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SatoChip

🔍 Last analysed 3rd November 2022 .  

As part of our Methodology, we ask:

Can the user verify and approve transactions on the device?

 
If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Transactions are signed blindly".

Devices in this category are first sealed. Once the seal is broken, they sign transactions that they are presented with but have no built-in screen to verify what’s being signed.

That makes them prone to malicious companion apps that they rely on for sending.

While this leaves little room for major exit scams, the handling of such devices is delicate.

To redeem your funds safely, create your transaction on an offline machine and verify the signed transaction on a different machine before broadcasting it.

Help spread awareness for build reproducibility

Please help us spread the word discussing build reproducibility with SatoChip  via their Twitter!

Do your own research!

Try out searching for "lost bitcoins", "stole my money" or "scammers" together with the wallet's name, even if you think the wallet is generally trustworthy. For all the bigger wallets you will find accusations. Make sure you understand why they were made and if you are comfortable with the provider's reaction.

If you find something we should include, you can create an issue or edit this analysis yourself and create a merge request for your changes.

What is a bearer token?

Bearer tokens are meant to be passed on from one user to another similar to cash or a banking check. Unlike hardware wallets, this comes with an enormous "supply chain" risk if the token gets handed from user to user anonymously - all bearer past and present have plausible deniability if the funds move. We used to categorize bearer tokens as hardware wallets, but decided that they deserved an altogether different category. Generally, bearer tokens require these attributes:

  • Secure initial setup
  • Tamper evidence
  • Balance check without revealing private keys
  • Small size
  • Low unit price
and either of these applies:
  • Somebody has a backup and needs to be trusted.
  • Nobody has a backup and funds are destroyed if the token is lost or damaged.

The Analysis 

Updated Information

The Satochip has a sealing function which is executed from the Satodime Tool, a source-available software on GitHub.

Previous Verdict

From this product’s homepage:

Imagine a highly secured small form-factor hardware wallet where you can store your favorite cryptocurrencies … Using the most secured chip with an embedded quality code, we can bring you a new way to store, share and secure your assets.

Satochip is a crypto-card with multi-crypto support. It can use software or android wallets to make transactions.

Satochip hardware wallet is supported by many well known and widely used software client such as Electrum, MyEtherWallet or Metamask. The card is NFC ready.

From the FAQ:

To use it, you will need :

  • A chip card reader (available at our shop),
  • A dedicated client (Electrum (BTC), Electron Cash (BCH), Electron Cash SLP (SLP tokens), Electrum for Litecoin (LTC), MyEtherWallet (ETH and ERC20) or Metamask with the Satochip plugin.
  • Plug it on your computer by using the chip card reader, start the Satochip client, initialize your Satochip hardware wallet and enjoy.

As this product is a crypto-card and has no interface, it cannot confirm or approve of transactions.

(ml, dg)