your feedback on this grant! You can post your comments to this thread or DM us at @ZcashGrants if you’d like to provide feedback in private.

Thanks!

[tokidoki]

Assuming this will bring hardware wallet UX that is similar to Keystone + Metamask, I am 100% supportive of this proposal.

[zkcroc]

Thanks for the submission, I am fully supportive of this grant if you can get orchard support on a hardware device by the end of October!

Can you please describe what exactly changed since the initial concerns over the hardware power to be able to handle orchard? IIRC when you first assessed the feasibility of this, you said it was not possible to support orchard

[nuttycom]

There was an initial misunderstanding about what operations were required to be performed on the hardware device; the online device can be responsible for proof creation using a reduced set of key capabilities, while the specifications of the hardware device are sufficient for creating the transaction signatures, which are what are ultimately the important spending operation for which you want air-gapped key storage.

[daira]

I am very enthusiastic about this grant, and strongly support accepting the proposal. Keystone’s technical approach is sound (I especially like the animated-QR-code communication channel that obviates concerns about potential exploits from the host computer via USB or Bluetooth), and their stack is built almost entirely in Rust, which greatly increases my confidence that this will actually result in secure and usable shielded wallet support.

I think this has a very good chance of finally allowing the hard work we put into facilitating hardware wallets in the shielded protocol, to get into the hands of Zcash users.

[jelly5649]

Is it the same animated-QR-code communication as used in Ywallet? In other words, if it is not one already, would it be possible to make it a standard so we can use older Android devices as budget offline wallets? It’s already possible with Ywallet, but without a standard it doesn’t feel quite as safe for long term storage.

[zerodartz]

I really like that its actually airgapped and the UX seems quite nice. I hope we can use Zcash soon on it

[zkPete]

Thanks! 100% support this!

[Lixin]

Yes. We will integrate Keystone with Zashi wallet.

And the UX is quite similar to Keystone + MetaMask mobile.

Reference - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixRIoGfbmTI

[Lixin]

End of October is a bit aggressive for us but we will do our best!

For the 2nd question - we made a mistake and @nuttycom helped us answer this.

Thanks so much @nuttycom !

[Lixin]

Thanks so much for your kind words @daira!

[Lixin]

Sorry we are pretty new to the space and I am not sure about the animated-QR Ywallet is using.

But we are creating a QR standard (as well as PCZT, similar to PSBT https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0174.mediawiki) together with ECC.

After this standard is finalized, implement is on Android and turn an old Android phone into a QR signing device is 100% doable.

[zkcroc]

This is your stated timeline from your application . I thought a couple of months was a tad optimistic, but I am very keen for this to happen and will probably hold off on upgrading my ledger and buy a keystone if the time frame is not that far away

[Lixin]

Yes. We will do our best to catch this date.

Please kindly note that the final release will have another dependency - dev team of Zashi will do some work on their end to make it compatible with Keystone.

But all of us will do our best, for sure.

[peacemonger]

Could you share a pic of the older Keystone wallet that has tire marks from when you drove over it to test its durability?

[wobbzz]

Hi all - thanks for your grant submission and interest in supporting Zcash.

I have a concern that I hope @lixin or @daira/@nuttycom can help address.

Given that proof generation would be the responsibility of the online device, what mitigations are currently in place, or could be implemented, to prevent a compromised online device from generating a proof that is fraudulent in nature and/or fooling the HW device into signing a TX that has been tampered with?

Thanks!

[newzin112]

I love keystone wallets and was hoping for a day when I could keep zec in my keystone wallet.

[zkcroc]

If this grant were to be approved which seems likely, I have marketing suggestion.

Since this grant is subsidised through zcash holders via the dev fund, how about a one time usage discount code is offered and distributed through shielded memos to a UA? Might help to move a few units for you guys and zcash community are winners too

Possibly this is something @ZcashGrants can negotiate?

[Lixin]

Note:

This is the first gen of our hardware wallet which is designed for bitcoin miners who are super paranoid. They shared us the idea of QR interaction because they are anxious when plugging their hardware wallet into a laptop through USB.

They also work in the most isolated places for the cheapest electrocity so the first gen is water proof and drop resistant and comes with a metal case.

The scratches on the metal case is becuase I drove my car over it to test the durability.