HOW IT WORKS
Several keys for maximum security
Every wallet is made of three separate keys that, in a 2-of-3 combination, give you maximum security: your share, Soveris's share, and your backup. Any two of them can create a transaction — Soveris alone never can.
The next section shows what that looks like day to day, in an emergency, and on the way out — step by step.
IN SHORT
Three independent keys
Your assets rest behind a cryptographic scheme built on three mutually independent key shares. A transaction becomes valid only when two of those three shares work together. You hold two of them, Soveris holds exactly one — and a single share alone can sign nothing. That Soveris cannot move your assets alone is therefore not a good intention, but built into the architecture. Before we show you the detail, this is all that counts: one is never enough.
2 OF 3 TO SIGN
WHO HOLDS WHAT
Key distribution
But who controls which key?
- PRIMARY (you) — Lives in your smartphone, protected by FaceID or your fingerprint. This share never leaves your device. You release it with a touch — no one else.
- SECONDARY (Soveris) — Lives in a secured hardware module at Soveris. We contribute this share only once you start a transaction — on your instruction, never of our own accord. And with this key alone, we can do nothing.
- BACKUP (you) — You encrypt the backup with your own passphrase, and only the encrypted part is stored with us. The backup can be opened only by you, or by people you entrust with your passphrase. Should you wish to carry on without Soveris, your PRIMARY and your BACKUP are enough to initiate a transaction at any time, without us.
Any combination of two shares is enough for a valid signature.
Soveris has no access to your assets.
DAY TO DAY
Like an online payment
Day to day it feels like approving a transfer with a TAN in your banking app.
- Enter the amountYou open the app and enter what you would like to send, and where.
- FaceID or fingerprintYour smartphone asks for your biometrics — just like unlocking a payment.
- Security validationsWe receive your transaction and check it against your additional security settings, such as your recipient address book and your per-transaction or daily limits.
- PRIMARY and SECONDARY sign togetherYour share on the device and Soveris's share create the transaction.
- The transaction goes to the blockchainThe finished transaction is sent, the confirmation arrives in seconds.
In the normal case PRIMARY and SECONDARY sign together. You start it, your fingerprint confirms it, Soveris contributes its share — done. No password to type. No second device. No seed phrase. Your fingerprint is enough.
PRIMARY + SECONDARY · THE EVERYDAY PATH
RECOVERY
Phone lost or broken — back in under a minute
The fear of losing everything with your phone does not apply here. A new device, a sign-in, a glance into the camera — and you are back in.
- Install the appLoad the Soveris app onto the new device.
- Sign in with your account passwordStraight from your password manager if you like — Apple Keychain, 1Password, Bitwarden, whichever you use.
- Set up FaceIDRegister your biometrics on the new device, as you would with any other app.
- DoneFull access. Your addresses unchanged, your BACKUP share untouched.
Every few years a new smartphone arrives, or the old one is stolen or breaks — none of it changes anything about your assets: they were always on the blockchain, your addresses stay the same, and your BACKUP share is not even touched. Your new device simply learns again how to activate your PRIMARY share.
If you need the deeper route via your BACKUP — because you have also forgotten the password, say — a waiting period applies that you set yourself: preset to 30 days, shortenable down to a minimum of two days (48 hours) if you need it faster — but only in normal operation. This protects you and your assets against unauthorised recovery. The wait is not an obstacle, then, but your protection.
EXIT
You can leave at any time — and take everything with you.
You stay independent of Soveris: PRIMARY and BACKUP are yours — together they are enough to create transactions, entirely without us.
Should Soveris one day disappear, or should you simply want to go elsewhere, you already hold everything in your hands: PRIMARY on your device and BACKUP via your passphrase. These two shares reconstruct your wallet and move your assets to any other wallet.
PRIMARY + BACKUP · WITHOUT SOVERIS
INHERITANCE & PROVISION
What if something happens to you?
With self-custody, access to digital assets sadly often dies with the holder; with exchanges, a slow and opaque process follows. Soveris is built for exactly this case: you name your heirs or representatives in advance and pass them the passphrase — but never your account password. On the basis of proof, your heirs or representatives gain access to the backup and can take over control.
Important answers to questions almost no one dares to ask:
Your heirs present a certificate of inheritance (Erbschein) and the death certificate. Soveris checks their identity against the heir data registered in advance. After a 14-day waiting period we hand over the encrypted backup. The heir receives their own account, and so their own primary — technically this happens via a Share Update: no transaction on the blockchain, no network fee, no taxable disposal event. The wallet stays the same, only the holder is new.
Coma, stroke, dementia: your assets do not freeze for years. An emergency switch (a timer you set, 90 to 365 days) ensures that trusted people can act when you no longer can — within the precise bounds you define in advance. Every time you log in, the timer resets and starts over.
Your passphrase is something you should protect very well — as with a hardware wallet. We have, however, built in the additional protection of storing the encrypted backup and releasing it only when authorised. So in the event it is needed, the people you trust can decrypt the backup with your passphrase — but only once they are legitimated do they actually receive it.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
For those who want to know exactly
Everything stays traceable and verifiable. The complete architecture — from the cryptographic build through the threat model to the regulatory reasoning — we set out openly in our white paper.
At its core runs a 2-of-3 MPC — a computation distributed across several parties (Multi-Party Computation). There is no “shared file” that someone could re-assemble. The participating shares compute on a signature together, without a complete key ever coming into being anywhere — not even for a moment. PRIMARY lives in the Secure Enclave of your iPhone or in the StrongBox on Android, unlocked by biometrics. SECONDARY lives with us in a hardware security module (HSM), encrypted with AES-256-GCM, a separate key for every customer. BACKUP lives as an Argon2id-encrypted record, openable only with your passphrase. If Soveris disappears, an emergency plan provides your encrypted BACKUP record together with an offline self-exit tool; with your passphrase you decrypt it locally and carry on without Soveris at any time.
New phone: install the app, sign in with your account password, set up FaceID again — your PRIMARY share is restored from the encrypted backup and re-lodged in the new device's secure chip, not regenerated; BACKUP stays untouched, addresses unchanged. Password forgotten: Soveris re-checks the security of your account — not a money-laundering identification, but a waiting period you set yourself (preset to around 30 days, shortenable down to a minimum of two days / 48 hours, cancellable at any time — though a shortening only takes effect once the currently set period has elapsed, and so cannot be pulled down to the minimum on the spot under duress) as protection against extortion; afterwards you decrypt the BACKUP record with your passphrase on the device, and a Share Update generates a new PRIMARY. Inheritance/illness: timer logic or certificate of inheritance and death certificate, a check against the heir data registered in advance, a 14-day waiting period, then a Share Update onto the heir — no operation on the blockchain. Soveris insolvent: you combine PRIMARY and BACKUP and transfer your assets to any other wallet. Soveris need not take part and is mathematically dispensable.
DKG (Distributed Key Generation): the first creation of the three shares at setup — a new shared key, a new address. Happens only once. Share Refresh: all three parties generate new shares of the same key; the address stays, old shares become invalid even if they still physically exist. Happens automatically every 90 days and after any security-relevant event. Share Update: a special case in which only one party replaces its share — for instance when recovering the PRIMARY or on inheritance. The others keep their shares, the address stays. For the scenarios above a Share Update or Share Refresh is used — addresses and values stay untouched, entirely without any operation on the blockchain.
FIPS · AES-256-GCM · Argon2id
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