SecureKey, a Toronto-based provider of trusted identity networks, has been selected by the Royal Canadian Mint to provide device security and user authentication for its MintChip cloud-based digital currency.

The Royal Canadian Mint is currently running an employee trial of MintChip, which is linked to the Canadian dollar and is designed for low-value online, mobile and physical payments. MintChip transactions are instant and irrevocable.

SecureKey will provide device-based multifactor authentication for MintChip via its briidge.net Connect Platform. Its Connect Mobile SDK will be built into the MintChip consumer mobile app and combined with the briidge.net Connect service to enable consumers to make cash-like MintChip payments from their smartphones and other mobile devices.

"Instead of confronting the complexity of keys, certificates and other inconveniences, MintChip consumers will enter their four-digit QuickCode PIN on their mobile device to authenticate to their MintChip cloud account," SecureKey CEO Charles Walton said in a statement.

"SecureKey's experience in providing strong, unobtrusive local device authentication was a key factor in our decision," Marc Brûlé, the Royal Canadian Mint's chief emerging payments officer, said in announcing the selection.

The briidge.net Connect service can be adapted for online and in-store purchases using laptops, desktop PCs, mobile devices and wearables. These devices can be enrolled with the briidge.net Connect service as strong "what you have" factors for multifactor authentication, SecureKey said.