Safety Detectives: Please share your company background, how you got started, and your mission.
Gridlock: I founded Gridlock in 2020 because I believe everyone should be able to store their cryptocurrency securely. I first found out about crypto in university when my friend asked me if I heard about this thing called Bitcoin. Back then, I was scared that I had already missed the boat, and Bitcoin was old news. This was back in 2009. I wasn’t actively involved in the development of Bitcoin, but I eagerly followed news about the technology and even mined my very own Bitcoin way back in the very early days. However, it wasn’t until years later that I came to the horrible realization that I could not find my mined Bitcoin. I can’t exactly tell you what actually happened but believe me, it’s lost. After suffering that devastating loss of what would now be almost $3 million worth of Bitcoin, I made it my mission to make crypto storage more secure and less complicated. My story is not unique, and with crypto hacks and user error costing people billions every year, a solution is desperately needed. It’s my vision to allow anybody, newcomers or otherwise, to easily secure their crypto.
SD: What is the main service your company offers?
Gridlock: Gridlock is a mobile app for IOS and Android, which allows users to store their cryptocurrency securely without the possibility of hacking or loss. The app is free to download and we are constantly adding new tokens and NFTs.
SD: What is something unique that helps you stay ahead of your competition?
Gridlock: Existing solutions have points of failure, where people can lose their cryptocurrency forever. A crypto exchange holds custody over your funds, which should never be the case. You should always control your crypto assets—any risk is out of your hands with an exchange. Traditional personal storage options are more secure, but they can be a lot of stress to manage and hardware wallets can break or be lost. Gridlock has streamlined storage for everyone and our method of Distributed Key Generation ensures there are no points of failure in security. This is because a would-be hacker can never access a private key as it is never held in a single place. Each piece is encrypted and stored in places that not even the device owners can access.
SD: What do you think are the worst cyberthreats today?
Gridlock: In the world of cryptocurrency, the ability to lose everything due to simple misconduct around security is very real. It is vital that this risk is eliminated and we know we have created the answer. As crypto grows, its technology will begin to be implemented in society and that is what is needed to make the internet safe.