Bitcoin security platform provider Gem has announced the deployment of custom Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) from Thales e-Security that will now be offered as part of Gem’s Bitcoin wallet product.

The HSM devices are used in 80 percent of global payment transactions and also provide security to military applications, according to Gem. The modules offer FIPS-140-2 Level 3 hardware-certified security, a tamper-resistant physical security mechanism that prevents intruders from gaining access to sensitive private keys held within the cryptographic module.

Key features of the HSM integration include:

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• Physical security that includes the use of strong enclosures and tamper detection/response circuitry
• Support for BIP32 Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) key derivation
• Use of strong random number generated keys with the SECP256k1 elliptic curve to support interactions with the Bitcoin protocol

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Gem CEO Micah Winkelspecht told SiliconANGLE that their engineers had worked closely with Thales to deliver a custom solution for the Bitcoin industry.

“The payments industry has been using this hardware technology for years. But we looked at every HSM on the market to find one that could support Bitcoin wallets, and none of them could do it, so we built it ourselves” he said.

Thales e-Security, a division of the French aerospace and defense giant Thales Group, protects data for 19 of the 20 largest banks in the world and over 3,000 financial institutions worldwide. This is the first time it has been used in the Bitcoin sector.

“Bitcoin represents a compelling opportunity for both new entrants and traditional members of the payments ecosystem” Thales e-Security VP Richard Moulds said.

Gem said that it is seeking to be the Bitcoin security provider of choice for the next wave of developers building Bitcoin apps and products. Clients include Bitcoin mobile payments company Bitmo Inc., and Singapore based Bitcoin wallet provider CryptoSigma (Sigma X PTE Ltd.) The company announced a partnership with expresscoin Inc. January 15th.

“The year 2014 was all about multi-sig; now we’re finally starting to see major adoption of that security standard by Bitcoin companies, and it’s growing at an exponential pace,” said Winkelspecht. “ 2015 is the year of hardware security. The great news is they work perfectly together… like peanut butter and jelly.”

Image credit: Gem.