Description
Vault12 Guard is the pioneering solution for crypto inheritance and decentralized backup of digital assets. The app enables users to securely back up wallet seed phrases, private keys, and other digital credentials without storing anything in the cloud or on centralized servers.
Key Features:
- Decentralized Social Recovery — Users appoint trusted individuals or devices as Guardians who collectively safeguard encrypted asset fragments in a peer-to-peer network
- Quantum-Resistant Cryptography — Cutting-edge encryption protects against present and future threats, leveraging iOS Secure Enclave and Android Strongbox
- Digital Inheritance — Designate a legacy contact (beneficiary) who can seamlessly inherit your crypto portfolio when the time comes, without requiring legal updates or paperwork
- Blockchain Agnostic — Works across any blockchain (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and others) and any crypto wallet
- Hot Storage Access — Request Guardians to unlock your Vault for immediate access to backed-up credentials
Use Cases:
- Backup wallet seed phrases across all crypto wallets
- Set up crypto inheritance so family can inherit digital wealth
- Securely store private keys, PINs, and sensitive digital files
- Avoid single points of failure from hardware wallets, USBs, or cloud services
Vault12 is not a financial institution, exchange, or custodian — it is a non-custodial information security tool that keeps full control in the user's hands.
Highlights
Pros
- Open-sourced its ZAX secure relay network and released an open-source Capacitor plugin, enabling independent security auditing of core infrastructure components.
- Pioneers digital inheritance management by letting users designate a legacy contact who can seamlessly inherit the entire crypto vault without requiring legal paperwork updates.
- Leverages iOS Secure Enclave and Android Strongbox hardware security modules to protect private keys against both current and future threats.
- Eliminates single points of failure by never storing seed phrases in the cloud, on centralized servers, or on any single local device.
- Uses quantum-resistant Hierarchical Threshold Shamir's Secret Sharing (H3S) cryptography to split seed phrases into encrypted shards distributed across a decentralized mesh network of trusted Guardians.
Cons
- Vault access depends on a sufficient number of Guardians being responsive and having their devices available — lost or unresponsive Guardians can delay or prevent recovery.
- Guardians have no visibility into what they are safeguarding by design, which may reduce their incentive or understanding when their assistance is needed for vault operations.
- Requires recruiting and maintaining a network of trusted Guardians who must install the Vault12 app on their own devices for vault recovery to function.
- Free tier restricts the number of assets that can be protected, with advanced features like inheritance locked behind subscription plans.