Roll, Repairing From Hack, Enlists Fireblocks for Key Protection

Roll, an Ethereum-based protocol that lets content creators mint their own personal crypto tokens, is trying to bounce back after a March security breach in which a hacker stole $5.7 million from its hot wallet and which sent the social tokens plunging.

As part of revamping of its private key infrastructure in response to the incident, Roll is integrating with crypto custody firm Fireblocks to secure the platform.

Roll co-founder Sid Kalla said in an email that Fireblocks’ multiparty computation (MPC) wallet infrastructure will let Roll securely sign transactions without storing the private keys in a single place. 

“This greatly improves our operational security as we move forward,” he said, adding:

MPC allows for large pools of data to stay encrypted while permitting information to be extracted from those data pools using encrypted computations. Fireblocks emphasizes its ability to handle a high level of transactions on Ethereum with low fees.

Fireblocks's wallet infrastructure already supports large retail-facing platforms, such as Celsius, Revolut, BlockFi and Salt Lending. The company closed a $133 million funding round in March, four days after Roll’s security incident, and has handled over half a trillion dollars in assets.  

Roll CEO and co-founder Bradley Miles said Roll is working hard to revamp its security infrastructure. He also said Roll is releasing a new version of Roll smart contracts that are currently under audit from two separate firms. 

“The vision of these new contracts is to blend DeFi [decentralized finance] and the creator economy through social money,” he said. “We feel what we call the ‘DeFi Creator Economy’ can eventually eclipse the traditional creator economy in market size.”