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Casa Becomes First Smart Contract Wallet To Offer Users Transaction Relay Selection for Enhanced Privacy

Denver, CO, September 6th 2023 — Leading private key manager Casa today announces the launch of a new feature that will enable greater Ethereum privacy by allowing users to pay gas fees and send transactions using their own Ethereum mobile wallet as a relay.

Casa’s primary goal is to allow people to easily hold, secure, and manage their private keys while abstracting technical hurdles and alleviating concerns about losing access to their funds by mistake. Casa’s cutting-edge private key management technology protects user funds with multiple keys — each stored separately for extra security.

Casa’s multi-key Ethereum vaults are built on top of the Safe (formerly Gnosis Safe) smart contract. On the Ethereum network, smart contracts are not able to initiate certain transactions and must rely on a single key wallet account to do so (changing this is one of the major goals of account abstraction, which will make smart contract wallets into first-class citizens on Ethereum).

To ensure the highest level of convenience, Casa by default assists members with interactions between their vault and Ethereum via the Casa Relay — a bridge between users and the blockchain that enables actions such as deploying contracts and sending transactions — as well as fronts the costs of the initial gas fees required to set up this vault.

However, this method also allows the public to see that users’ Ethereum addresses are associated with Casa due to the inherent transparency of the blockchain.

To achieve a greater level of privacy, Casa members can now use their ETH Pay Wallet, an alternative single-signature wallet, as a relay to create and transact from their vault. This way, gas fees and transactions sent through it won’t be associated with Casa on-chain.

While this new method involves additional steps compared to using the Casa Relay and requires users to cover gas fees with their Pay Wallet, it also offers greater privacy for people who prefer their on-chain ETH addresses not to be connected to Casa.

“Casa is designed to make using your private keys as simple as possible, while maintaining high security and respecting our members’ privacy. Our new Ethereum Pay Wallet Relay feature gives people a choice between the simplicity of using the Casa Relay for transacting, or taking on a bit more complexity for more on-chain privacy ,” said Casa CEO Nick Neuman. “Offering a choice in this gives Casa members a unique optionality that isn’t available with any other wallet. We couldn’t be more excited to continue pushing the limits of design and experience in Ethereum and Bitcoin. ”

By adding this extra functionality, Casa continues its mission to strike a balance between security and simplicity, offering users a stress-free self-custody wallet option.

About Casa

Casa is the leading provider of Bitcoin and Ethereum self-custody solutions. The platform makes it easy to buy and secure crypto while maintaining control of users’ private keys. Casa multisig is the ultimate blend of security, privacy, and control. Casa can protect users’ digital assets from hacking and phishing, seizure, SIM swaps, in-person attacks, device failures, supply chain attacks, natural disasters, insider fraud, accidental loss, and much more. Casa Private Clients also includes crypto inheritance plans, an industry-first inheritance offering.

About Safe

Safe (previously Gnosis Safe) is a decentralized custody protocol, securing ~$60 Billion in assets today. It is establishing a universal standard for the secure custody of digital assets, data, and identity. With Safe{Wallet}, its flagship web and mobile wallet, and Safe{Core} Smart Account infrastructure, Safe is on a mission to unlock digital ownership for everyone in web3 including DAOs, enterprises, retail, and institutional users.