1Password has announced a collaboration with crypto wallet provider Phantom that it hopes should help customers keep their cryptocurrency out of the reach of attackers.
Under the partnership, the company’s password manager will be integrated directly into the Phantom wallet, which supports a variety of crypto tokens and NFTs housed on the Solana blockchain.
By selecting the new “Save in 1Password” option, Phantom users will be able to automatically populate a 1Password listing that contains all of the credentials required to both access their wallet and transact using Solana-based tokens.
1Password doubles down on crypto
Since the price of Bitcoin began to skyrocket in late 2020, many millions more people have become cryptocurrency owners. However, storing crypto and other blockchain-based tokens in a secure manner is not as simple as perhaps it should be.
As a multitude of security incidents have made clear, storing cryptocurrency in a so-called custodial wallet (i.e. a wallet managed by a cryptocurrency exchange) is not ideal, because major exchanges attract a significant amount of attention from cyber actors.
In an optimal scenario, cryptocurrency should be stored in offline hardware wallets that are inaccessible to attackers. But for the sake of convenience and accessibility, many people opt for third-party “hot wallets” like Phantom, which still allow users to take control of their own private key (without which, no one can access the tokens in an account).
According to 1Password, the new partnership will allow people to store their wallet login credentials and private keys in a secure fashion, which will have the knock-on effect of bringing new demographics to the crypto space.
“Crypto innovations are reshaping the world, but for many it seems too confusing or risky to join this transformation,” said Jeff Shiner, 1Password CEO.
“Our technology partnership with Phantom is another example of 1Password making technology more human-centric. Together, we are simplifying management for existing investors as well as lowering the barrier to entry for those eager to safely buy and trade digital assets through a platform they know and trust.”
TechRadar Pro has asked 1Password whether users can expect future partnerships with wallet providers that service the wider crypto ecosystem, beyond Solana.
- Shield your online accounts with the best security keys around
Joel Khalili is the News and Features Editor at TechRadar Pro. He’s interested in receiving pitches around cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud, AI, blockchain, internet infrastructure, 5G, data storage, business software and computing.