HEIM

- KEEP WHATS YOURS -

Bridging crypto over to the real world


A technology's widespread adoption occurs when the provided benefits significantly outweigh the associated costs for the typical user. Decentralised Byzantine Fault Tolerant blockchains are widely considered secure and have matured to the point where modern protocols offer latency and throughput that match or even surpass those of the traditional financial system. Still, the technology struggles to find its way into the real world to serve everyday applications, with,  we believe, the missing piece being the provision of cryptographic security in a practical way.




Backup your keys online


The conventional need of writing down 12 or 24 words to tuck away somewhere safe and never to lose track of is a considerable responsibility on the individual, considering there exists no other means of account recovery in case the original copy of the key gets lost. By allowing for account backup online without any single point of failure, Heim's dual-key and dual-device setup eliminates the need for written down mnemonic seed phrases.

Keep using your chain of choice


Many excellent teams are building Turing-complete, fully decentralised world-computers, and we’re not here to compete—just to provide them and their users with a robust security interface. 

Dual-key self-custody account 


The admin account provides the user with a dual-key self-custody account to configure permitted actions for the worker account and to transact on supported chains using the provided methods for dual-key signature generation.

Dual-key security from a single action


With Heim’s layered security, you configure the permitted actions of your worker using your phone and a second device. Once configured, your worker acts with dual-key security, all while you leave the second device at home.

Treat your friend not your foe


When provided with a request from your worker, the protocol serves it according to your permitted actions. Unfortunately for the guy you met on your way home from a night out, it means you cannot send him all of your funds. 

Not someone somewhere, someone there


Authorising specific recipients limits an adversary’s ability to steal from your worker account, and requiring the recipient of a transaction from your worker account to actively participate prevents the actor from rerouting your funds to an authorised address. If you, for example, spot a suspicious transaction to your local shop, chances are it happened in person—making it possible for the police to track down the perpetrator.

Do I have to bring two devices to make use of Heim’s added security?

No, only the account configuration (or defining the workers venue as we like to say) necessitates you to use two devices. Heim’s layered security allow you to manage your workers from a single device.

Other companies provide dual-key signing between two user-devices, what makes Heim special?

It is correct that Heim isn’t the first to provide dual-key signing to its users as both paid and unpaid options are available. What makes Heim stand out is its ease of use without compromising on sovereignty nor burning a whole in your wallet  

A smart contract can be set up with multisig security, specifying which transactions the network should allow once they’re signed by a single key. How does this differ from Heim?

A smart contract may indeed provide a similar level of security as Heim. However, as a smart contract is executed by the nodes of the network where it is launched means it is non-universally applicable. Heim is set to support any chain based on the digital signature algorithm used, currently ECDSA and Ed25519 through its simple setup routine.  

Hardware wallets are already solving security, so why is Heim needed?

While hardware wallets do offer strong protection against online threats, vulnerabilities can arise during development, production, and shipping. To address these risks, Heim’s dual-key signing—requiring two separate approvals—helps mitigate potential single points of failure.