B-SSL makes your bitcoins unstealable — and recoverable

A new Bitcoin technology called B-SSL has just been introduced — a vault that makes it almost impossible to steal your coins even under physical coercion, while still allowing recovery if you ever lose your private key or seed phrase.

Here’s how it works. The vault is meant for long-term storage, but when you need to withdraw, there are three possible paths:

1. Standard user transaction. It’s executed with a preset delay that you define when creating the vault. For example, if you set 10,800 blocks, the transaction only becomes valid about 15 days after signing — before that, the Bitcoin network won’t accept it.
2. Emergency transaction. This one is designed for cases when the standard transaction was made by mistake or under duress. It cancels the first one — but the coins only become available again after one year.
3. Trusted recovery transaction. This is for situations where the owner can no longer access the vault — for instance, in case of death, to pass funds to heirs. The coins become available after three years.

Bitcoin developer SuperTestnet described B-SSL as an answer to the classic question: “What if someone kidnaps you and demands that you send them your bitcoins or they will kill you?”

But there’s another potential use case I see:

• two parties make an agreement;
• one sends the bitcoins, but the other breaks their promise;
• the sender can reverse the payment.

That would make Bitcoin payments safer and more convenient for the sender, not the receiver — a complete shift from how things usually work today. If B-SSL evolves in this direction, it could help turn Bitcoin from a savings instrument into a real payment system.

Bitcoin keeps evolving — and becoming more practical.

And remember: you can always exchange Bitcoin at the best rates on rabbit.io.