What is Social Recovery?

Social recovery is a wallet recovery mechanism that lets trusted contacts authorize a new key if you lose access. It replaces the fragile seed phrase backup with a human trust network.

How does Social Recovery work?

When setting up a smart wallet, you designate trusted contacts as guardians.
If you lose access, you contact your guardians who verify your identity.
Once a threshold typically 3 of 5 approves, a new key is authorized on the contract.
Guardians can never access your wallet directly; they only participate in recovery.

Why does Social Recovery matter?

Most people cannot safely store a 24-word seed phrase long-term. Social recovery makes self-custody accessible to mainstream users without sacrificing decentralization.

Key features of Social Recovery

Requires threshold approval (e.g., 3 of 5 guardians)
Guardians have zero normal access to the wallet
Guardians can be changed over time
More resilient than seed phrase for non-technical users

Examples of Social Recovery

Argent pioneered social recovery, letting users designate family and friends as guardians. Losing your phone means contacting guardians no seed phrase required.

Safe supports custom social recovery configurations for institutional setups.