Granted Patent B2

US 12,243,057 · App. 17/044,121 · Granted Mar 4, 2025

Inventors: Philip Martin (San Francisco, CA); Julian Borrey (San Francisco, CA); Yolanda Liu (San Francisco, CA); Zachary Blacher (San Francisco, CA); Robert John Kearney (San Francisco, CA)

Assignee: Coinbase, Inc.

G06Q20/401H04L9/0637H04L9/0825H04L9/085H04L9/14H04L9/3073H04L9/50G06Q2220/00H04L2209/56

Abstract

Claims (58)

1. A system for facilitating offline storage of a cryptocurrency key, the system comprising:

one or more processors programmed with instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause operations comprising:

generating a symmetric-encryption ciphertext from a cryptocurrency private key by encrypting the cryptocurrency private key with a symmetric encryption key;

performing sharding of the symmetric-encryption ciphertext into key shards such that only a threshold number of the key shards is required for reconstructing the symmetric-encryption ciphertext, the threshold number being less than an overall number of the key shards derived from the sharding;

generating asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts from the key shards by encrypting the key shards with asymmetric encryption keys associated with the key shards, wherein generating the asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts from the key shards comprises:

determining, based on geographic locations associated with respective entities, a subset of entities of an entity set to respectively control regeneration of the key shards from the asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts such that the geographic locations are separated from one another by a threshold distance; and

using, based on the determination of the subset of entities, a first public key associated with a first entity of the subset of entities as one of the asymmetric encryption keys to encrypt at least one key shard of the key shards; and

causing storage of representations of the asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts in an offline computer storage system.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each key shard of the key shards is encrypted using a different asymmetric encryption key to generate a corresponding shard ciphertext.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein generating the asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts from the key shards comprises:

randomly associating a first asymmetric encryption key with a first key shard of the key shards as an encryption key to be used for generating a first asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertext from the first key shard; and

generating, based on the random association, the first asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertext from the first key shard by encrypting the first key shard using the first asymmetric encryption key.

4. The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:

in response to a request to sign a transaction that includes a cryptocurrency address associated with the cryptocurrency private key, retrieving the asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts from the offline computer storage system and transmitting the asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts to a plurality of entities via a network;

in response to transmitting the asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts, obtaining a first key shard corresponding to a first shard ciphertext from a first entity and a second key shard corresponding to a second shard ciphertext from a second entity different from the first entity, the first key shard being generated by the first entity decrypting the first shard ciphertext, the second key shard being generated by the second entity decrypting the second shard ciphertext; and

in response to determining that the threshold number of the key shards has been obtained from the threshold number of the plurality of entities, regenerating the cryptocurrency private key from the key shards and signing the transaction with the cryptocurrency private key.

5. A method comprising:

generating a ciphertext from a cryptocurrency private key by encrypting the cryptocurrency private key with a primary encryption key;

performing sharding of the ciphertext into key shards such that only a threshold number of the key shards is required for reconstructing the ciphertext, the threshold number being less than an overall number of the key shards derived from the sharding;

generating shard ciphertexts from the key shards by encrypting the key shards with secondary encryption keys associated with the key shards;

storing representations of the shard ciphertexts in an offline storage system;

in response to a request to sign a transaction that includes a cryptocurrency address associated with the cryptocurrency private key, retrieving the shard ciphertexts from the offline storage system and transmitting the shard ciphertexts to a plurality of entities via a network;

in response to transmitting the shard ciphertexts, obtaining a first key shard corresponding to a first shard ciphertext from a first entity and a second key shard corresponding to a second shard ciphertext from a second entity different from the first entity, the first key shard being generated by the first entity decrypting the first shard ciphertext, the second key shard being generated by the second entity decrypting the second shard ciphertext; and

in response to determining that the threshold number of the key shards has been obtained from the threshold number of the plurality of entities, regenerating the cryptocurrency private key from the key shards and signing the transaction with the cryptocurrency private key.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein each key shard of the key shards is encrypted using a different secondary encryption key to generate a corresponding shard ciphertext.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein generating the shard ciphertexts from the key shards comprises:

