TLDR Tech / Crypto
Myths about Passkeys
With 95% phone and 97% browser support, passkeys have sufficient infrastructure coverage for production deployment in self-custodial wallet UX. WebAuthn Level 3's cross-origin iframe embedding allows a single passkey credential to authorize transactions across apps, devices, and chains, as Ithaca demonstrated with Porto, while Access Keys add scoped per-token spending limits that remove repeated authentication prompts from transaction flows. Passkeys sync across devices via OS keychains, including iCloud, Google Password Manager, and 1Password, and Tempo's Account Keychain model uses a Root Key with layered Access Keys supporting Secp256k1, P256, and WebAuthn credential types alongside optional Ledger or YubiKey hardware factors. Persistent limitations include broken functionality in WkWebViews on mobile and a total device loss scenario where, absent backup Access Keys, fund recovery is impossible, mirroring seedphrase loss.
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