First Smart Contract Allowing Cryptoasset Recovery

Abstract

Cryptoassets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are widely traded around the world. Cryptocurrencies are also transferred between investors. Cryptocurrency has become a new and attractive means of remittance. Thus, blockchain-based smart contracts also attract attention when central banks design digital currencies. However, it has been discovered that a significant amount of cryptoassets on blockchain are lost or stranded for a variety of reasons, including the loss of the private key or the owner's death. To address this issue, we propose a method for recoverable transactions that would replace the traditional transaction by allowing cryptoassets to be sent to a backup account address after a deadline has passed. We provide the computational workload required for our method by analyzing the prototype. The method proposed in this paper can be considered as a good model for digital currency design, including central bank digital currency (CBDC).