Published on Nov 27, 2021

What is Portis?

Sidharth

#Learn

5 Min

Cryptocurrencies are on the hype, and so are Crypto Wallets. Since the technology is emerging, massive upgrades are happening to create better products to improve onboarding process, especially the Crypto Wallets (Browser, mobile & hardware).

It is essential to have a crypto wallet to keep your crypto currency safe and secure. Crypto wallet stores the encrypted private keys that are essential in making blockchain transactions. The transactions are carried on a decentralized platform, mainly the web3 supported browsers to work efficiently.

This brings us to the Portis. An end-to-end encrypted and user-friendly crypto wallet that provides a great user experience by functioning on every browser without installing third-party plugins.

Let's dive in to know more about it.

What is Portis?

Portis is a non-custodial blockchain wallet, that can be used from any browser. In technical terms, Dapp Developers use it as a Javascript SDK. When you add it to your code, It offers a simple and secure gateway to the Ethereum network.

Portis offers a seamless interaction with the smart contracts and performs every action inside the browser itself. It saves your time from installing a different browser application for another network. Portis takes care of every transaction without installing any third-party plugins due to its end-to-end encryption.

Who built Portis?

The co-founders of the Ethereum Horizon, Scott Gralnick and Tom Teman have developed Portis in 2018. ShapeShift acquired Portis in 2020. Scott and Tom built Portis to create a user-friendly, developer-friendly, and highly secure product. Before making Portis, they built an event management app known as 'Attendr' that helped organizers with a concrete estimation of a crowd gathering for an event.

Scott and Tom identified a problem that was not in existence, yet they believed it was coming around as they were sure that the average person would find it difficult to use a Dapp due to its complexity. Hence they focused on creating a platform that is a simple gateway between Decentralized Applications and the mainstream users. They have directly connected the Web3.0 ecosystem by building a gateway through Web2.0 while maintaining robust security standards.

Advantages of a Portis Wallet:

Rich UI/UX experience for beginners.
Portis is highly user-friendly for crypto beginners. There are no extra apps, No separate browser extensions, and no need to be familiar with technical terms like private keys or seed phrases. Just a few taps on the screen, and your crypto wallet is ready to use. Portis provides uncompromised security and non-custodial authority to every user.
Fiat gateway.
Purchasing cryptocurrency within a dapp can be hectic and inconvenient. Portis has solved this problem by building a fiat gateway that enables users to buy cryptocurrency by simply using their debit and credit cards. Popular crypto coins such as BTC, ETH, Stablecoin, and DAI are available for direct purchase.
Supports Multiple Blockchain Networks.
Portis supports significant blockchain networks like Bitcoin, EOS, and Ethereum. It provides easy accessibility, robust security, and end-to-end encrypted transactions on all blockchain platforms.
Built using developer-first mindset.
Portis integrates with existing apps or with new ones. It has a few lines of code that developers need to copy and paste on their dapps code, and it's super easy.

Portis vs. Metamask

Here's a quick comparison of the Portis wallet and the MetaMask wallet:

How does the Portis wallet work?

Right from the beginning, the Portis creators were laser-focused on creating a super responsive and easy-to-use integration that developers will use in their applications with less coding stuff.

Portis is committed to building a decentralized community with the help of developers. More and more developers are adopting Portis on their dapps to leverage the mass adoption of the web3 ecosystem.

Here's a short glimpse of how Portis work:

Users create a Portis wallet account through email and password.
Just as we create accounts on any online platform using our email and password, we do the same process to create an account on the Portis wallet.
The client generates an encryption key for the account.
The client generates a 64-bit encryption key using the native encrypt function. It encrypts the login data of your Portis wallet.
The client encrypts the encryption key.
To provide an additional layer of security and anonymity, the client encrypts the encryption key through robust and secured algorithms.
The client hashes the password.
The client uses the SHA-256 algorithm with a KDF as a pseudorandom function. The hash password then serves as a client's authentication key.
The client generates a forgot password hash.
The PDK (Password Derivative Key) is then hashed with SHA-512, which is then used to flow "forgot password."
The client generates and encrypts asymmetric key pairs for safe client-to-client communication.
The asymmetric key pair connects with the encrypted data and establishes secure communication between the client and user.
The client stores the encrypted data on the server.
The Portis server securely stores all the encrypted data, keys, cipher, and functions for further use.

How to use Portis wallet?

Once you have created your Portis wallet, It is as easy to send and receive cryptocurrencies as we do with our current digital wallets like PayPal, Paytm, etc.

Here's how to send cryptocurrency through the Portis wallet:
- The asset tab has all your crypto coins and tokens; select your asset (coins/tokens), enter the recipient address and the amount you wish to send. Then click Continue.
- The next step is to sign a transaction on your device.
- A pop-up in the upper right corner will appear; if everything is fine, click "confirm."
- Congratulations, you sent your crypto coin/token over the blockchain network with complete transaction details.
Here's how to receive crypto coin/tokens through the Portis wallet:
- To obtain the asset which you wish, click the receive tab.
- A QR code and a receive address will be displayed.
- Click the eye icon to validate and verify the address as your Portis address.
- Once verified, confirm the address, and you are done.

Is Portis a safe choice?

Portis incorporates the sandbox local storage system to prevent phishing, hacking and maligning attacks. Since other websites cannot read and interpret the data from the sandbox storage, It is safe and secure. Apart from that, the SDK tools can periodically improve and strengthen the wallet's security by developing encryption keys.

Summing up

Portis wallet is an excellent choice if you want to enter into the decentralized ecosystem.

Smooth, secure, easy-to-use & multi-chain Web3 wallet, that doesn't require much of technical understanding. If you haven't opened a crypto wallet yet, head to the Portis website and create your account.