Crypto Wallet Emergency Recovery via Distributed Key Shares
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Crypto currency wallet and cryptographic key becoming inoperational due to theft, damage, or loss results in inaccessible funds, lacking a reliable method for emergency recovery.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a distributed cryptographic key shared among multiple nodes with recovery information stored separately, allowing for emergency recovery transactions by cooperation between the user and an emergency recovery service using secure multiparty computation to regenerate the key and transfer funds to a new wallet.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the cryptographic key is stored at a single position (device or server), then the key management is simple, but the system becomes vulnerable to theft, damage, or loss
Solution Approach 1:
The cryptographic key is divided into multiple shares distributed across different nodes (devices or servers). To access the funds, a threshold number of these shares must be combined through secure multiparty computation, eliminating the single point of failure while maintaining key functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
An emergency recovery service acts as an intermediary that facilitates the key recovery process. When the original key becomes inaccessible, the service coordinates with authorized parties to reconstruct the key shares and perform the recovery transaction, enabling fund access without direct compromise of the original key system.
2Reliability
If a distributed cryptographic key shared among multiple nodes is used, then the system becomes more secure against theft and loss, but the complexity of key management and emergency recovery increases
Solution Approach 1:
The key shares and recovery procedures are pre-configured and stored in a secure manner before any emergency occurs. The emergency recovery service is pre-established with the necessary protocols and access mechanisms, so when an emergency arises, the recovery process can begin immediately without complex setup or configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of storing the entire key in one location, multiple copies (shares) of the key are distributed across different nodes. These shares are encrypted and stored separately, allowing the system to maintain security while enabling recovery through the aggregation of valid shares by authorized parties.
3Reliability
If recovery information is stored separately from the nodes, then the system becomes more resilient to node failure or compromise, but the complexity of retrieving and using the recovery information increases
Solution Approach 1:
The emergency recovery service serves as an intermediary that simplifies the recovery process for users. Rather than requiring users to directly access, verify, and combine multiple encrypted key shares from distributed storage, the service handles these complex operations automatically, presenting a simplified interface for fund recovery.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables users to initiate and complete the recovery process autonomously by providing their identification and requesting recovery. The automated systems verify eligibility, retrieve the appropriate key shares, and execute the recovery transaction without requiring manual intervention in the complex cryptographic operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for performing an emergency recovery transaction of funds of a crypto currency wallet involves a distributed cryptographic key shared among two or more nodes with each node holding a share of the cryptographic key and none of the nodes holding the entire cryptographic key. The cryptographic key provides access to the funds of the crypto currency wallet. Recovery information regarding the cryptographic key is stored in a storage being separate from the two or more nodes. If the cryptographic key and/or the wallet becomes in-operational, a user retrieves the recovery information from the storage and provides at least part of the retrieved recovery information to an emergency recovery service. The emergency recovery service and the user perform an emergency recovery transaction of funds from the crypto currency wallet to a new crypto currency wallet, based on the recovery information.