Decentralized Apps Putting You Back in Control of your information.

If you’ve been putting a sizable amount of your earnings into crypto-currencies and other tokens issued on blockchains, there’s a good chance you’re feeling happy right now. What used to be shunned as some weird internet money, a rollercoaster ride that’s only good for speculators, or even a Ponzi scheme is now showing more signs of holding value long-term and steadily going mainstream.

But like any responsible investor, it is wise not to get carried away by the feeling of vindication and forget the risks that come with being invested in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. On top of learning to shut out the noise that comes with volatility, it’s crucial to keep your digital assets secure. The more they go up in value, the more likely you’re to consider the idea of passing on a portion of them to your loved ones.

Therefore, it goes without saying that you should have a solid succession strategy in mind when it comes to ownership of your digital assets and who gets to benefit from them. And while this would be good for your legacy, planning for your future isn’t just about what happens when you’re gone.

If you’re wondering how to do this with funds that are in self-custody, worry not, there are ingenious teams such as Bradshaw Knox that provide a number of services such as planning and reporting of digital assets, will storage and deceased estate assistance. Their services are built on a strong foundation of privacy, encryption and giving you the customer more control of your information.

All this is largely achieved through the use of decentralized applications.

So what exactly are decentralized apps?

Think of decentralized apps as applications that are designed to run on blockchains or peer-to-peer networks, instead of computers controlled by a single organisation. One of their primary advantages is that they are built to be permission-less, meaning that users don’t have their data controlled by a single company.

This also means that it’s a little bit trickier for malicious actors to sabotage this kind of software since it isn’t about attacking one single point of entry as would be the case when running a software on a central server. When it comes to digital asset management, decentralised apps come in handy due to their ability to emulate the core features of the Blockchain in which they run.

Let’s break it down a little bit. Firstly, they are not limited by the human operators available to run them since they are controlled by pre-set code. Secondly, these apps can be accessed by anyone unlike the services of centralized companies that may require some kind of registration for a membership/account.

Thirdly, the user has full autonomy over their data, getting to choose where to store it, when to transfer it, and who can access it. This also means that a user doesn’t have to worry about a breach faced by the entity that designed the app since they can contribute improvements but don’t control any user-generated data.

How do decentralized apps enhance Bradshaw Knox services?

Bradshaw Knox relies on Stacks (formerly known as Blockstack), an open-source network of decentralized apps and smart contracts that leverage the security of the Bitcoin Blockchain. For starters, these decentralized apps do not store user data in a central location as would be the case with intermediaries like banks and insurance companies.

This enables Bradshaw Knox to offer total user control to its customers, in line with their principle of self-sovereignty. Any sensitive data generated during the course of managing your digital assets will be only accessible to the user, unless the user opts to have the Bradshaw Knox team serve as a trusted advisor. In fact, all data generated by a user is completely owned and controlled by the user who creates it.

Let’s look at one of the Bradshaw Knox offerings, Inheritance Recovery Planning. The primary goal here is to securely store a record of the user’s instructions on how their assets are retrieved in their absence, who gets to take custody of them, what kind of access and permissions they have, etc.

Seed phrases and private keys are quite difficult to memorise, so if you lose that paper on which you wrote them or the piece of wood or metal on which they were engraved, you may have to say bye bye to your assets.

Bradshaw Knox offers secure storage utilising Blockchain technology, with additional management features such as asset snapshots at different points in time. With this plan in place, you can rest assured knowing that your access information and assets will end up in the right hands.

Any asset-related transactions and changes will also be well-documented if they are relevant to inheritance allocations. Additionally, a user gets to choose where their data will be stored, which can be on a device they control or on a public storage node where the data is encrypted.

The same goes for the Last Will and Testament Storage Service. When it comes to Wills and other sensitive documents, it is crucial to be able to trace every change made along with the time it was made. With a fully encrypted storage area in a Blockchain-secured space, Bradshaw Knox will ensure that every version of your Will is logged and safely stored.

And since the service is set up to give full ownership and control over your data, you can also select some trusted parties or advisors and them grant access.

Other Bradshaw Knox services

Bradshaw Knox endeavours to deliver a set of extra services to crypto holders, founded on the same principles of data sovereignty or playing a support role in achieving that goal and its associated benefits.

For example, the team offers Private Key Recovery Services, enabling you to recover lost or forgotten passphrases and restore partial seed-phrases. This allows you to feel more peaceful knowing that even in instances such as device theft, disasters like fires, etc., you can still retrieve the information needed to regain access to your assets.

Bradshaw Knox provides a lot of other services in regard to digital asset management, ranging from portfolio discovery, asset valuation, escrow, asset sales, etc. All-in-all, once you deal with them, you know that your assets are secure, you’re more in control of any related data, there’s a contingency plan in case access is lost, and ultimately, they will go to whoever you wish to have them when you leave.