Multi-party Computation Wallet Key Shard Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of non-custodial wallets face challenges in accessing their digital assets if they lose access to their wallet application, device, or seed phrase, leading to potential loss of assets, and existing custodial wallets require trusting a third-party platform with private keys.
Innovation Solution
A multi-party computation (MPC) wallet system that allows users to leverage a third-party platform for transaction signing while maintaining access to their full private key, enabling key shard management and secure communication for transferring assets between wallet applications without relying on the custodial platform for key recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users use non-custodial wallets to maintain control over private keys, then security and autonomy are improved, but accessibility and recovery options deteriorate when users lose access to their wallet application or device
Solution Approach 1:
The private key is divided into multiple key shards distributed across different locations (user's device and custodial platform). This segmentation allows the system to maintain security through distributed storage while enabling accessibility through threshold reconstruction, resolving the contradiction between security and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
A custodial platform acts as an intermediary that stores key shards and facilitates transaction signing without having access to the complete private key. This intermediary enables users to recover access to their assets by providing the necessary key shards for reconstruction, while maintaining security through cryptographic thresholds.
2Ease of operation
If users use custodial wallets to enable third-party management of private keys, then accessibility and recovery options are improved, but security and trust requirements deteriorate as users must trust the third-party platform
Solution Approach 1:
The complete private key is segmented into multiple key shards, with the custodial platform holding only a portion. This ensures that even if the platform is compromised, the full private key cannot be reconstructed, maintaining security while providing custodial accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The custodial platform serves as a mediator that assists in transaction signing and key recovery without having full access to the private key. The threshold cryptography mechanism ensures that the platform cannot unilaterally access funds, resolving the trust contradiction.
3Ease of operation
If users divide private keys into key shards distributed across multiple locations, then security and accessibility are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically manages key shard distribution, storage, and reconstruction through standardized cryptographic protocols. Users interact with simple interfaces for transaction signing and recovery, while the complex key management operations are handled autonomously by the system.
Solution Approach 2:
The key shard management system provides multiple functions including secure storage, transaction signing, and key recovery through a unified cryptographic framework. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate systems for each operation, managing complexity while providing comprehensive security and accessibility.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and devices for token management are described. A custodial token platform may communicate with a wallet application to support a multi-party computation wallet and transfer of private keys and key shards to support wallet cloning and key export. The custodial token platform may receive a message signed by a first key shard, sign the message using a second key shard, and broadcast the signed message to transfer a token between the wallet application and a recipient address. The custodial token platform may receive an encrypted payload including the first key shard, and transmit the encrypted payload to a second client application for decryption by the second client application on a second user device. Additionally, the wallet application may support export of the private key based one or multiple authentication techniques, which may cause retrieval of the key shards and display of an indication of the private key.