Vaultara

Problem Statement

What is Vaultara?Vaultara is a decentralized crypto inheritance protocol designed to solve one of the biggest issues in cryptocurrency: lost assets due to the owner passing away, becoming inactive, or losing private keys. Today, more than 140 billion dollars worth of Bitcoin alone is estimated to be permanently inaccessible because the original owners never shared recovery details.Vaultara protects crypto wealth for future generations through an automated inheritance system. The protocol ensures that if the owner stops being active for a long period, their funds will be automatically transferred to selected beneficiaries without depending on lawyers, courts, or centralized companies.The ProblemRight now:If a crypto holder dies, the family often has no way to access fundsPrivate keys are usually kept secret and taken to the graveCentralized recovery solutions are risky and require trusting third partiesTraditional legal inheritance systems do not apply to decentralized assetsReal financial impact:About 3 to 4 million Bitcoin are estimated to be permanently lostAround 20 percent of all Bitcoin have not moved in more than five yearsThere is no standard method for digital asset inheritance in Web3This results in families losing life-changing wealth that can never be recovered.My Solution: The Heartbeat MechanismVaultara introduces an on-chain activity check called the heartbeat mechanism. It works as follows:The owner creates a vault and selects a heartbeat interval (example: 7 days, 30 days, or even a year)The owner adds beneficiaries along with their share percentages and encrypted personal detailsThe owner deposits ETH into the vaultThe owner keeps sending heartbeat transactions to prove they are still activeIf the heartbeat time limit expires, anyone is allowed to activate inheritanceThe smart contract then distributes funds to all beneficiaries instantlyThis creates a trustless and fully automated inheritance system.Key FeaturesFor OwnersVault Management:Set and update the heartbeat intervalAdd, edit, and remove beneficiariesFine control over each beneficiary’s share percentageWithdraw funds or deactivate the vault anytime before inheritance is triggeredSecurity and Privacy:Beneficiary data is encrypted using Lit ProtocolOnly the owner can view or decrypt the detailsStrong access control using OpenZeppelin smart contract modulesAll funds stay in the owner’s wallet until deposited by their own approvalTransparency:All actions are fully visible on-chainCountdown timer shows remaining heartbeat timeSmart contract source code is public and verifiedFor BeneficiariesAutomatically receive funds if the owner becomes inactiveNo legal disputesNo dependency on any centralized entity or lawyerIdentity remains private until inheritance happensPublic MonitoringAnyone can trigger inheritance once the vault expiresPrevents assets from being locked foreverEncourages community involvementSmart Contract OverviewMain Contract:VaultaraInheritance.solImportant properties it manages:Heartbeat interval and last activity timeList of beneficiaries and their share percentagesVault activation statusProtection from misuse and double inheritanceKey functions include:Initializing a vaultSending heartbeatsManaging beneficiariesFunding or withdrawing fundsTriggering inheritance when the vault expiresChecking time remaining and vault statusEvents are logged for every major action for complete traceability.User ExperienceThe dashboard provides:Wallet connection support through MetaMaskCountdown timer for heartbeat expiryVault balance displayBeneficiary management toolsTransaction history synced from BlockscoutAlerts and confirmations for important actionsOnce the vault expires:A trigger button appears to allow inheritance executionSecurity PracticesSmart Contract:Uses trusted OpenZeppelin librariesReentrancy protection to stop complex attack patternsStrict validation rules for inputsLogs every critical action for auditsEncryption:Only encrypted beneficiary data is stored on-chainLit Protocol ensures beneficiary privacy and secure key accessFrontend:No private key exposureSafe UI with input validation and protection mechanismsTesting and DeploymentSmart contracts tested with Hardhat and MochaVerified on the Sepolia testnetPublicly available for inspection on BlockscoutContract Address: ``` 0xC11949532F5C46d567D254dCcFAd4BDC87f1306A` Network: Ethereum Sepolia TestnetUse CasesLong-term crypto holdersParents planning digital inheritance for childrenElderly investors who want a secure fallbackBusiness owners and DAOs managing treasury continuityPeople with medical risks who want future financial assuranceCurrent Version LimitationsThis is an MVP. The following improvements are planned:Support multiple vaults per userMainnet deploymentSupport for ERC20 tokens and NFTsMulti-signature vault ownershipMore private and advanced encryption techniquesGuardian and social recovery optionsRoadmapUpcoming updates:Multi-chain expansionNotifications through email or mobile appDeFi position inheritance (example: Aave or Compound)Zero-knowledge beneficiary privacyFuture long-term vision:Integration with real-world estate planning industryWhite-label integrations for wallets and exchangesA complete solution for Web3 asset inheritanceMarket PotentialMore than 420 million crypto users globallyA multi-trillion dollar crypto economyA traditional inheritance and estate management industry worth billionsVaultara supports financial security across generations and protects families from unnecessary loss.Why It MattersCrypto gives financial independence. Vaultara ensures that this independence continues even after the owner is gone. It guarantees:Wealth always reaches the intended familyNo funds are lost permanentlyFull control while aliveNo need to trust any third partyVaultara turns digital inheritance into a simple, guaranteed, and decentralized process.

