🛡 Tonkeeper Two-Factor Authentication FAQ

Today Tonkeeper introduced a cool new feature: on-chain two-factor authentication. It sets a new standard in crypto-wallet security for the entire industry. Let me tell you more about it.

Why on-chain?

2FA is baked right into W5 wallet as a smart contract extension, not just the client software, like many other wallets do. This means that it can be supported by any wallet — there is no vendor lock-in. But more importantly, it cannot be circumvented by someone using an API or writing a clever script that connects directly to the blockchain network.

Why Telegram?

Telegram with its bot platform is a great way to deliver an interactive notification. It is also the safest one. Telegram has great protections against account hijacking, in total contrast to SMS that is terribly insecure.

Telegram is not going to be the only option. Our 2FA architecture supports many different ways to deliver 2FA messages and we will add alternative options in the future.

What if something happens?

Tonkeeper stands for freedom and self-custody. That's why our approach to 2FA keeps full control in users' hands: you always have complete access to your wallet with your recovery phrase.

2FA is designed so Tonkeeper can never lock you out. If something happens to your Telegram account, or our entire infrastructure, then you can recover access to your wallet with just your recovery phrase. But you need to wait out a safety period of 2 weeks.

Same goes for someone who steals your recovery phrase: your Telegram account will protect you against theft, while attempts to disable 2FA will show an alert and give you 2 weeks to relocate your funds to a new wallet.

Currently in beta

We are launching this feature as beta to test UX and collect feedback. There are known limitations such as incompatibility with the Battery. We constantly work on improving it and after polishing it further we are going to roll it out to mobile Tonkeeper as well.

Why is it a big deal?

On-chain 2FA sets a new standard of security. Instead of hoping that people will do the impossible and carefully store their recovery keys in a vault, we acknowledge that many store them in the note apps, photo libraries or drawers. Also, the nature of cryptographic material is such that once you leak some, you cannot take it back. Cryptographic secrets are toxic. Tonkeeper 2FA acts as a safety belt for your recovery phrase.

2FA in centralized systems is now a standard and available in most of the online services. The tricky part is to make it work on-chain and keep the user in full control. We achieve this by strategic approach to cryptographic protocols and open standards. When we envisioned W5 over two years ago, we had this feature and many others in mind. As a result, over the past year after release of W5 we have delivered Gasless, Tonkeeper Battery, Massive Multi-Send and now On-chain 2FA. And many more exciting innovations are ahead of us. 🚀

👉 Download Tonkeeper Pro: tonkeeper.com/pro