What is Ethos SecureHash?

Upon creating your SmartWallet you are given a 24-word recovery phrase, which is connected to your account. This is also sometimes referred to as your private key or seed.

Ethos SecureHash is a safe way to ensure that the 24-word private key stored securely on your device is always compatible with the public key stored on Ethos Bedrock. It can confirm that the deposit addresses generated by Bedrock with the public key are compatible with your private Smart Key ensuring you can successfully transact.

This provides an integrity check, giving our customer service a way to cross-verify your account without transferring or revealing the information of your private key or 24-word key recovery phrase.

How Does Secure Hash Work?

When a user creates a Smart Key, there is a public and private key generated. The private key is the 24-words, the public key is what we call the extended public key. The extended public key generates your deposit addresses for all your wallets in the HD derivation paths.

We use the extended public key to tie a user to their account in Bedrock. We never store private keys. Until now, the extended public key has been blind and out of reach to the user, making it difficult to validate between user and bedrock.

With SecureHash, we take a unique hash of the extended public key, readily make this information available on the app for the user. This allows the app and the server to be cross-referenced to make sure there is a match.

Please keep in mind that SecureHash does not expose any private information – it’s simply an integrity check.

SecureHash will be automatically generated upon our next update, linked to every account upon re-logging in to their device and stored.

Why Do I have to Re-Login After the App Update?

This is an added security benefit to protect the accounts of all users, and ensure that with every major app-update, each user manually chooses to access their account, while also allowing the implementation of SecureHash and future features into every Universal Wallet.

Critical Info: Ethos Universal Wallet Update 1.5.2 Process

Once the Ethos Universal Wallet Update 1.5.2 is pushed out to all users, your app will require an upgrade before accessing your account. This is a forced upgrade.

If you don’t update your app automatically, once you open your app, you will be sent to a locked screen with a prompt to update your app. Simply, manually visit the iOS or Android app store to update your app.

Update Screen Bug: Please note, if your app has not already been updated to Version 1.5, and you are using an earlier version such as 1.3, the button to “Update your Universal Wallet in the App Store” on the lock screen will be inactive. This minor bug will be fixed with update 1.5.2.

Simply, visit the app store to update the app and you’ll be all set. You’ll be able to log-back in and access your account. All funds are completely safe during this process.

Updating the App

Once you upgrade your app, if you have an active SmartWallet and have generated a 24-word key phrase, your SecureHash will be created automatically in the backend of the app.

You can always find the SecureHash information in your “Privacy and Security Settings.”

Simply, log back into the app using your account information, and you will have access to the latest version of the Universal Wallet. It’s that easy!

Summary of the Benefits of SecureHash