Ballet’s Philosophy: Achieving Security From Product Design

Ballet has recently achieved an important milestone: the aggregate value of all digital assets stored on Ballet products now exceeds $500 million US dollars. We attribute this success to Ballet’s unique product design philosophy and the spotless security track record that the company has maintained since its founding in 2019. Ballet’s flagship product is the REAL Series Cold Storage Card, later adding Crypto Gift Cards and Physical Bitcoins to our product lineup. In this article we will discuss the product design philosophy and distinguishing attributes that set Ballet products apart from the vast array of other cryptocurrency storage products on the market. We believe that a comprehensive approach to product design forms the basis of strong crypto security.

Non-Electronic Cold Storage

Security must be the foremost consideration when choosing which cryptocurrency storage method to use. During the initial development of the Ballet REAL Series Cold Storage Card, we studied the most common causes of cryptocurrency holders losing funds and made our primary design objective to prevent those risks. We concluded that the safest way forward was to adopt a completely non-electronic design. Ballet products have no electronic components and cannot be connected to other electronic devices.

Ballet’s non-electronic design has several important security benefits for self-custodial cryptocurrency holders. Firstly, Ballet crypto storage products are safe from cybersecurity threats such as hackers and malware because they are “air-gapped” and permanently segregated from the internet. They have no computer chips or electronic connections, so it is impossible to insert malicious code or install malware. No firmware or software updates are ever necessary, so there is no risk of a faulty patch or update bricking a device.

Secondly, Ballet’s non-electronic storage products are highly durable, much more so than common cryptocurrency hardware wallets with electronic components. If kept in normal environmental conditions, Ballet products have an indefinite lifespan, ensuring that you will be able to pass on your wealth to future generations. It’s also the simplest and most reliable cryptocurrency estate planning solution available. Electronic storage media, however, often experiences data degradation over time, especially after ten years, even in ideal environmental conditions. But common factors such as temperature, humidity, and dust can shorten the functional lifespan of electronic storage media even further. An additional common point of failure for electronic cryptocurrency storage devices is the physical connection port, as most mobile phone users have unfortunately experienced at least one connection port failure in their life. Buttons and screens are further points of failure for many hardware wallets. By adopting a non-electronic design, Ballet avoids all of these risks, killing many birds with one stone.

Thirdly, Ballet products are built on a two-factor encrypted private key security architecture that eliminates the risks associated with generating private keys locally. The encrypted private key entropy components of all Ballet products are generated in secure, geographically-segregated facilities using the open-source BIP38 double-blind encrypted private key generation method. BIP38 was developed in 2013 and with over ten years of real industry use, it has stood the test of time as an unbreakable encryption standard. The entropy components are then concealed by robust, tamper-evident security measures, ensuring that the critical information is never exposed until the end user personally generates the private key for the first transaction. This innovative process of two-factor encrypted private key generation is patented in the United States.

Human-Centered Design

Ballet was founded with the aim of making self-custodial cryptocurrency storage more accessible for the mainstream population. Prior to Ballet’s entry into the market, the existing self-custodial cryptocurrency storage options were too complex for a majority of mainstream users who lack the necessary technical expertise and experience to safely control their own private keys. This excessive complexity has been a significant barrier to entry for millions of potential cryptocurrency investors, leaving them only the option of using crypto exchanges and custodial services, subjecting them to counterparty risk and loss of privacy. Furthermore, the inherent complexity in many cryptocurrency storage products has too often led to funds lost due to user error.

In order to achieve our mission of creating the world’s easiest self-custodial cryptocurrency storage solution, we adopted the principle of human-centered design as one of the core pillars of our product design philosophy. Human-centered design strives for compatibility with the natural abilities and habits of ordinary people. In the product design process of the REAL Series Cold Storage Card, and later Crypto Gift Cards and Physical Bitcoins, we tried to find the ideal balance of safety, simplicity, and convenience.

Our commitment to human-centered design is one of the reasons why we chose to develop a completely non-electronic cryptocurrency storage solution. Humans of all civilizations have collectively thousands of years of experience with basic physical security of valuable objects. However, the principles of digital security are only understood and practiced by a relatively small percentage of the population. Creating strong passwords, secure management of backups, antivirus and firewall protection, two-factor authentication, regular software and firmware updates, and data redundancy are all essential principles of digital security, but these important concepts are all beyond the ability of the average person to master. There have been countless examples of cryptocurrency users losing funds due to mistakes in digital security. There have even been notable examples of industry leaders, influencers, and even elite cryptocurrency software developers, losing funds due to simple errors such as lost or forgotten passwords. No one is perfect and when it comes to digital security of crypto assets, there is zero margin for error.

Ballet cryptocurrency storage products are designed around the intuitive principles of physical security that we are all naturally familiar with, which makes them easy, safe, and minimizes the risk of user error. Ballet products are physical bearer assets, so keep them safe the same way you would keep cash, gold, jewelry, or any other valuable physical object. Ideally you should keep it in a secret, secure location known only to you and any other trusted person whom you want to have access to. As long as you have physical access to it, you will have unfettered access to the funds on it. You will never be locked out of your funds due to forgotten passwords or device failures. In other words, the funds on Ballet products cannot be stolen by anyone who does not have physical access to it.

Another benefit of our human-centered product design philosophy is that Ballet products require virtually zero setup time and effort. The entire setup process consists only of opening the package, downloading the Ballet Crypto mobile app, and scanning the QR code on the product. Then it’s ready to use. There is no need to write down a mnemonic seed phrase and store backups, because Ballet products are physical bearer assets like cash or gold.

Classically Elegant Style

We believe that the visual appearance of Ballet products should reflect the value of the digital assets contained within. Our visual design philosophy takes inspiration from a variety of sources, including traditional coins, paper money, credit cards, and modern FinTech. All of these visual elements are brought together to create the unique, classically elegant Ballet style. Beyond the products themselves, we give just as much attention to the design of product packaging and the user interface of the Ballet Crypto mobile app.

Physical Bitcoins such as Casascius coins, Denarium coins, Infinitum Bitcoins, and BTCC Mint coins have achieved a notable place in the world of cryptocurrency. Whenever business news broadcasts a segment about Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, images of physical bitcoin are almost always shown as a visual representation of digital assets. They have served well to bridge the conceptual gap between traditional money and the innovation of decentralized digital currency. Ballet products, especially our newest Physical Bitcoins, are designed to build on that legacy.

While we are proud of the Ballet style, we also offer customization options for customers to express their own creativity. Ballet Crypto Gift Cards, Cold Storage Cards, and their packaging can be customized for a variety of uses, including branding and marketing, personalized crypto gifting, and educational activities.

$500 Million of Trust

Ballet has recently achieved a significant usage milestone, with the total aggregate value of digital assets stored on Ballet crypto storage products exceeding $500 million USD for the first time. This indicates the growing trust in Ballet as a leading provider of long-term, self-custodial crypto storage solutions. As Ballet approaches its fifth anniversary, our outlook is optimistic; based on current user growth trends and historical, mathematically inevitable Bitcoin price behavior, we believe that the $1 billion and $10 billion USD milestones are within reach.