randomly associating a first secondary encryption key with a first key shard of the key shards as an encryption key to be used for generating a first shard ciphertext from the first key shard; and

generating, based on the random association, the first shard ciphertext from the first key shard by encrypting the first key shard using the first secondary encryption key.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein generating the shard ciphertexts from the key shards comprises:

determining a subset of entities of an entity set to respectively control regeneration of the key shards from the shard ciphertexts; and

using, based on the determination of the subset of entities, a first public key associated with a first entity of the subset of entities as one of the secondary encryption keys to encrypt at least one key shard of the key shards.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the subset of entities comprises determining, based on geographic locations associated with respective entities, the subset of entities to respectively control regeneration of the key shards from the shard ciphertexts such that the geographic locations are geographically dispersed.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein the representations of the shard ciphertexts comprises QR code representations corresponding to the shard ciphertexts.

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein the offline storage system is an air-gapped computer system.

12. The method of claim 5 , wherein:

generating the ciphertext from the cryptocurrency private key comprises generating a symmetric-encryption ciphertext from the cryptocurrency private key by encrypting the cryptocurrency private key with a symmetric encryption key;

generating the shard ciphertexts from the key shards comprises generating asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts from the key shards by encrypting the key shards with asymmetric encryption keys associated with the key shards; and

storing the representations of the shard ciphertexts comprises storing representations of the asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts in the offline storage system.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause operations comprising:

generating a ciphertext from a cryptocurrency private key by encrypting the cryptocurrency private key with a primary encryption key;

performing sharding of the ciphertext into key shards such that only a threshold number of the key shards is required for reconstructing the ciphertext, the threshold number being less than an overall number of the key shards derived from the sharding;

generating shard ciphertexts from the key shards by encrypting the key shards with secondary encryption keys associated with the key shards, wherein representations of the shard ciphertexts are stored in an offline storage system;

in response to a request to sign a transaction that includes a cryptocurrency address associated with the cryptocurrency private key, retrieving the shard ciphertexts from the offline storage system and transmitting the shard ciphertexts to a plurality of entities via a network;

in response to transmitting the shard ciphertexts, obtaining a first key shard corresponding to a first shard ciphertext from a first entity and a second key shard corresponding to a second shard ciphertext from a second entity different from the first entity, the first key shard being generated by the first entity decrypting the first shard ciphertext, the second key shard being generated by the second entity decrypting the second shard ciphertext; and

in response to determining that the threshold number of the key shards has been obtained from the threshold number of the plurality of entities, regenerating the cryptocurrency private key from the key shards and signing the transaction with the cryptocurrency private key.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13 , wherein each key shard of the key shards is encrypted using a different secondary encryption key to generate a corresponding shard ciphertext.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13 , wherein generating the shard ciphertexts from the key shards comprises:

randomly associating a first secondary encryption key with a first key shard of the key shards as an encryption key to be used for generating a first shard ciphertext from the first key shard; and

generating, based on the random association, the first shard ciphertext from the first key shard by encrypting the first key shard using the first secondary encryption key.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13 , wherein generating the shard ciphertexts from the key shards comprises:

determining, based on geographic locations associated with respective entities, a subset of entities of an entity set to respectively control regeneration of the key shards from the shard ciphertexts; and

using, based on the determination of the subset of entities, a first public key associated with a first entity of the subset of entities as one of the secondary encryption keys to encrypt at least one key shard of the key shards.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13 , wherein the representations of the shard ciphertexts comprises QR code representations corresponding to the shard ciphertexts.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13 , wherein the offline storage system is an air-gapped computer system.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13 , wherein:

generating the ciphertext from the cryptocurrency private key comprises generating a symmetric-encryption ciphertext from the cryptocurrency private key by encrypting the cryptocurrency private key with a symmetric encryption key;

generating the shard ciphertexts from the key shards comprises generating asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts from the key shards by encrypting the key shards with asymmetric encryption keys associated with the key shards; and

storing the representations of the shard ciphertexts comprises storing representations of the asymmetric-encryption shard ciphertexts in the offline storage system.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (193)