Hive & Hive Keychain

Hive is a public, permissionless blockchain that records ledger state, signed messages, and digital-asset transfers in publicly verifiable form. The protocol is operated by a global network of independent witnesses; no single party owns it. Hive accounts are first-class citizens of the protocol — they are referenced by name (handle), not by an opaque address, which is unusual among public blockchains and is the source of the user-friendly account model that Taxed builds on.

Each account on Hive carries an internal allowance of Resource Credits, abbreviated RC, which it spends to broadcast transactions. A new account is issued with zero RC and must accumulate stake (Hive Power) before it can transact directly on chain. Until that point, the account exists in the registry but cannot publish operations of its own. For Taxed enrollees, this limitation is not load-bearing: every Taxed transaction that touches Hive is signed and broadcast by @taxed, not by the enrollee's account, and Resource Credits are paid by @taxed in every case.

Accounts on Hive are permanent. There is no concept of account deletion. The handle reserved by the registrar at the moment of creation is the handle of the account in perpetuity. The keys may rotate; the handle does not.

Hive Keychain is a free, open-source custody application maintained by independent contributors. It is available as a browser extension for desktop platforms and as a standalone mobile application for Android and iOS. Its function is to store Hive private keys locally — never on a remote server — and to sign transactions on the user's behalf when authorized via a popup confirmation.

Keychain is the prevailing custody tool in the Hive ecosystem. The IRS recommends, but does not require, its use. Alternative custody approaches include hardware-wallet integrations (Ledger), desktop wallet applications, and self-managed cold storage. The remainder of this document assumes Keychain.

Keychain is not affiliated with the IRS. The IRS does not develop, distribute, or warrant Keychain. Any defect, breach, or compromise of Keychain is the responsibility of its publisher.

The reveal modal at the conclusion of Form SS-4-W issuance includes a single-action OPEN IN HIVE KEYCHAIN button. On desktop browsers with the Keychain extension installed, the button triggers a native Keychain dialog that imports all four keys into the local keystore in one operation. On mobile, the equivalent action invokes the Keychain app via a URL handler; the user confirms the import inside the app.

If automatic import is not available — for example, if the extension is not installed, the browser is in private-browsing mode, or the URL handler is rejected — the reveal modal presents a COPY KEYS BLOCK action. The applicant copies the four-key block to the clipboard, opens Keychain manually, selects Add Account → Import using Keys, and pastes the keys block into the input field. Keychain will validate the block and persist the account locally.

The IRS recommends that the applicant verify successful import before closing the reveal modal. The .txt file download is the canonical recovery artifact and must be retained regardless of whether Keychain import succeeds.

Hive supports a protocol-level account recovery procedure. The procedure permits the account holder, with the cooperation of a designated recovery account, to rotate the Owner key in the event of compromise. The Taxed-issued account designates @taxed as the recovery account at the moment of creation; this designation is recorded on chain.

The recovery procedure operates as follows. The account holder demonstrates control of an Owner key that was active within the prior thirty days. The recovery account (@taxed) cosigns a recover_account operation that establishes a new Owner key. The protocol enforces the thirty-day window strictly; an Owner key older than thirty days is not recoverable through this procedure.

To initiate recovery, the account holder files Form 1040-RECOVERY by contacting Taxed support. The applicant must provide the previously valid Owner key, retained from the .txt download issued under Form SS-4-W, and a new Owner public key. Taxed verifies that the previous key matches the on-chain record within the thirty-day window and, if so, cosigns the recovery transaction.

The recovery procedure does not recover keys that the applicant has lost without compromise. If the applicant has discarded the keys downloaded under Form SS-4-W, no recovery is possible. The keys are not stored anywhere outside the applicant's possession.