How does Guardblock work?

A Guardblock vault has multiple parts:

Your hardware wallet key or keys

These stay under your control and are required for normal vault use. Guardblock does not hold your key (or a copy of it) at any point.

A Guardblock co-signing key

This is used for normal collaborative transactions. It cannot spend your Bitcoin by itself. This is how we enforce any configured spending controls that you set up for the vault.

A timelocked self-recovery path

This is your fallback path. After a defined delay, you can recover without Guardblock’s cooperation. This is enforced by Bitcoin script, not by trust or policy.

A timelocked final recovery path

This is the final recovery path which becomes available after another timelock expires, which can be used if you have lost all of your keys and backups. With your instruction, Guardblock can assist you to recover your bitcoin.

What this means

A Guardblock vault is effectively a new bitcoin wallet, with additional rules that are set and controlled by you. Those rules define:

How your Bitcoin can be spent normally
What happens if something goes wrong
How recovery or inheritance works
When you can exit without Guardblock

What Guardblock can and cannot do

Guardblock can:

Co-sign normal transactions that fit your vault policy (also known as spending controls)
Help structure recovery in advance
Support last resort recovery processes if needed, including inheritance protocols

Guardblock cannot:

Move your Bitcoin alone
Recover your private keys or seed phrase
Remove your recovery path
Permanently freeze your funds if your timelocked path is available