The Gatekeep Methodology

Gatekeep is a first of its kind theft prevention system for crypto assets. The approach combines in-house developed open source contracts with our “interception” system. Using Gatekeep you can put up a protective shield over your wallet to safe guard your digital assets. The system covers ERC-721, ERC-1155, & ERC-20 asset implementations on the Ethereum chain. More asset types & chains are on the development agenda as we observe where the value flows. Web3 is a dark forest with minimal safeguards, Gatekeep forms an extra layer of defense.

How it Works

Gatekeep is an inherently simple system. How does a missile defense system operate? It identifies a threat, sends a defensive projectile to intercept, and finally eliminates the threat. Gatekeep operates in a similar manner. There’s three parts to the system and they all interconnect to accomplish a simple task, protect your assets from unauthorized transfers. Let’s explore how it exactly works. 👇

Gatekeep Brink

When building Gatekeep we didn’t ever want to inadvertently open additional security risks for the user. A wallet or contract needs approval to transfer an asset and we needed to trigger a transfer in case of theft, but how? This is where Gatekeeps “Brink” contract steps into play. Brink is deployed through the dashboard and owned by the users “safe” wallet. The contracts intercept functions can only transfer the asset to the safe address that only the user can set. We never have access to move the asset as we wish or edit variables in the contract. Only two parties can trigger an intercept function, the users wallet that deployed the contract or Gatekeeps “Guard” contract.

Gatekeep Guard

The Guard contract acts as a proxy between our secure wallet and the user owned Brink contract. Its only functionality and purpose is to dynamically trigger a Brink contracts intercept functions. It does not have approval to move your assets, only your Brink contract does. The guard contract can simply trigger the function in the Brink contract in case of a detected theft to move the asset to the user specified safe wallet address in the Brink contract before the thiefs transaction processes.

Interception System

Here’s where it all comes together. The first pillar of the interception system is the dashboard. The dashboard allows users to set their phone number & discord web hook to receive threat alerts, add addresses to their trusted network, customize transfer thresholds that triggers threshold alerts, deploy their Brink contract, and set their Brink contracts parameters. The second pillar is our server side monitor instances. Our dedicated monitor instances watch your wallets every move in real time. As soon as transactions are submitted they check for asset transfers and if these transfers are to an address that is not in your trusted network. If a theft is detected the interception system automatically attempts to intercept the asset and triggers your Brink contract to move it to your safe address.

Looking Forward

Every year over $2 billion dollars worth of crypto assets are stolen. This number is increasing exponentially every year as the industry grows. Even as new comers are educated with best security practices hackers are getting evermore creative in their attempts to swindle assets from users. Unfortunately this is a major hinderance to the expansion of crypto and web3 as a whole. At Gatekeep we plan on pushing forth development of new systems, practices, and services to help safeguard assets in web3.

Check out our website to get started for free and our github to take a look at Gatekeeps open source contracts. 💜