Bitcoin storage provider Elliptic Enterprises Ltd. has announced a new partnership with Bitcoin security platform provider Gem that will see Elliptic offer enhanced security for Gem clients.

Under the deal, Elliptic will act as an independent third party to provide insured storage of the third (backup) private key to Gem Bitcoin wallets; typically a multi-signature wallet has three unique private keys with two being required for a transaction to take place.

Under the deal, the three keys will now be split between Gem, Elliptic and the client (previously the client would hold two of the keys,) and if the client loses their private key, Gem and Elliptic will be able to use their private keys to place funds into a new account.

Additionally, Elliptic’s insurance cover will provide Gem clients with a higher level of security than can be achieved through a single multi-signature provider.

“This is a major leap forward for multi-signature technology,” Gem Chief Executive Officer Micah Winkelspecht said in a statement sent to SiliconANGLE. “Now clients can rest easy knowing that even if they lose their private key, they can rely on two independent parties to secure their assets.”

“Elliptic is the most trusted name in private key storage and our tight integration means that there is no single point of failure for Gem’s multi-signature wallets” he added.

High standards

Elliptic doesn’t muck around when it comes to security, and as we covered back in January, it was the first Bitcoin company to obtain ISAE3402 accreditation from a “big four” accounting firm for financial reporting at a standard applied to banks.

Gem isn’t remiss on the security side either, with the company rolling out custom Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) from Thales e-Security earlier this year.

The idea of splitting off the third wallet key to Elliptic is a remarkably simple idea, but at the same time a clever one, and the insurance is a bonus on top again. For a customer holding a Bitcoin wallet, it gives an extra degree of protection and piece of mind at a time Bitcoin wallet hacks are regularly reported on.

Image credit: btckeychain/Flickr/CC by 2.0