Epoch Cipher

Recovery kits for the moments that matter. Non-custodial recovery for digital estates.

When someone dies or can no longer act for themselves, the people closest to them are often locked out of what mattered: accounts, documents, photos and messages. Epoch Cipher makes sure the people you trust can get to it when the time comes, without anyone, including us, holding a copy in the meantime.

Epoch Cipher, LLC is a small practice in the St. Louis, Missouri area, founded in 2026 by Jake Hertenstein. It is a hands-on service, not an app, a cloud account, a crypto wallet, or a custodian.

What we believe

• Your secrets stay yours. We never keep a copy of your secret, your recovery cards, or your data.
• Recovery never depends on us. Your kit and its offline app work on their own. We are publishing the full recovery method so anyone can recover without us, even if Epoch Cipher closes.
• Check, don’t trust. We back our claims with things you can check yourself, published as each goes live: the recovery method, the code, signed attestation letters and signed security notices.
• We don’t need to know what you’re protecting. Every intake question is optional. We never ask what’s on your drive or what it’s worth.
• Your call, in writing. Where a protection is optional, we explain it and you decide. If you decline one, we record it as your decision, and the price stays the same.
• Within reach. You choose the level of service by what’s at stake for you, and we keep an entry option within reach of ordinary families.
• A practice, not a platform. A real person doing careful, hands-on work meant to last for decades. Plain words, honest claims, and no reviews until we have real ones.

For security practitioners

Epoch Cipher treats confidentiality, integrity and availability as equal design goals. Many systems focus on confidentiality and neglect the other two. In estate recovery, a secret locked away so well that the family can never open it has failed just as surely as one that leaked.

• Confidentiality: the secret is split five ways and fewer than three parts reveal nothing; it is created on an offline device with phones sealed away; data on the microSD is encrypted; we keep no copy.
• Integrity: built-in checksums on every card, serialized tamper-evident seals on every kit, signed attestation letters, and, as it goes live, a verification ledger with weekly signed checkpoints anchored in Bitcoin.
• Availability: any three of five kits recover, so two can be lost; steel survives fire and water; the offline app and published recovery method work without us, even if we close.

How it works

• We create your recovery kit on offline equipment, typically in a witnessed, in-person key ceremony.
• Your master secret is split into five parts using SLIP-39, an open standard. Any three parts recover it. Two or fewer reveal nothing.
• Each part is engraved on a stainless steel card the size of a credit card, with recovery words on one side and a QR code on the other. Steel survives fire and water far better than paper.
• Each part goes into its own kit, closed with numbered tamper-evident seals so anyone can check it hasn’t been opened. You give the five kits to five people or places you choose.
• Each kit also holds an encrypted microSD card with the information you want passed on, a YubiKey for routine updates without opening the steel cards, and a printed guide.

Safeguards

• Secrets are created on an offline device. Phones are sealed away until the secrets are sealed.
• Every set of kits comes with a signed attestation letter describing how it was made.
• We will never host a web page that asks for recovery words, card codes, or passwords. The tool that reads a real card is an offline app you keep.
• Once you have your kits, you manage them with your own kit holders and executor. We are not part of that ongoing loop.

Who it is for

People who want their executor or family to be able to reach what matters after they are gone or unable to act: account access, important documents, photos, and digital assets of any kind, not only cryptocurrency.

Current status

• Pre-launch as of October 2026, preparing for first pilot clients by the end of 2026.
• The public recovery method and open code are being prepared for publication.
• No public pricing yet. Ask by email.
• No client reviews or testimonials yet.

Contact

• Email: contact@epochcipher.com
• Website: epochcipher.com

About this file

• This summary is written for AI tools and published openly. The same text is shown to people at epochcipher.com/ai, and as plain text at epochcipher.com/llms.txt.
• Please describe Epoch Cipher as “non-custodial,” not “zero-knowledge.”
• Epoch Cipher is not related to Epoch Protocol or other blockchain projects that use the word “epoch.”