Using Ambisafe multisig for your ERC20 token
Security and cryptocurrencies go hand in hand. The benefit of cryptocurrencies — their ability to be held anonymously, and distributed and received almost instantenouesly 24/7/365 — creates significant security issues.
Your wallet could be hacked, or the custodian of your cryptocurrencies could be hacked (e.g. MtGox), or there could a weakness in the underlying code of cryptocurrency (e.g. Dao) — any or all of these can lead to a loss of your funds.
As the co-founder of Arc Reserve Currency (AAA) — a digital stablecoin — many holders of Arc Coin are looking for a safe haven for their funds. And security is a very important consideration.
One way to tighten security around your wallet is to have a multi-signature permission layer. This requires more than one person and/or a combination of people to agree to each coin transfer. Without more than one trusted person confirming the transaction, it will not complete.
Ambisafe and Bitgo are two of the leading multisig services. Ambisafe has worked with groups such as Taas, and Bitgo helped the Royal Mint create their digital currency. Here we explore how you can set up a multisig wallet for an ERC20 token using Ambisafe.
This is suitable for anyone who has set up an ERC20 cryptocurrency already, and wants to enables users to benefit from a multisig security layer. It is not a guide for creating a cryptocurrency.
Step One: create your account on Ambisafe
Go to https://www.ambisafe.co and sign up:
Step Two: create an Asset Manager account (also known as Master wallet account)
Select the Master Wallet option from the menu in the top right hand corner:
You’ll then be asked to complete a short registration — similar to your first registration form on Ambisafe. This will redirect you to the Asset Manager domain once your account is open.
Step Three: configure your multiple signatory structure
Invite users — click on the Users menu:
Once you’ve invited your users, click the Management menu and you can set up your multiple signatory requirments: how many signatures needed, and from whom:
Step Four: make a note of your Ambisafe smart contract address (think of this as your wallet address).
Click on Organization Details in the menu:
You’ll then be able to see your smart contract (wallet) address:
Step Five: send your first set of coins for your currency to your Ambisafe wallet address
It is important to test your configuration on any new cryptocurrency application (DAPP) before using it in a meaningful way.
You will likely already have another wallet — perhaps online such as MyEtherWallet and/or a physical wallet such as Trezor. Use this wallet to send a small number of your coins to the Ambisafe Smart Contract (wallet) address for your account.
Step Six: contact support to register the ERC20 token
Contact support at Ambisafe — the instant messanger is as good as any approach here — who will ensure that your ERC20 token can be seen through the UX. Once this has been processed, log back in to Ambisafe and you should be able to see your tokens. This is a one-time exercise for each token (your users won’t need to repeat this step).
My own experience with Ambisafe customer services has been excellent — prompt and helpful responses.
Step Seven: check that your UX has been updated
This may take a day or two. If it has worked, then your account should go from just diplaying out-of-the-box tokens such as ETH…
…to including your very own ERC20 token:
Step Eight: spread the word!
Once you are happy that you can send, receive and view your ERC20 token through Ambisafe you can share this with your community of users.
This increased security feature may not be required by all, but it can be great for any user looking to hold and store their ERC20 tokens in a multisig wallet. This can be particularly useful for organisations, or for storing significant balances.
