Systems and methods for storing digital math-based assets using a secure portal

• US 10,068,228 B1
• Filed: 07/01/2014
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gemini IP LLC (IPNav)
• Original Assignee: Winklevoss IP LLC
• Inventors: Winklevoss, Cameron Howard, Winklevoss, Tyler Howard, Greebel, Evan Louis, Moriarty, Kathleen Hill, Xethalis, Gregory Elias
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Steven S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Choo, Johann Y
• Application Number:
  US14/320,900
• Time in Patent Office: 1,526 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/065 using e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/34 using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/36 using electronic wallets or electronic money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3829 involving key management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/00 Business processing using cryptography postage metering system using cryptography G06Q2250/05
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/14 Requiring a supplemental attachment or input, e.g. a dongle, to open
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/085 Secret sharing or secret splitting, e.g. threshold schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3239 involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3252 using DSA or related signature schemes, e.g. elliptic based signatures, ElGamal or Schnorr schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/50 using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees

Abstract

Systems and methods for securely storing digital assets using a secure portal are disclosed. Using an isolated computer within an electronic isolation chamber, a plurality of digital asset accounts may be generated, and one or more private keys and a digital asset account identifier corresponding to each of the digital asset accounts may be obtained. A respective reference identifier may be associated with each digital asset account. At least one of the one or more private keys corresponding to each digital asset account may be divided into a plurality of private key segments and written to a card along with the respective reference identifier to create sets of collated cards, wherein each set comprises cards corresponding to different private keys.

Claims

1. A method comprising, the steps of:

(a) providing, within a digital asset account administrative system associated with a digital asset, an electronic isolation chamber containing a computer and one or more writing devices operatively connected to the computer, the electronic isolation chamber being operatively and physically separated from any network by an air gap so that the computer is an isolated computer, the isolated computer comprising one or more processors and computer-readable memory;

(b) generating, using the isolated computer, a plurality of digital asset accounts capable of holding one or more digital math-based assets that are tracked by a decentralized digital asset network that uses a decentralized electronic ledger in the form of a blockchain maintained by a plurality of physically remote computer systems;

(c) generating, using the isolated computer, one or more private keys and a digital asset account identifier corresponding to each of the plurality of digital asset accounts;

(d) associating, using the isolated computer, each of the one or more digital asset accounts with a respective reference identifier;

(e) dividing, using the isolated computer, at least one of the one or more private keys corresponding to each of the plurality of digital asset accounts into a plurality of private key segments, wherein two or more private key segments as a subset of the plurality of private key segments that includes less than all of the plurality of private key segments are required to regenerate the respective private key;

(f) transmitting, from the isolated computer to the one or more writing devices, electronic writing instructions for writing each of the plurality of private key segments and the respective reference identifier to a respective removable storage medium;

(g) writing, using the one or more writing devices, each respective private key segment of the plurality of private key segments and the respective reference identifier on a respective removable storage medium according to the electronic writing instructions; and

(h) writing, using the isolated computer, each of the digital asset account identifiers along with the corresponding reference identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the writing step (g) further comprises the steps of:

(i) transmitting, from the isolated computer to the one or more writing devices, second electronic writing instructions for writing each of the digital asset account identifiers along with the corresponding reference identifier; and

(ii) writing, using the one or more writing devices, each of the digital asset account identifiers along with the corresponding reference identifier according to the second writing instructions.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the writing step (ii) comprises writing to an electronic storage medium.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the writing step (ii) comprises writing to a physical storage medium.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the physical storage medium is paper.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

(j) writing, using the isolated computer, the respective digital asset account identifiers to a removable electronic storage medium.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

(j) encrypting, using the isolated computer, each of the plurality of private key segments.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the encrypting comprises using at least one of the following encryption techniques:

symmetric-key encryption, asymmetric-key encryption, scrambling, substitution, hashing, or adding characters.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more writing devices are printers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage medium is a card, and the transmitting step (f) comprises:

transmitting, from the isolated computer to the one or more writing devices, electronic writing instructions for writing each of the plurality of private key segments and the respective reference identifier on a respective card to generate a plurality of collated sets of cards wherein each of the collated sets of cards comprises cards corresponding to different private keys and wherein the plurality of collated sets includes one or more duplicate sets for each of the collated sets of cards.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the writing step (g) comprises:

writing, using the one or more writing devices, each respective private key segment of the plurality of private key segments and the respective reference identifier on a respective card according to the electronic writing instructions.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

(i) reading, using one or more reading devices, each of the cards to ensure readability.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

(j) destroying the isolated computer, the one or more writing devices, and the one or more reading devices.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more reading devices are scanners.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the writing step (g) is performed before the reading step.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the writing step (g) is performed after the reading step.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the respective cards are plastic.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the respective cards are a paper product.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the respective cards are index cards.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the respective cards comprise sheets of paper.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein the respective cards are laminated.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein the respective cards are papyrus.

23. The method of claim 11, wherein the respective cards are metal.

24. The method of claim 11, wherein the writing step (g) comprises printing each respective private key segment of the plurality of private key segments and the respective reference identifier on respective separate cards.

25. The method of claim 11, wherein the writing step (g) comprises etching each respective private key segment of the plurality of private key segments and the respective reference identifier.

26. The method of claim 11, wherein the writing step (g) comprises magnetically encoding each respective private key segment of the plurality of private key segments.

27. The method of claim 11, wherein the writing step (g) comprises writing each respective private key segment of the plurality of private key segments as a scannable code.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the scannable code is a bar code.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the scannable code is a QR code.

30. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

(j) tracking, using the isolated computer, storage of each of the plurality of collated sets of cards.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the each of the plurality of collated sets of cards is stored in a vault.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the removable storage medium comprises a storage medium of a type selected from the group consisting of:

computer hard drive, disk, tape, memory card, flash memory, CD-ROM, and DVD.