Bitcoin security platform provider Gem has announced a new partnership with expresscoin Inc. that will see Gem’s API wallet made available to expresscoin users.

The API wallet will power internal accounts and operations and eventually extend to powering co-branded end-user wallets providing an alternative to expresscoin’s current bring-your-own-wallet environment.

“Expresscoin has gone out of their way to increase access to Bitcoin as much as possible, which is in line with our philosophy of making Bitcoin security easy for developers. From the very beginning, we wanted Gem to empower digital currency companies to focus on building great user experiences, instead of focusing on infrastructure,” Gem CEO and founder Micah Winkelspecht told SiliconANGLE. “Partnering with expresscoin, one of the industry’s most prominent digital currency retailers, is the next big step in showcasing how seamlessly Gem’s API can integrate into other apps and services while maintaining the level of security consumers demand.”

Santa Monica, CA-based expresscoin is a Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Blackcoin, and Darkcoin retailer with an emphasis on providing an experience that is fast, safe and easy.

Launched in September 2014, Gem focuses on “developer happiness” which it claims sets it apart from competitors. The company offers an easy to use API that can be integrated into a variety of apps and services, and their multi-signature API wallet focuses on security with Gem reducing the possibility of customer fraud by never possessing enough keys to access a wallet by itself.

The deal consists of two phases: phase one will equip all current internal expresscoin wallets with Gem’s multi-signature security platform; phase two includes the release of a new, co-branded wallet that will be the default wallet for new expresscoin customers, and will be made available to existing expresscoin customers.

Gem has raised at least $2.1 million in venture capital funding (a figure for a February 2014 round was not disclosed) and counts KEC Ventures, Metamorphic Ventures, Amplify.LA, Crypto Currency Partners and BitcoinShop among its investors.

Expresscoin shares Crypto Currency Partners as a main investor.