How Not to Lose Your Coins in 2020: Alternative Recovery Methods

As an alternative to complex storing solutions, the concept behind social recovery is to grant friends, family or even companies the right to restore access to a certain account.

Elaborating on the social recovery concept, it introduces "User secrets" - personal data such as biometrics from fingerprint scanners, a password, or personal information provided in a questionnaire.

This information must then be provided during the recovery process, ensuring that guardians cannot simply collude to steal the user's wallet.

The list of guardians is never revealed until the actual recovery procedure is activated.

A commonly cited drawback of social recovery is the reintroduction of trust - this time in friends rather than centralized entities.

"Social recovery is fundamental for adoption, it brings a web2 experience to self sovereign accounts."

"So the method is secure, and literally anyone with a smartphone can use it. Another advantage of this approach is that you can use these trusted entities to protect your wallet beyond just recovery. With Argent you can use them to lock your wallet and approve a large transfer."

Speaking with Cointelegraph, Blockstream CSO Samson Mow criticized Ethereum, noting that the EIP is "Largely complexity for the sake of complexity." He added that social recovery is entirely possible on Bitcoin with existing software, by simply creating a multisig wallet and distributing portions of it to friends.

"The drawbacks to any social recovery system is really that your social circles change over time, and we live in a universe that tends towards entropy. So, your friends today may no longer be your friends tomorrow, and even if your social circles don't change, your designated guardian may lose their part of your recovery scheme."

"The challenge is getting people to understand that they should secure their seed and plan for recovery from day one - social recovery doesn't help in negating the"Schiff Paradox" any more than metal backups do.