Shard
In cryptography, a shard is a fragment or portion of data that can be stored or processed independently.
In the context of cryptocurrency, sharding can be used in several ways, including as a mechanism to split and distribute a piece of a cryptographic key.
Shards can also be used as a general strategy to distribute blockchain data and workloads across multiple systems to improve performance, scalability, and security.
Benefits
Sharding offers multiple advantages:
- Sharding avoids “putting all of the eggs in the same basket.” By distributing pieces of data, sharded systems are more resistent to compromise.
- Sharding allows distributed trust, rather than having to completely trust a single entity.
- Avoids single point-of-failure, offering greater system resilience even when a small number of participants fail.
- Distributed participants could have zero knowledge about other participants, providing increased privacy.
- Configurable shard thresholds needed for secret reconstruction offer a customized balance of security and usability.
- Spreading loads among distributed systems provides more scalability and efficiency of storage and processing.
Examples
- Using Shamir's Secret Sharing (SSS), a secret (such as a private key) can be split into many shards. A custom-specified threshold of these shards is required to reconstruct the secret. Any collection of shards below the threshold reveals nothing about the secret, preventing guessing based on partial knowledge.
- SSS and its variations are used in many systems, including classified information distribution systems, password management platforms, Amazon and Google Key Management Services, Trezor and Ledger hardware wallets, and the Vault12 Digital Vault.
- Several blockchains, including Ethereum, Cardano, Polkadot, and NEAR Protocol implement sharding strategies to effectively distribute their workload and improve their performance and scaling.
Vault12
Vault12 is the pioneer in crypto inheritance and backup. The company was founded in 2015 to provide a way to enable everyday crypto customers to add a legacy contact to their cry[to wallets. The Vault12 Guard solution is blockchain-independent, runs on any mobile device with biometric security, and is available in Apple and Google app stores.
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You will lose your Bitcoin and other crypto when you die...
...unless you set up Crypto Inheritance Management today.
It's simple — if you don't worry about crypto inheritance, nobody else will — not your software or hardware wallet vendors, not your exchanges, and not your wealth managers. So it's up to you to think about how to protect the generational wealth you have created, and reduce the risks around passing that crypto wealth on to your family and heirs. What are the challenges with crypto inheritance?
- Crypto Wallets are difficult to use and do not offer crypto inheritance management. In fact, most of them tell you to write down your seed phrase on a piece of paper, which is practically useless.
- Some people back up their wallet seed phrases or private keys on paper, local devices like hardware wallets or USBs, or in the cloud. All of these options have severe drawbacks that range from hacking to accidental loss to disrupted cloud services.
- Software wallets operate onspecific blockchains, yet your crypto assets span multiple blockchains. For inheritance to work, you must be able to manage inheritance across every blockchain — now and forever.
Crypto Inheritance Management: Secure, Self-Custody Crypto Inheritance and Backup
Vault12 is the pioneer in Crypto Inheritance Management, offering a simple yet powerful way to designate a legacy contact and pass on your crypto assets—like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) —to future generations. Built for everyday users yet robust enough for the most seasoned crypto enthusiasts, Vault12 Guard ensures your wallet seed phrases and private keys are preserved in a fully self-sovereign manner, across all Blockchains.
At the heart of Vault12 Guard is quantum-resistant cryptography and a decentralized, peer-to-peer network of trusted Guardians. Your critical information is never stored in the cloud, on Vault12 servers, or even on local devices—dramatically reducing the risk of a single point of failure. By fusing a powerful software layer with the Secure Element of iOS devices (Secure Enclave) and Google devices (Strongbox), Vault12 Guard locks down your private keys against present and future threats.
Our innovative approach harnesses social recovery, enabling you to appoint one or more trusted individuals or mobile devices as Guardians. These Guardians collectively safeguard your protected seed phrases in a decentralized digital Vault—so there’s no need for constant lawyer updates or bulky paperwork. Should the unexpected happen, your chosen legacy contact can seamlessly inherit your crypto assets without compromising your privacy or security.
Preserve your digital wealth for generations to come with Vault12 Guard—the simplest, most secure way to manage crypto inheritance and backup.
Take the first step and back up your crypto wallets.
Designed to be used alongside traditional hardware and software crypto wallets, Vault12 Guard helps cryptocurrency owners back up their wallet seed phrases and private keys (assets) without storing anything in the cloud, or in any single location. This increases protection and decreases the risk of loss.
The first step in crypto Inheritance Management is making sure you have an up-to-date backup.
The Vault12 Guard app enables secure decentralized backups, and provides inheritance for all your seed phrases and private keys across any blockchain, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others, and for any crypto wallet.
Note: For anyone unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies, Vault12 refers to wallet seed phrases and private keys as assets, crypto assets, and digital assets. The Vault12 Guard app includes a software wallet that works alongside your Digital Vault. The primary purpose of this is to guard your Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) wallet seed phrases, private keys, and other essential data, now and for future generations.
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