Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Computer-implemented system and method providing a decentralized protocol for the recovery of cryptographic assets
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Application No.: US16622275Application Date: 2018-06-07
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Publication No.: US11356263B2Publication Date: 2022-06-07
- Inventor: John Fletcher , Silvia Bartolucci
- Applicant: nChain Licensing AG
- Applicant Address: CH Zug
- Assignee: nChain Licensing AG
- Current Assignee: nChain Licensing AG
- Current Assignee Address: CH Zug
- Agency: Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
- Priority: GB1709367 20170613
- International Application: PCT/IB2018/054104 WO 20180607
- International Announcement: WO2018/229608 WO 20181220
- Main IPC: H04L29/06
- IPC: H04L29/06 ; H04L9/32 ; H04L9/06 ; H04L9/08 ; H04L9/30

Abstract:
A computer-implemented method is described for enabling recovery of one or more digital assets held on a blockchain by a user under a public key Pk after a corresponding private key Sk for accessing the one or more digital assets is lost. The computer implemented method comprises setting access for the one or more digital assets held on the blockchain under the public key Pk and accessible using the corresponding private key Sk of the user such that the one or more digital assets are also accessible using a private key x shared by a congress on the blockchain network, the congress comprising a group of users on the blockchain network, each member of the congress having a private key share xi, the private key share xi to be used in a threshold signature scheme in which at least a threshold of private key shares must be used to generate a valid signature through the combination of partial signatures of the congress to access the one or more digital assets on behalf of the user. If the private key Sk is lost then the congress can be notified to access the one or more digital assets on behalf of the user, the user proving their identity to the congress by providing a recovery password.
Information query