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ChainFront APIs allow companies to create blockchain applications and eliminate the need to manage digital portfolios. As an API-as-a-service provider, Chainfront claims to be able to remove the complexity of the use, creation and management of blockchain portfolios while maintaining enterprise-level security. This occurs with the launch of public APIs along with a self-service developer portal.
"We looked around the blockchain ecosystem and saw that, in order to drive traditional adoption so that users would interact with blockchain assets significantly, the simplicity and overall experience needed to greatly improve. It is not surprising that nobody wants to manage their "bank" or their own security. At the heart of the problem is what we call the "portfolio" problem,"Said Alan Warms, CEO of ChainFront.
The vision of Chainfront
Wallets allow end users to store private keys and execute transactions. But a user can lose his or her wallet on the device (on a mobile device or browser) through one or all of the following elements:
- hack
- theft
- loss of a device
- through an update
- failing to backup private keys.
With such a loss, the ability of the user to execute transactions and access his cryptocurrency is gone forever.
With ChainFront, users no longer need to back up keys or keep track of a wallet on the device. The Chainfront approach removes the equation. Developers can create simple and secure user experiences where private keys are created within the protected area and are never transmitted elsewhere.
To do this, ChainFront uses HashiCorp Vault, a secret key management and data protection tool with code-loading support and a virtual hardware security module. The service is deployed to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) private subnets. These:
- they are unreachable via the public Internet
- take advantage of the AWS security model
- offer confidentiality, integrity, availability, responsibility and authentication
- provide multi-regional backup and redundancy
- support FIPS 140-2 compliance.
The vision of ChainFront is, therefore, to allow the adoption of mass blockchain accompanied by high levels of security and usability. I hope this promotes a next wave of cryptographic applications.
The Chainfront API-as-a-Service service and the example of Coinbase
After working on a series of blockchain implementations, founders Alan Warms and Darryl Anderson believe that tokenization has the potential to change economies. However, one of the obstacles to the widespread adoption of blockchain remains the user's experience. Blockchain is complex and not, for now, for the faint of heart.
With the launch (of an API-as-a service), creation applications that interact with blockchain data and resources can now tackle the "portfolio problem" by implementing the API-as-a-Service of ChainFront. End users, whether they are consumers or within companies, can then perform transactions with username, password and multi-factor authentication. (Developers interested in this approach can now start testing the ChainFront APIs.)
One of the most successful blockchain companies is, without a doubt, CoinBase. Many attribute its success to its blend of simplicity and abstraction. In fact, CoinBase has made the process of buying and storing cryptographic resources as simple as sending someone a few dollars on Venmo.
ChainFront's API-as-a-service allows developers to create similar experiences for customers:
- removing the need for them to manage the complexities of a portfolio to interact with blockchain assets
- make blockchain interactions safe (and without stress).
"Prior to Coinbase, previous attempts at centralized management of private keys have been inadequately implemented, giving rise to many of the exchange hacks that have dominated the press throughout the history of Bitcoin, such as Mt. gox,"The cofounder of ChainFront, Darryl Anderson, said.
"Coinbase has shown that portfolio deletion can drive mass adoption and at the same time demonstrate that centralized and secure key management is possible. ChainFront brings this capability to any blockchain project on public or private blockchains. The self-service platform is available live on Stellar today and Ethereum, Ripple and Bitcoin and other authorized incoming blockchains."
Enterprise Times: what does this mean?
The use of private and public keys to perform transactions is inherent to all tokenization applications. But tokenization-based applications are based on cumbersome "wallets". As Messrs Warms and Anderson (and many others) argue, they present a significant user experience and safety issues when:
- storing private keys
- execute transactions.
In order for blockchain applications to become mainstream, Chainfront says that the user's experience must be simple and secure. The management of public and private keys must be completely invisible to the end user. This is a difficult truth to deny.
While Chainfront's API-as-Service to eliminate wallet intrigues, the question that Enterprise Times finds unresolved is: does the "portfolio security problem" not be subcontracted to AWS?
