What Is a TSS Wallet?

Last updated: 23 October 2026

Think of a safe that needs two of three keys turned together. One key opens nothing.

A TSS wallet signs with a threshold. The key is split into shares on devices you control, and no complete key is assembled, at setup or at signing. Enough shares produce one ordinary signature. The chain cannot tell the shares were separate. There is no seed phrase, because there is no single secret to write down.

What 2-of-2, 2-of-3, and 3-of-5 mean

The first number is how many shares must join. The second is how many shares exist.

2-of-2. Both shares must join. Lose one and you cannot sign. A Fast Vault is this shape: your device, plus VultiServer. See Vultisig's Fast Vault page. VultiServer co-signs and cannot sign alone. A Secure Vault can be 2-of-2 as well. That one has no spare device. Setup for a Fast Vault is about a minute. Source: Vultisig's setup guide, 23 October 2026.

2-of-3. Any two of three shares can sign. Lose one device and the other two still sign. This is the Secure Vault the docs recommend. You pair three devices, and there is no server share. Setup is about three minutes.

3-of-5. Three of five shares would have to join, so two shares can be missing and the other three still sign. Vultisig does not use that setup. A Secure Vault requires the signing count to be at least 67% of the devices, and 3 is 60% of 5. The larger setup the docs name is 3-of-4: three of four devices have to agree, and you can lose one. Source: Vultisig's Secure Vault guide, 23 October 2026.

A Fast Vault does not become a Secure Vault. For the higher threshold, create a new vault and move the funds.

TSS and multisig

Multisig gives each signer a key of their own. TSS never assembles one key. The chain sees a different object.

Whether a complete key exists

• TSS, as Vultisig runs it. No complete key is assembled, at setup or at signing. Each device holds a share.
• Multisig. Each signer holds a key. The policy is "M of those keys".

What the chain sees

• TSS. One ordinary signature. No published signer set, and no extra contract. That is why the same vault signs on Bitcoin and on chains where an on-chain multisig often does not fit. Source: docs.vultisig.com, 23 October 2026.
• Multisig. The signer set is part of the arrangement the chain can see, or the account is a contract that checks several signatures.

How you change who can sign

• TSS. You reshare. The addresses stay the same, and the funds do not move. The old shares can still sign together as a separate set, so you export new backups and you do not mix the two. Source: Vultisig's reshare guide, 23 October 2026.
• Multisig. Changing signers is a new arrangement on the chain. On Bitcoin that is a new address.

What one stolen share can do

• TSS. Nothing, by itself. Signing still needs the threshold.
• Multisig. One stolen key is one signer. It cannot move the funds alone if the policy needs more than one signature. It is still a complete key for that signer.

A stolen share is not the only way in. Binance's MPC hot wallet lost $6.34 billion in October 2026 with no reported key theft, because an attacker got the signing service to sign. What that means for who approves, and why each co-signer should show you the transaction.

The chain-facing difference is the one that travels. A TSS transaction does not advertise how many devices you own.

DKLS23, once

DKLS23 (Doerner, Kondi, Lee, and Shelat, 2023) is the threshold signature Vultisig uses, from Silence Laboratories. It changes the signing conversation from 6 rounds, which GG20 used, to 3. The chain still sees one ordinary signature. Vultisig moved to it in 2025. Sources: DKLS23 in Vultisig, 23 October 2026, and the paper at eprint.iacr.org/2023/765.

The product shape, in one diagram, is on Vultisig's MPC page.

One vault, the same shares

The same shares sign across 36+ chains. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, THORChain, and the rest come from one vault, not from one seed written down as 12 words or 24. The code is open, at github.com/vultisig. Sources: docs.vultisig.com, 23 October 2026.

Agents use the same threshold. A Fast Vault on the host that runs the agent is 2-of-2 with VultiServer, and no person has to approve. The map is the builders' page. Why that split exists is on Vultisig's agent page. How "no seed phrase" splits into two different products is on Vultisig's seedless page.

How to choose a threshold

1. You have one device, or an agent that must spend with no person present. Create a Fast Vault. It is 2-of-2: that device, plus VultiServer. VultiServer cannot sign alone. Plan on about a minute.

1. You want to lose one device and still sign. Create a Secure Vault at 2-of-3. Any two of the three devices sign. Plan on about three minutes. Every share stays on devices you hold.

1. You want three devices to agree. Use 3-of-4. Three of four must join, and you can lose one. The signing count has to be at least 67% of the devices, so 3-of-5 is not a setup this vault uses. 3 is 60% of 5.

1. Reshare when the set of devices should change. The addresses stay the same. Export new backups before you deposit more. Do not mix old backups with new ones. The old shares can still sign together.

FAQ

What is a TSS wallet?

A wallet that signs with a threshold. Shares sit on devices you control. No complete key is assembled. The chain sees one ordinary signature, and there is no seed phrase to write down.

How is TSS different from multisig?

TSS produces one ordinary signature and does not publish a signer set. Multisig gives each signer a key, and the chain can see that arrangement. A TSS vault changes devices by a reshare. The addresses stay the same.

What does 2-of-3 mean?

Three devices hold shares. Any two can sign. You can lose one and the other two still sign. That is the Secure Vault the docs recommend.

What does DKLS23 change?

It is the threshold signature Vultisig uses, from Silence Laboratories. Signing goes from 6 rounds, which GG20 used, to 3. The chain still sees one ordinary signature.