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YubiKey Neo BTChip

Latest release: ?? ( 26th November 2014 ) 🔍 Last analysed 20th May 2022 . Do-It-Yourself Project Not functioning anymore
20th November 2013

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The Analysis 

Background

This information was copied from BTChip’s GitHub repository:

BTChip Java Card Bitcoin Hardware Wallet

The following project is a proof-of-concept implementation of a Bitcoin Hardware Wallet tested on a real-world Java Card platform (JCOP 2.4.2 R3, found in the Yubikey Neo) with no strings attached (no vendor NDA necessary as only standard Java Card features are used), protected against malware using a second factor validation of the transactions based on the isolation of the contact and contactless communication interfaces.

The provided implementation is not designed for production use - play with it at your own risks, we are not responsible if you lose epic amounts of coins, crash your Java Card, trigger a banking revolution or worse. It is mostly intended to draft new BTChip features and hopefully bring more secure bitcoin solutions to the market.

Use cases

To use this wallet, you need a computer and an NFC enabled phone supporting NFC Forum Type 4 tags (preferably natively or through a third-party application).

When creating a transaction from your computer:

  • Plug your wallet into the computer
  • Enter your application PIN to unlock the wallet
  • Send the transaction to the wallet, it will be validated on the contact interface, and a virtual NFC Forum Type 4 tag will be created listing the transaction details, and a random transaction PIN. The tag content cannot be read from the contact interface.
  • Tap the wallet on your NFC phone to check the transaction details and see your transaction PIN
  • Finally plug your wallet into the computer again, enter the transaction PIN and finalize the transaction

When creating a transaction from your smartphone:

Analysis

The YubiKey Neo BTChip has not seen further activity since 2014. A level of technical expertise is needed in order to install this on a Yubico YubiKey Neo HSM device. Thus, it can be considered as a defunct do-it-yourself project.

(dg)

Verdict Explained

This project is not meant for non-technical end users.

As part of our Methodology, we ask:

DIY

Is the product meant to be ready for use "out of the box"?

If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Do-It-Yourself Project".

Many hardware wallet projects aim to be as transparent as possible by using only off-the-shelf hardware with an open design and open code. If the product reviewed is not available in an assembled form - if the user has to source his own hardware to then maybe solder and compile software to install on the device it falls into this category.

But we also ask:

Defunct!

Is the product still supported by the still existing provider?

If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Not functioning anymore".

Discontinued products or worse, products of providers that are not active anymore, are problematic, especially if they were not formerly reproducible and well audited to be self-custodial following open standards. If the provider hasn’t answered inquiries for a year but their server is still running or similar circumstances might get this verdict, too.