Passkey
A passwordless authentication credential, backed by public-key cryptography and typically secured by a device's biometric sensor, increasingly used to secure crypto wallets.
A passkey is a passwordless authentication credential based on public-key cryptography, generated and stored securely on a user's device, that lets the user authenticate using a biometric check (such as a fingerprint or face scan) or device PIN rather than typing a traditional password. Unlike a password, a passkey's private key material never leaves the user's device and isn't something a user can be tricked into typing into a phishing site, since there's no secret text to type at all.
In crypto, passkeys are increasingly used as part of social login (see Kaavon's "Social Login" glossary definition) and smart account (see Kaavon's "Smart Account" glossary definition) wallet designs to let users secure or recover wallet access without needing to separately manage a seed phrase, often by using a passkey to authorize transactions or recover access through a device the user already controls. This can meaningfully lower the barrier to crypto wallet security for everyday users, though it also shifts part of the trust model toward the security of the passkey-issuing platform and the user's own device.
Examples
- A smart account wallet might let a user approve transactions using a passkey secured by their phone's fingerprint sensor, rather than manually signing with a separate hardware wallet.
- Because a passkey's private key material never leaves the user's device, it can't be stolen through a typical phishing page the way a typed password or seed phrase can.