01
The key is born on the chip.
The private key is created inside the device. It is not typed in from a laptop, and it is not copied out for a browser to keep.
Hardware wallet
The key stays on the metal.
Yenao Wallet is a hardware wallet from Response Mine Interactive in Atlanta. It is a physical device built to hold the private keys for cryptocurrency and other crypto-based assets. The key is created on a dedicated chip, and the action is read on the device’s own screen.
From the notebook
A tile with one job.
In the Atlanta studio, Response Mine Interactive kept a hardware notebook under the name Yenao. Private keys were ending up in browser profiles, phone backups, and screenshots. The notebook became a single-purpose board: a security chip that creates the key, and a small screen that only that chip can draw.
That board is the Yenao Wallet. The firmware starts on the screen and has no second job.
Three habits of the hardware.
02
The screen belongs to the chip.
Yenao draws the confirmation on the device screen. A window on a computer can be repainted. The screen on the metal is the one to read.
03
The phrase lives on paper.
A 24-word recovery phrase is shown once, on the device. You write it by hand and keep the paper away from the hardware.
On the desk
Four quiet steps.
01
Connect
USB-C brings power. There is no battery to charge and no radio to pair.
02
Set the PIN on the device
The PIN is entered on the hardware. It stays with the device.
03
Write the words
The screen shows 24 words a single time. Pencil and paper. Then put the paper somewhere else.
04
Read, then hold
When a request comes through the cable, the screen shows it. Hold the button only after the screen matches what you expect.
A note from the studio
Read it on the device, then decide.
The computer can prepare a window. Yenao Wallet asks you to read the same moment on a screen the computer cannot repaint.
Journal
All notes
Note 01
The screen has to belong to the chip.
A computer can draw any window. That is the wrong place to read a confirmation.
Note 02A chip with a single job.
Phones run a thousand programs. This board keeps one secret and refuses to export it.
Note 03Write the phrase once.
Twenty-four words, shown on the device, copied by hand, stored apart from the metal.
Response Mine Interactive, LLC
The studio behind the device.
Yenao Wallet is published by Response Mine Interactive, LLC, an Atlanta studio. The notes on this site describe the hardware, the screen, and the way a private key stays on the device.
1995 North Park Place, Suite 425
Atlanta, GA 30339