Essence Vault

Essence Vault is a multisig (multi-signature) wallet built on the Essential blockchain, leveraging the platform’s declarative smart contract system to provide a secure, transparent, and efficient way to manage funds collectively. Multisig wallets require a predefined number of signatories (wallet holders) to approve any outgoing transaction, providing enhanced security and decentralized control over funds.

Key Features of Essence Vault: m-of-n Approval System: The core functionality of Essence Vault is its m-of-n approval system. In simple terms:

n is the total number of authorized members (or signatories) who can approve or reject a transaction. m is the minimum number of these members required to approve a transaction before it can be executed. This ensures that no single party can unilaterally control the wallet’s funds. For example, if you have a 5-member wallet (n=5), and set m=3, at least 3 out of the 5 members must approve any fund transfers before it is executed. Create a Multisig Wallet: At the start, an authorized user can create a new multisig wallet by providing a set of member addresses and specifying m, the minimum number of required approvals. This can be easily adjusted later as needed.

Add/Remove Members: Wallet members can be added or removed based on the collective decision of existing members. The multisig wallet maintains flexibility by allowing changes in membership without disrupting operations or compromising security.

Update m-of-n Configuration: If necessary, members can change the m value, adjusting the number of approvals required. This is especially useful if the organizational structure changes or the wallet grows in size.

Fund Management (Receive & Send Funds):

Receiving Funds: Anyone can send funds to the multisig wallet. It serves as a shared account for organizations, teams, or projects that need collective control over assets. Sending Funds: To send funds, a transaction proposal is made, and the required number of members must approve it (based on the m-of-n rule) before the transfer is completed. Transaction Proposals: Any member can propose a transaction, such as sending funds to another wallet. Once proposed, other members must review and approve or reject the transaction.

Approve Approvals: Members have the ability to approve a transaction proposal, and if they change their mind before the transaction is finalized, they can revoke their approval. This allows flexibility and ensures that all decisions are well-considered.

View Transaction History: All transactions—whether proposed, pending, approved, rejected, or completed—are stored transparently on the blockchain. Users can easily view this history to ensure accountability.

Security and Transparency: Built on Essential’s declarative smart contracts, Essence Vault emphasizes simplicity, security, and auditability. By focusing on what should happen rather than how, it reduces the likelihood of vulnerabilities like reentrancy attacks that are common in other blockchain systems.

Low Gas Costs: Thanks to Essential’s blockchain optimizations, transaction costs are minimized, making Essence Vault a cost-effective solution for managing collective funds without the high fees typically associated with smart contract execution on imperative blockchains like Ethereum.

Why Essence Vault? Essence Vault is ideal for organizations, venture capital funds, DeFi projects, DAOs, or any group that needs shared control over assets. It’s particularly useful for managing treasury funds, handling collective investments, and ensuring that no single entity has unilateral access to funds. With its m-of-n approval system, all decisions are decentralized, preventing fraud, theft, or misuse of funds.

Advantages of Using Essential Blockchain for Multisig Wallets: Declarative Smart Contracts:

Essence Vault leverages Essential’s declarative nature, which allows smart contracts to focus on intent, making the logic simpler and reducing the risk of bugs and security vulnerabilities. Enhanced Security:

By minimizing low-level control, the risk of errors or exploits is reduced, leading to a more secure wallet. This is especially critical for large or organizational funds. Efficiency and Cost Savings:

Compared to other blockchains, Essential's structure optimizes for lower gas costs, ensuring that even high-frequency or complex transactions are cost-effective. Scalability:

As Essential is designed to support large-scale decentralized applications, Essence Vault is well-positioned to handle the demands of growing organizations or DAOs that may scale significantly over time. Use Cases: Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs): DAOs often manage collective treasuries, and Essence Vault’s multisig model ensures that no single member can misappropriate funds. This m-of-n approval system also aligns with the decentralized decision-making model that DAOs are built upon.

Venture Capital or Investment Funds: For groups of investors managing pooled funds, Essence Vault ensures that any outgoing transactions are approved by multiple stakeholders, safeguarding against unauthorized withdrawals or investments.

Corporate Treasury Management: Essence Vault can be used by companies to manage internal budgets or decentralized teams that need to ensure financial decisions are made transparently and securely.

Grant Funds or Non-Profits: When distributing grants or donations, it’s important to ensure accountability. The multisig approval process guarantees that funds are only released after careful consideration and approval by trusted members.

Future Roadmap for Essence Vault As Essence Vault evolves, additional functionalities will be implemented to further enhance its capabilities:

Revoke Approval:

Members will be able to revoke their on-chain approval before a transaction is fully approved, providing flexibility and allowing members to reconsider decisions before execution. Set Time-Locked Approvals:

On-chain time locks will be added, allowing transactions to be delayed for a specified time after receiving approvals, which adds an additional layer of protection for large or sensitive transfers. Set Transaction Limits:

On-chain transaction limits will automatically adjust the number of required approvals based on the transaction size. For example, larger transactions could require more signatories or escalate to higher levels of the hierarchy, while smaller transactions may be executed with fewer approvals. Staking Wallet Funds:

To optimize treasury management, a portion of the wallet's funds can be staked in DeFi protocols to earn passive income. AI and statistical models will analyze transaction history to suggest staking strategies and portfolio management, ensuring that funds not needed for immediate use are working to generate yield.

Essence Vault was built using Pint for the smart contract, which simplifies logic by focusing on what needs to happen, ensuring security and reducing vulnerabilities. The frontend is written in Rust for performance and safety, leveraging WebAssembly for smooth cross-platform execution. Partnering with Essential allowed us to leverage declarative blockchain design.