Holiday Surprise: Dr. Leemon Baird on Decentralized Recovery and Custody – The Private Key to Mass Adoption

Almost everyone has been subject to multi-factor authentication before, whether it was having to confirm a code sent to your phone or email address or having to answer an additional security question after inputting your password. However, a new form of web security called decentralized recovery and decentralized custody is now on the horizon.

How do decentralized recovery and custody offer security to web users and what makes them different from multi-factor authentication?

On today’s episode of Gossip About Gossip by Hedera, podcast Host and SVP Communications, Swirlds Labs, Zenobia Godschalk, speaks with Dr. Leemon Baird, Co-CEO, Swirlds Labs and Founder and CEO of Swirlds Inc., to discuss how Web3 ledgers and blockchains lack security and what decentralized recovery can do to address this insecurity.

Godschalk and Dr. Baird also discussed…

  1. How decentralization lacks security via Web3 ledgers and blockchains
  2. What decentralized recovery and decentralized custody are and their use cases
  3. The four Internet protocols essential for instilling and recruiting decentralized recovery and custody “helpers”

Dr. Baird explained how decentralized recovery works: “When you have enough helpers, your key—your secret—is shared among all of them in pieces. None of them can see your secret. And any half of them can recover it. That’s decentralized recovery.”

Dr. Leemon Baird is Co-CEO, Swirlds Labs and Founder and CEO of Swirlds Inc. Dr. Baird has served as Founder/CEO of Hedera Hashgraph, Senior Research Scientist for the Academy Center for Cyberspace Research ,and Professor of Computer Science at the United States Air Forcce Academy. He holds a BS in Computer Science from the United States Air Force Academy and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Recent Episodes

As the security integration industry contends with rapid technological advancement and increasing business complexity, many integrators are looking for the tools, training, and guidance to keep pace. At the center of this evolution is AI—transforming not just the products integrators deploy but also the way they operate their businesses. Meanwhile, the shift to mobile credentials…

Facial recognition technology has long hovered on the fringe of mainstream adoption—promising futuristic solutions but often shackled by high costs, limited applications, and public skepticism. In 2024, however, a pivotal shift is underway. Thanks to advances in edge devices, reduced price points, and changing attitudes toward digital identity, biometric authentication—particularly facial recognition—is now finding a…

The security industry is experiencing a quiet revolution—one led not by technology alone, but by a new wave of passionate young professionals. As legacy systems give way to modern, cloud-based platforms and mobile-first solutions, the need for fresh perspectives, diverse skill sets, and energized leadership is more pressing than ever. One organization at the forefront…