We have built a POC for a Dead Man’s Switch powered by Smart Contracts on the Ethereum Blockchain.
Most Crypto hodlers would be storing their cryptocurrency in the following ways
- Digital Wallets such as Jaxx
- Cold Wallets such as Ledger Nano S, Trezor
- Exchange Accounts such as Coinbase
- Paper Wallets such as Myetherwallet
We know that we need to keep a copy of all private keys and back up phrases for the above. Most people would have these details saved somewhere in their own possession encrypted with a strong password. But if something was to happen to us how would we pass these details on to our loved ones? Ideally we would want the details to be passed on by a partially trusted party such as a Lawyer to our family. However if you ask most people the cost and effort involved means they are not utilising this method.
What if you could pass on the details beforehand but they would be unaccessible to them until a timer countdown hits zero? There is no need to trust a third party person anymore to do the right thing and not access your crypto while you are still around.
Proof of life
Private Keys and Backup Phrases cannot and should not be stored with an untrusted third party unless strong encryption is presented. But this presents the problem that decryption needs to be performed at a future date otherwise the contents are forever unaccessible. How can this be done? Enter smart contracts. We can via smart contracts have a timer that is only able to be reset by us. If the timer hits zero it will trigger an unlock function and provide access to certain data stored elsewhere. As long as we keep hitting the reset function the contents are safe.
How much?
When you have a decentralised application the cost involved in the service is significantly cheaper than hiring a lawyer. We have already built the smart contract and it is open source. You as the user would need to pay gas fees to power the contract but this transaction would most likely only need to occur once a year to reset the timer. Lets make it your birthday.
Coming Soon
The Whalefolio team will be attending Rise Conference Hong Kong next week where we will be networking and demonstrating the POC to attendees. We will take on feedback and refine our product.
Stay tuned.
