Bitgo and Ledger Partner to Offer Multisignature Signing for Hardware Wallets

Popular Bitcoin wallet Bitgo has announced an integration with Ledger hardware wallets for the Nano S and Blue models.

Also read: Bitgo provides an update related to the Bitfinex breach 

The Partnership

“We are excited to announce a partnership with Ledger to combine the benefits of Bitgo’s multisignature enterprise wallet with Ledger’s hardware-based key storage”, announced Mike Belshe, Bitgo co-founder, and CEO. He also noted that:

The integration with Ledger enables our customers to secure their signature keys in an offline hardware device, providing additional layers of protection against malware and other attack vectors.

Bitgo wallets have some of the most advanced features available for multisignature addresses, which help protect against theft by requiring multiple private keys to sign each outgoing transaction. Keeping one of the private keys on a separate device was not possible before this integration.

Bitgo wallet users can now benefit from the enhanced security of a hardware device while still enjoying online wallet features which standalone Ledger wallets do not offer, including instant payments, rate limits, address whitelists and blacklists, as well as webhooks.

How It Works

By connecting a Ledger device to a Bitgo account, a new Bitgo wallet can be created using a multisignature address to split the private keys between the new wallet and the Ledger
device.

While the new wallet appears on the Bitgo’s user interface just like any other wallet in a Bitgo account, sending money from this wallet requires the Ledger device to confirm the transaction.

The existing Ledger wallet application is unaffected, but a firmware or Bitcoin wallet app upgrade may be required for the device itself in order to use this feature.

Bitgo does not charge setup or monthly fees. However, there is a 0.10% fee per outgoing transaction.

Simple Setup

Bitcoin.com followed the setup instructions provided by Bitgo for the Ledger Nano S. It took approximately 15 minutes to upgrade the firmware, but once upgraded, the integration only took about a minute. For the Ledger Blue, no firmware upgrade is required but the Bitcoin wallet app may need to be updated, according to Bitgo’s setup instructions.

To enable the integration:

1. Sign up for or log into your Bitgo account and create a new wallet.
2. Connect your Ledger device, enter your pin to unlock it, and then open the Bitcoin app on the device.
3. On the Bitgo website, choose “Ledger wallet” when creating your new wallet’s key. Bitgo will generate a multisignature address at this point, storing one key on the Ledger device.
4. Choose the backup service.

Once the wallet is set up, sending money from it requires the same Ledger device to confirm the transactions.

What do you think of this Bitgo and Ledger integration? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Bitgo, Ledger

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via Kevin Helms