Kirobo has already improved cryptocurrency security and founder Asaf Naim said he’s just getting started.
Based in the fintech hotbed of Tel Aviv, Kirobo is a blockchain technology company that helps cryptocurrency users gain better control over their funds. The company currently helps large scale intermediaries, cryptocurrency exchanges and payments companies with that task.
Mr. Naim is an accountant by trade who taught himself how to program. He became intrigued by cryptocurrency and that interest grew after a friend asked him to manage his company’s cryptocurrency tax division. Seeing people unrelated to the company lose large sums of money in a hot sector with few safeguards made him determined to fund solutions to those issues.
In crypto, transactions run a fine line, he noted. Send it to the wrong address and you can be left with little recourse. Mr. Naim’s solution was to add a passcode to the transaction. When initiating a transaction you receive one. Once you see it on the blockchain, and assuming everything is correct, you enter the passcode to complete the transaction.
Asaf Naim
Kirobo’s solution works on Bitcoin and Ethereum and it took plenty of work to get it that far, Mr. Naim said. Bitcoin has no smart contract, and Ethereum’s isn’t good enough to protect the passcode. Everyone can try and guess it to hack into your account, he explained.
“Basically it’s not easy to do on either safely,” Mr. Naim said. “Not on Bitcoin and definitely not on Ethereum.”
Kirobo recently announced the undo button is available for transactions with UNI, Chainlink, BNB, USDT, Sushi coin, as well as its native utility token KIRO.
People are taking notice. The Authority for Investments and Development of the Industry and Economy, an arm of the Israeli government, selected Kirobo as one of its top 10 projects to receive a large grant. Out of 4,000 applicants, 150-160 were selected for funding assistance with 10 getting additional aid, including Kirobo.
In early June DigiCrypts Blockchain Solutions invested in Kirobo to drive upcoming product development while Brock Pierce has joined Kirobo’s advisory board to provide counsel of product development.
While Kirobo is mostly used by industry adherents, Mr. Naim has some ideas how its use can gain wider acceptance. Begin with developing safe ways to send all money to one address in a fashion that banks can accept the risk. Now, if the private key is lost there’s little recourse and that’s not good enough for large players.
Are the big banks worried crypto will somehow affect their bottom lines as some believe? Mr. Naim doesn’t think so.
“Some people are concerned this will affect the banks but I don’t feel the same,” he said. “The bank doesn’t have any motivation to give you good interest because you have to put money in the bank.”
Open it up to competition, and even allow people to manage their own funds on the blockchain and you might force those banks to share some of their profits with regular folk. That produces a better future for all, Mr. Naim said.
Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) raise many ethical questions, he admitted. As a good citizen you want to see everyone pay their fair share of taxes but you do not want all of your actions to be viewable to all. Clearly there’s some work still to be done.
“The technology will do that the question is do we want it to,” Mr. Naim observed. “I don’t think the answer to that is yes.”
