IOTA’s new Firefly Wallet offers ultimate security and usability

BERLIN, March 22, 2021 -- IOTA Foundation, the non-profit building the infrastructure for the Machine Economy, announces today the beta launch of its Firefly wallet. Firefly will replace IOTA’s Trinity wallet and give cryptocurrency wallets a new benchmark in security and usability.

Crypto exchanges and wallets are the entry points for anyone wishing to move from uninvolved crypto bystander to fully-fledged crypto investor. Exchanges are where users typically purchase their cryptocurrency of choice, and wallets are where users store cryptocurrency they are not actively trading. More recent applications such as NFTs and smart contracts are typically hosted on separate software or websites. Crypto remains outside of mainstream adoption because these applications are still fragmented, obscure, and difficult to use. The next phase of crypto adoption will be driven by wallet applications that bring all of these use cases together into one interface.

Today’s release marks the first step in Firefly’s journey to becoming such a platform for IOTA. Firefly is an incredibly secure and easy-to-use application. Every detail has been carefully implemented to remove the complexity of using cryptocurrencies, and every interface designed with future features in mind. What results is a well-engineered architecture with a modular design that leaves room for later expansion.

At the core of Firefly are two new, open-source Rust libraries – one for wallet application development and the other, called Stronghold, for security. Stronghold, the first open-source library of its kind in the cryptocurrency industry, serves as an isolated memory enclave to separate cryptographic operations from the rest of the application. This will allow Firefly to integrate additional functionality without worrying about leaking cryptographic secrets. This robust application core is wrapped in a lightweight front-end written in the Svelte framework. The application has been thoroughly audited by F-Secure.

The first features available with Firefly include:

• Secure memory enclave: Sensitive operations take place in isolated app memory

• Encrypted backups: Secure storage for private keys and other sensitive information

• Reusable addresses: Simplifying the process of sending and receiving IOTA

• Fast transactions: Transactions take seconds to send and seconds to confirm

• 24-word recovery phrases: A standard in crypto security and usability

• Profiles and accounts: Giving users flexibility in how they manage their funds

• Wallet portability: Users can sign in on different devices with the same Stronghold backup

Future additions to the application will include chat and contact management, NFTs, digital identity and exchange integrations. With these features, Firefly will become more than a wallet; it will be a secure portal into the next evolution of the internet. With Firefly, anyone – from advanced developers to complete beginners – will be able to leverage the benefits of distributed ledger technology in one platform. 

“This release marks the beginning of IOTA as a widely-used app ecosystem. Firefly will usher in a new standard of usability and flexibility in the wallet space, where previously there has been a fairly limited set of offerings revolving around a literal understanding of the term wallet,” said Dominik Schiener, Co-Founder and Chairman of the IOTA Foundation. “Firefly is a step above other crypto interfaces, not only in terms of its usability but in what it has to offer for experts and newcomers alike.”