Crypto glossary
Social recovery wallet
A social recovery wallet lets trusted guardians jointly restore access to a smart contract account if the owner loses their signing key, without a seed phrase.
In a social recovery wallet, the account is a smart contract with one everyday signing key held by the owner and a list of guardians: friends, family, other devices of the owner or a professional service. If the signing key is lost, a majority of guardians approves a transaction that assigns a new key to the account. Guardians cannot move funds themselves; they can only vote on recovery.
Vitalik Buterin championed the idea in 2021 as a way to avoid the all-or-nothing risk of a seed phrase, and wallets built on account abstraction have since made it practical. It suits newcomers who would otherwise misplace a seed phrase, and it is often combined with time delays so the owner can cancel a malicious recovery attempt.
The security depends on the guardians. If enough of them collude, are tricked by social engineering or lose their own keys, the account can be taken over or become unrecoverable. Guardian lists can also reveal relationships on chain. Choose independent guardians, keep the list current and understand the wallet's recovery delay before relying on it.
Example
After her phone is stolen, a user installs her smart wallet on a new device and asks three of her five guardians to confirm; after the waiting period, the new key controls the account.