A 200-year-old company in Austria has launched a cryptocurrency hardware wallet targetting businesses.
The device, called Chainlock, was released by YOUNIQX Identity, a subsidiary of Austrian State Printing House (Oesterreichische Staatsdruckerei, also known as OeSD) – a printing company that has operated since 1804. Currently, the company prints Austrian passports and provides secure identity solutions.
Chainlock Applies for Patent for Key Generation System
Chainlock purports to offer enhanced security through generating keys using a procedure for which it has filed a patent application that prevents everyone other than the wallet’s owner from viewing the key, including YOUNIQX staff. The device also claims to be both heat and water-resistant.
Despite OeSD advertising the product as being operated “100% offline,” the hardware wallet can be used via the Chainlock app. The device takes the physical form of a thin piece of plastic that resembles a credit card in both size and shape.
YOUNIQX has partnered with Singapore-based Tokenize Exchange and Austria-based Coinfinity to also offer the Chainlock hardware wallet to consumers.
The company also seeks to target the burgeoning security token offering market, with the Chainlock release stating that the wallet is “the perfect token container for STOs pursuing a retail strategy.”
Austrian Regulator Against ‘Bitcoin Trader’ Investment Scheme
Earlier this month, Austria’s financial regulator, the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA), issued a warning against crypto investment website, Bitcoin Trader.
The website claims to offer investors a guaranteed return of approximately $1,460 through their proprietary automated trading platform, also claiming that investors have generated seven-figure returns in 61 days.
According to the FMA, Bitcoin Trader does not hold the licensing required to accept funds from other parties for the purpose of management. The regulator describes the website as being comparable to multi-level-marketing schemes.
Austria Post Launches Crypto Stamps
During June, Austria’s postal company, Österreichische Post, launched a line of collectible cryptographic stamps.
Dubbed ‘crypto stamps’, the collectibles claimed to comprise “the world’s first” stamps to be authenticated by distributed ledger technology. 150,000 crypto stamps were issued, with a recommended retail price of € 6.90 (approximately $7.68).
The collectibles comprised two parts, with half of the stamp comprising functional stamp that can be used to send mail, and the second hosting the information required to authenticate the crypto stamp via blockchain.
