financemagnates.com
Gemini, the US-based cryptocurrency exchange and custodian, yesterday announced that the company has acquired Shard X, a firm developing secure multi-party computation (MPC) cryptographic technology.
According to the announcement, the cryptocurrency platform is planning to integrate the multi-party computation technology of Shard X into its infrastructure. Gemini aims to support new asset listings through the latest acquisition.
Gemini is one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges around the world. According to the company, it has more than $30 billion worth of cryptocurrency assets under custody. In April 2021, Gemini announced a partnership with Mastercard and WebBank for the launch of a credit card that will reward users in digital currencies.
Through the recent acquisition, Gemini is planning to make cryptocurrency transfers secure and faster.
“The addition of Shard X’s MPC will work in concert with all other aspects of Gemini’s custody offering, which includes role-based governance protocols, multiple layers of biometric access controls, and physical security to safeguard the sensitive key material, safely stored in government-rated hardware security modules (HSMs), that controls customers’ assets,” Gemini added.
Shard X
Founded in 2018, Shard X was developed by Yaniv Neu-Ner, a former associate at McKinsey and company, along with other co-founders including Nikita Lesnikov, and Navaho De Wet. Primarily, the company focused on the security of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. “Shard X’s MPC technology generates key fragments which are used in a distributed signing protocol without ever reconstructing a full private key. The team has developed a portable MPC implementation that aims to run in high-security environments, such as HSMs, ensuring the highest integrity and secure processing of private key fragments that protect digital assets,” the press release states.
Tyler Winklevoss, an American investor and founder of Winklevoss Capital Management is the CEO of Gemini Exchange. Winklevoss currently has a net worth of more than $3 billion. Commenting about the latest acquisition, Winklevoss said: “Integrating MPC technology into our wallets will enable secure and faster crypto transfers that will help our customers keep pace with liquidity needs and market demands.”