Bitcoin
Clef’s Success Story: Protecting the Factom Token Sale
Nuno Menezes · @https://twitter.com/Blawpaw | May 01, 2015 | 19:00
Security has been a big concern for cryptocurrency ever since Bitcoin’s creation. Now, in a rapidly growing cryptocurrency industry, security has become too big of an issue to ignore. The growing need security led to the development of enhanced applications like 2-Factor-Authentication to guarantee complete security for companies working in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Also read: Factom Announces Partnership With Synereo
Businesses trying to get in the digital currency space now have security as a top priority, and want the best security services the market can offer. Clef, a new semi-decentralized 2-Factor-Authentication application, aims to meet this demand by simplifying the security process so much that passwords are no longer needed.
Clef’s futuristic “Crypto 2FA” application turns the login account access into a very simple experience. Compared to other 2FA solutions, Clef is unique its simplicity and enhanced security.
Koinify was one of the first companies to recognize the great potential and utility of this new application and immediately decided to partner up with Clef. After a few months using the Clef app, Koinify seems to be pretty happy with it. They have used it to secure the Factoids and Gemz sale, and it has been successful so far.
To understand how Clef is integrating at the crypto currency space, I decided to talk with Tom Kysar, the head of Marketing at Koinify and Peter Kirby, President at Factom. They provided me a chance to uncover more about Clef’s success history with Koinify.
There is a growing need for digital currency businesses to enhance their security. Currently the most common 2FA options available in the cryptocurrency space are Authy and Google authenticator. 
Can you explain what were the reasons that led you to pick Clef has the 2FA service provider to secure your business?
- a) We chose Clef over Google Authenticator or Authy for a few reasons. One, they use public / private key cryptography to verify logins, rather than a seed based system that’s vulnerable to exploits and attacks. They also have a sleek new approach to the user interface that we personally really like, as do our users. We are very happy with our choice; the Clef team is great and have become good friends of ours. We will continue to support what we believe is the best 2FA available.
- b) Clef was implemented for user logins, whenever you go to withdrawal tokens (GEMZ or FACTOIDS when available) you can verify your withdraw with Clef. We chose this for added and increased security when it comes to peoples tokens. With the way they use public-private key crypto, they are very in line with bitcoin users and the ideology. Clef is securing all our withdraws, and our users do feel safer. We actually updated our purchase flow one afternoon and had removed the Clef login for an hour or two, and immediately had emails pouring in from users asking where Clef went. We feel very fortunate to be working with a company that has such strong respect from our users.
After talking with Tom Kysar, I had the chance to ask some questions to Peter Kirby about Clef securing the Factom token sale. Peter Kirby 
went on saying:
Koinify has been wonderful. Their mission is to curate and manage these types of software sales in a way that makes customers much more confident to purchase. They spent time with the development and management team in Austin to get to know us and the Factom software. They also created a portal that people use to buy Factoid software and Clef handles the dual factor authentication. The other essential service that Koinify offers is the management of the milestones and release of funds as we hit our development targets. The Factom Foundation doesn’t get a dime until the beta software is released.
After this comment, I asked him a few more questions:
What can you tell me About the Token sale and how it has been secured with Clef?
The token sale has been a huge success, and we’re very honored by the enthusiasm from the community. We’ve sold 3.5 million Factoids and secured funds to support the development and release of the final software. Customers are really excited about the opportunity to build projects on top of Factom.
Clef handles the on ramp for the customers of the software tokens. Koinify uses them to authenticate purchaser’s accounts when they log in.
Why did you choose Koinify for the token sale?
We’ve known Tom and Dario, the principals at Koinfy for years. We had a few fruitful conversations at the CoinAgenda conference this fall and found that their platform served both our needs and the needs of our customers. Koinify made the process very streamlined and helped us refine our marketing message. Their whole team worked around the clock to get the sale ready.
Are you thinking of implementing Clef on the Factom platform once the token sale finishes?
Clef is a very cool piece of technology, and we’re always exploring opportunities to work with great teams and projects. We don’t have any concrete plans yet.
How is the token sale going?
We’re very honored and humbled by the success of the sale. Passionate customers of Factoids have been excited about the opportunity the technology presents.
What’s your level of trust in Clef?
Clef is really cool. It helps us sleep well knowing our customers and funds are protected.
Clef is already securing several cryptocurrency related business with their 2FA app. Helping Koinify with securing the Token sales, as given Clef a whole new status in the digital currency industry. This success story has been giving the app a big momentum within the crypto ecosystem.
How secure do you think Clef is? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
