Understanding PLR Utility Part I: Pillar Smart Wallet + Personal Data Locker
Introduction
Pillar is generally associated with the variety of other wallet applications available, however, it’s often overlooked that the project aims to achieve much more. Originally coined the ‘personal data locker’ by Pillar Project Chairman, David Siegel, our core goal is to develop a personal data management platform allowing users to easily control what, when and with who their personal information is shared. Pillar anticipates that the emergence of self-sovereign identity solutions will also have a dramatic impact on consumer market behavior and reshape how users interact with brands, stores and service providers. The Pillar Project aims to design and develop one of the most intuitive platforms to contextually manage your identity and transact with the new services of the emerging web3 digital economy.
Before getting started, if you’re unfamiliar with the project or what is planned in the coming months, please check out the ‘The Pillar Wallet — Current State and Vision for 2019’ article that I published earlier this year. There are many features and enhanced functionality planned, but the following lay the core foundation for the evolution of Pillar beyond a simple wallet.
Smart Wallet
At present, all Pillar wallets are key-based. This means that all assets are stored in a private key with the user as the sole owner. This is great from a control standpoint as no third party has access to your account, but it also comes with some serious security implications. If you lose your device or key (and your back up phrase is not written down/stored properly), your assets are lost with no option for recovery.
A good analogy is a pre-paid debit card. If the card is misplaced or lost, there is no mechanism for recovery of the pre-loaded funds.
The Pillar team and its partners are currently implementing smart contract accounts for our wallet users. Pillar will provide users with smart contracts to store their assets and an intuitive key management system that allows users to manage access. It anticipates that users will have tens, if not hundreds, of app-specific and/or persona designated access keys with varying permissions. These keys will be managed independently by each user, providing easy control over how personal information is shared and funds are exchanged with contacts, dapps and other services. Open application sessions will be shown directly in wallet with the ability to revoke access at any time. This functionality also provides users with a way to manage keys from other blockchains setting the stage for cross chain support.
Different keys for different uses is a design pattern that will enable greater security, privacy and an overall better user experience.