Solution

Vaultara is built as a modern Web3 application, combining secure smart contracts, encrypted data management, and a responsive frontend. Our goal was to create a decentralized inheritance system that is both secure and user-friendly, suitable for real-world usage.Backend and Smart Contract DevelopmentFor smart contract development, we used Hardhat version 3.0.7 as our primary development environment. Hardhat offered excellent TypeScript support, a robust testing framework, and deployment tools that made the development process faster and more reliable. Hardhat Ignition allowed us to declaratively deploy contracts, track deployment states, and resume partial deployments without errors. Local testing was conducted using Hardhat Network, while essential plugins from Hardhat Toolbox provided utilities for testing, deployment, and contract verification.The contracts were written in Solidity version 0.8.20. We chose this version because it provides built-in overflow and underflow protection, custom errors for gas efficiency, and compatibility with modern tools. We enabled compiler optimizations with 200 runs to balance deployment costs and runtime gas efficiency. OpenZeppelin Contracts v5.4.0 was used to implement standard security features, such as access control and reentrancy protection, ensuring robust and audited contract logic.Key architectural decisions included a single-contract-per-vault design for simplicity and gas efficiency, using structs and mappings for fast lookups and arrays for iterations when distributing funds, and emitting events for transparency and auditability.Frontend DevelopmentThe frontend is built with React and TypeScript. React’s component-based architecture and ecosystem allowed rapid development and easy integration with Web3 wallets, while TypeScript ensured type safety and early bug detection. Vite was used as the build tool for fast hot-reloading and optimized production builds. Tailwind CSS facilitated responsive, utility-first styling with dark mode support.We implemented custom hooks to manage wallet connections, contract interactions, encryption, and transaction tracking. For example,useWallethandles MetaMask connectivity and network switching,useVaultaraContractmanages smart contract read/write operations with automatic data refresh, anduseLitProtocolhandles encryption of beneficiary data. We also included transaction history fetching from Blockscout, with event parsing and auto-refresh functionality.Partner Technology IntegrationsVaultara leverages Lit Protocol for decentralized encryption. This ensures that beneficiary data is encrypted on-chain, accessible only to authorized users, and protected against tampering. Integrating Lit Protocol required custom browser polyfills and type conversions, which we handled within the frontend build configuration. Blockscout provided a public API for transaction tracking without needing a backend, allowing real-time transaction monitoring and contract verification.Testing and SecurityWe conducted extensive testing with 48 tests covering contract deployment, vault lifecycle, heartbeat mechanics, beneficiary management, fund distribution, access control, and edge cases. Testing time-based logic, such as heartbeat expiry, was achieved by manipulating blockchain time locally. Reentrancy attacks, invalid input scenarios, and incorrect percentage allocations were thoroughly tested to ensure security.Gas optimization techniques included the use of custom errors, efficient storage patterns, caching variables in memory, and short-circuit evaluation for conditions. These optimizations reduced gas costs and improved contract efficiency.Notable and Hacky ImplementationsSeveral implementations stand out as particularly clever. We built a real-time countdown timer for heartbeat expiration, designed optimistic UI updates to improve user experience during transactions, and implemented automatic network switching for MetaMask with proper error handling. Share percentage validations prevent users from exceeding 100%, and a hybrid approach of event listening and polling ensures the frontend stays in sync with contract state. We also managed multiple modals without a library, worked around BigInt serialization issues in React, and pre-estimated gas to avoid failed transactions.Architecture Decisions and Trade-offsWe chose a single contract per vault for simplicity, on-chain encrypted storage for privacy and decentralization, owner-set heartbeat intervals for flexibility, and basis points for beneficiary percentages to maintain precision. We used a hybrid approach of event-driven updates supplemented by polling to ensure reliable state tracking.Deployment and WorkflowSmart contracts were compiled, tested, and deployed to the Sepolia testnet using Hardhat Ignition, with contract verification on Blockscout. Frontend deployment was handled with Vercel after building optimized production bundles. The development workflow included test-driven contract development, iterative frontend testing, and coverage verification.Performance MetricsSmart contract operations, such as initializing vaults, sending heartbeat signals, adding beneficiaries, and triggering inheritance, were optimized for gas efficiency. Frontend performance was optimized with a bundle size under 800KB, fast first contentful paint, and high Lighthouse scores.ConclusionVaultara demonstrates a secure, tested, and user-friendly Web3 product built within a short development window. By combining smart contract best practices, decentralized encryption, responsive frontend design, and careful testing, we created a platform that ensures privacy, transparency, and reliability. Key achievements include Lit Protocol integration, real-time UI updates, optimized gas usage, and seamless wallet and transaction management.