10/02/2026
How a Vault Runs
From the lock to the handover: the four choices you make, the one thing you keep doing, and what happens if you stop.
- Silence limit30, 60 or 90 days
- Check-inIn the app
- After the limitTo the beneficiary
Introducing DMS
Dead Man's Switch. Lock funds. Name who gets them if you go silent.
The vault
Lock SOL or USDC in a vault wallet.
It pays only you or your beneficiary.
Pick your silence
A silence limit of 30, 60 or 90 days.
The limit is how long you can go without answering before the vault passes on. You pick it when you lock, and each vault has its own.
Every answer to your dot sets the clock back to the full limit. So does the check-in button in the app.
- days of silence30 / 60 / 90
- one answer resetsthe clock
Step
Who acts
When
The vault
The clock
How a vault runs
A vault that passes on if you stop answering.
DMS is a dead man's switch vault on Solana. You lock funds in a vault wallet that DMS's server holds, name a beneficiary and pick a silence limit of 30, 60 or 90 days. Your dot lives in the app; when a check-in is due, its message waits for you there. Each answer resets the clock. If you stay silent past the limit, the vault passes to the beneficiary.
The rules, in full
One vault, one beneficiary, one limit. A vault moves in two cases only: you close it, or the limit passes.
Read the FAQ
Your dot checks in with a message that waits for you in the app. Any answer from you counts and sets the clock back to the full limit. The beneficiary has no access while the clock is running. If no answer comes before the limit, the vault passes to the beneficiary.
You lock funds, name a beneficiary and pick a silence limit: 30, 60 or 90 days.
Your dot does the asking
There is no date to remember. Your dot checks in with a message in the app, and your answer is the reset.
- One beneficiaryEach vault names one address. It has no access while the clock is running.
- One clockTime left is shown on every vault. It moves two ways only: down, or back to full.
- Your exitClose a vault before the limit and the funds return to you.
DMS Guides
Short reads on locking a vault, answering a check-in and what happens after a silence.
10/02/2026
What Counts as a Check-in
Your dot asks if you are still here. Any answer resets the clock. Here is what an answer is, and what it is not.
10/02/2026
Picking a Silence Limit
30, 60 or 90 days. How to choose how long a silence has to last before it means something.
10/02/2026
What the Beneficiary Gets
One address per vault, no access while the clock runs, and the whole vault once the limit has passed.
DMS Guides
Frequently
asked
questions
- The clock keeps running. If the whole silence limit passes without an answer from you, the vault passes to the beneficiary you named.
- A silence is read as a silence, whatever the reason for it. If you cannot answer for longer than your limit, the vault passes on. Pick a limit that covers your longest stretch out of reach, and name a beneficiary address you are sure of. Each vault is a wallet that DMS's server holds, not one you hold yourself.
DMS is a dead man's switch vault on Solana. You lock funds in a vault wallet that DMS's server holds, name a beneficiary and pick a silence limit of 30, 60 or 90 days. Your dot lives in the app; when a check-in is due, its message waits for you there. Each answer resets the clock. If you stay silent past the limit, the vault passes to the beneficiary.
- Open the app, choose the asset and the amount, enter the beneficiary address and pick a silence limit. Lock the vault. From then on, answer your dot when it checks in.
View All
Set it once. Then just answer.
Lock, name a beneficiary, pick a limit. After that the only job is to answer your dot.