A way back without handing over the seed.

You hold your own bitcoin, and you hold the only key. That is normal self-custody. It also leaves the familiar continuity problem: if you are not available, nobody else can recover it.

A spouse, executor, solicitor, or family member cannot help if they do not know the vault exists, do not know who holds keys, or do not know what to do next. A hidden seed phrase is a blunt answer. If someone finds it, they have full access. If nobody finds it, they cannot act.

That is the awkward part. To help someone later, you have to tell them enough. Tell them too much and they have access now. Tell them too little and the instructions may fail when they are needed.

The usual answers are well known: a sealed letter with the seed phrase, a copy of the seed held by someone else, or no plan.

The letter has to survive, be found, and be understood. The copied seed gives someone full access today. No plan leaves the bitcoin unreachable. None of those is wrong in every case, but the compromise is rough.

A shared vault is a standard bitcoin multisignature address with several keys. You decide how many keys must sign before bitcoin can move.

For continuity, a common setup is 2-of-3. You hold one key. Two people you choose each hold one key. They might be a partner and an executor, two family members, or a family member and a professional adviser.

Nobody can spend alone. Day to day, you propose a spend and ask one other keyholder to sign. If you are not there, the two other keyholders can sign together and move the bitcoin. They do not need your seed phrase to do it.

The quorum matters. A 2-of-2 vault with one other person freezes if either key is lost. A 3-of-3 vault has no lost-key tolerance. Cobault tells you when you choose a quorum with no tolerance, but the choice is yours.

For a personal continuity vault, a practical 2-of-3 setup is:

1. Your own key for normal signing.
2. A key held by your partner, family member, or other person you choose.
3. A key held by an executor, professional adviser, or second family member.

Any two can sign. While you are available, you sign with one of them. If you are not, the two people you chose can recover together. Neither can move it alone.

This is not a will. It gives your will or continuity documents something practical to refer to: the vault exists, these people hold keys, and the recovery guide explains the route.

During launch, shared vaults are free to set up. Vaults created during the launch window stay free.

1. Create a 2-of-3 vault.
2. Add the two keyholders you choose and send each claim link privately.
3. Each keyholder accepts, creates their own key, and keeps their own seed phrase and recovery kit.

When all three keyholders have accepted, each participant checks the final roster, quorum, and address. Once everyone acknowledges the same vault, it becomes active and its address is fixed. Then record the vault in your continuity documents: that it exists, who the keyholders are, and where the recovery guide is kept.