Social Login
A wallet onboarding method letting users create or access a crypto wallet using a familiar account, such as an email or existing social or Google account, instead of managing a seed phrase directly.
Social login is an onboarding and authentication approach, commonly paired with a smart account (see Kaavon's "Smart Account" glossary definition), that lets a user create and access a crypto wallet using a familiar credential — such as an email address, a Google account, or a passkey (see Kaavon's "Passkey" glossary definition) — rather than needing to generate, write down, and securely store a traditional seed phrase from the very first interaction. Behind the scenes, the wallet's private key material is typically managed through some combination of secure enclaves, multi-party computation, or key shares split between the user's device and a service provider.
Social login is primarily aimed at reducing the significant onboarding friction and seed-phrase-management risk that has historically deterred mainstream users from self-custodial wallets, at the cost of introducing some dependency on the login provider or key-management service functioning correctly and securely. Well-designed social login systems typically still let a user export or back up a fully self-custodial key eventually, so the social login convenience doesn't have to come at the permanent cost of genuine self-custody.
Examples
- A new user can create a crypto wallet through social login using their existing email account, without needing to understand or manage a seed phrase on day one.
- Well-designed social login wallets typically offer a path to export a fully self-custodial key later, so users aren't permanently dependent on the login provider.