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Under-Skin Bitcoin Wallets: Biohacking Meets Crypto With Apex Implants
Combining biohacking and cryptocurrency, biohackers are protecting Bitcoins with subcutaneous wallet implants.
Apex Wallet: Secure Bitcoin Storage Under Your Skin
Decipher According to Dangerous Things and VivoKey Technologies of Seattle, putting coins inside yourself is a unique way to keep them close at hand.
Since the beginning of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, wallets have been an essential, and often frustrating, part of the landscape. Wallets are a hallmark of the space. They range from credit card-sized gadgets and USB sticks to desktop programs and browser extensions.
The Apex Wallet, about the size of a pill, protects information under the skin.
The Future of Cryptocurrency Security: Subdermal Implants
“These wallets are hardware wallets that are meant to be used to send cryptocurrency,” Amal Graafstra, founder and CEO of VivoKey Technologies and Dangerous Things, told Decrypt in an interview. “Your phone app is your interface, but it doesn’t have any private keys. The private key and the actual signature of the Bitcoin transaction, or cryptographic transaction, is done on the chip.”
Biohacking, an emerging field that includes life extension studies and the use of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology to control computers, offers a potential solution. Subcutaneous computer chip implants are used by many biohackers, including researchers and tech enthusiasts. According to Graafstra, the Apex chip has multiple uses: storing Bitcoin, opening doors, and paying for coffee.
“We have a couple of different Bitcoin and crypto wallets that we support right now,” Graafstra said. “We have a Satochip wallet, the Seedkeeper app, and the Status IM key card wallet. These work with different blockchains.”
Exploring the multifunctional Apex chip
The Dangerous Things and VivoKey brands, introduced in 2013 and 2017, respectively, focus on body-integrated radio frequency identification (RFID) and near field communication (NFC) technologies.
VivoKey says that Satochip is a BIP32/39 wallet applet that allows users to securely store cryptocurrencies and conduct transactions on the blockchain securely. Additionally, Satochip supports a variety of different denominations of money.
“The Apex is currently available in a ‘Flex’ form factor, which is a much larger device, but very thin,” Graafstra says. “And so the procedure is similar; it’s a needle, you stick the needle under the skin, you remove the needle, and then with sterile gloves you take the Apex Flex and slide it into the incision.”
The current price of an implanted Apex Flex device is $349.