Best way to store bitcoin crypto seed phase.
Posted by Erman Oz on 8th Mar 2023
Creating your crypto wallet is easy. There are many crypto wallet options. Most will generate the recovery seed phase automatically during setup. These phases are often 12 or 24 words depending on the crypto wallet you use.
Your seed phase is all you need to access your crypto wallet. It is like a complex password for your wallet with some exceptions; you cannot change it or recover it if lost! So you need to make sure it is safe and not exposed. Never take a picture or screenshot of your seed phases. They need to be written down offline and stored in a secure location.
Many options are available for safely storing your recovery seed phase. From waterproof paper to metal plates, we tested them all. Some are too complex, will take you hours to write your seed phase, some are unsafe, and some are overpriced. We could not find the best one, so we built our own!
All the crypto seed word storage options on the market are trying to solve one problem: Writing down information (your crypto seed phase) in a limited space that will not be affected by the elements and last for a long time.
Where to write the information?
Not on paper is one correct answer. Paper can be easily destroyed by water or fire. Writing on metal is the best option for seed phase storage. There are many metal options out there, from steel to gold. The most commonly used are aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium. The main differences between those options are fire resistance and corrosion resistance. You don’t want your seed phase melting away or rusting away. A house fire can reach 1500 degrees Fahrenheit (815 Celsius). Aluminum melts at 1221 Fahrenheit, Stainless steel at 2550 Fahrenheit, and titanium at 3034 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though stainless steel will be sufficient to withstand a common house fire, titanium is the best metal to write your crypto seed phase on! Titanium is not only the most fire resistant but also titanium’s strength and, most importantly, the corrosion resistance makes it the perfect metal to write your crypto seed phase. Pure titanium doesn’t rust like other metals. You can leave titanium in highly corrosive sea water for 100 years without any corrosive damage. You can write your crypto seed words on titanium and store it at the bottom of the ocean floor safely if you like. Try that with stainless steel or aluminum, and watch your seed phases rust away in months!
How to write your crypto seed phases on metal surfaces?
There are options out there! Some will make you feel like a blacksmith. Some will have you do some clerical work.
Center punching the letters.
This option includes an automatic center punch and metal plates with the alphabet printed many times. However, this option needs more surface space. This is because you center punch the letters individually to mark your crypto seed phase. Usually, these options will have multiple plates or one massive plate.
Compressing the information to fit in a smaller space:
You can turn your seed recovery phase words into numbers with a BIP39 word list (mnemonic). This technic takes time and adds an extra layer of friction for recovering your crypto wallet.
Your recovery seed phase is often 12 or 24 words depending on the crypto wallet you use and select from the BIP39 word list (mnemonic.) The BIP39 word list consists of 2048 words. Once you put those words in alphabetical order, they each have a unique number. So instead of writing the words, you can write the number, which will take much less space. There are also some metal plates in the market with numbers printed on them, and you use a center punch to select the numbers you want to save. We don't recommend this style for two reasons. 1- it takes a lot of time to go through the BIP39 word list and convert every word to numbers one by one. 2- It is prone to errors. You will lose your crypto wallet if you write just one number wrong!
Metal Stamping
This one requires a letter punch set and a hammer. You punch each letter one by one with a hammer. Finding each letter, correcting its orientation, and punch is very time-consuming.
Engraving (our favorite.)
Permenantly writing on metal is a challenging task. But the easiest and fastest way to do this is engraving! It is like writing on paper, but you must keep your wrist and hand supported. Slowly and carefully engrave your crypto recovery seed phase.
Your seed phase is all you need to access your crypto wallet. It is like a complex password for your wallet with some exceptions; you cannot change it or recover it if lost! So you need to make sure it is safe and not exposed. Never take a picture or screenshot of your seed phases. They need to be written down offline and stored in a secure location.
Many options are available for safely storing your recovery seed phase. From waterproof paper to metal plates, we tested them all. Some are too complex, will take you hours to write your seed phase, some are unsafe, and some are overpriced. We could not find the best one, so we built our own!
All the crypto seed word storage options on the market are trying to solve one problem: Writing down information (your crypto seed phase) in a limited space that will not be affected by the elements and last for a long time.
Where to write the information?
Not on paper is one correct answer. Paper can be easily destroyed by water or fire. Writing on metal is the best option for seed phase storage. There are many metal options out there, from steel to gold. The most commonly used are aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium. The main differences between those options are fire resistance and corrosion resistance. You don’t want your seed phase melting away or rusting away. A house fire can reach 1500 degrees Fahrenheit (815 Celsius). Aluminum melts at 1221 Fahrenheit, Stainless steel at 2550 Fahrenheit, and titanium at 3034 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though stainless steel will be sufficient to withstand a common house fire, titanium is the best metal to write your crypto seed phase on! Titanium is not only the most fire resistant but also titanium’s strength and, most importantly, the corrosion resistance makes it the perfect metal to write your crypto seed phase. Pure titanium doesn’t rust like other metals. You can leave titanium in highly corrosive sea water for 100 years without any corrosive damage. You can write your crypto seed words on titanium and store it at the bottom of the ocean floor safely if you like. Try that with stainless steel or aluminum, and watch your seed phases rust away in months!
How to write your crypto seed phases on metal surfaces?
There are options out there! Some will make you feel like a blacksmith. Some will have you do some clerical work.
Center punching the letters.
This option includes an automatic center punch and metal plates with the alphabet printed many times. However, this option needs more surface space. This is because you center punch the letters individually to mark your crypto seed phase. Usually, these options will have multiple plates or one massive plate.
Compressing the information to fit in a smaller space:
You can turn your seed recovery phase words into numbers with a BIP39 word list (mnemonic). This technic takes time and adds an extra layer of friction for recovering your crypto wallet.
Your recovery seed phase is often 12 or 24 words depending on the crypto wallet you use and select from the BIP39 word list (mnemonic.) The BIP39 word list consists of 2048 words. Once you put those words in alphabetical order, they each have a unique number. So instead of writing the words, you can write the number, which will take much less space. There are also some metal plates in the market with numbers printed on them, and you use a center punch to select the numbers you want to save. We don't recommend this style for two reasons. 1- it takes a lot of time to go through the BIP39 word list and convert every word to numbers one by one. 2- It is prone to errors. You will lose your crypto wallet if you write just one number wrong!
Metal Stamping
This one requires a letter punch set and a hammer. You punch each letter one by one with a hammer. Finding each letter, correcting its orientation, and punch is very time-consuming.
Engraving (our favorite.)
Permenantly writing on metal is a challenging task. But the easiest and fastest way to do this is engraving! It is like writing on paper, but you must keep your wrist and hand supported. Slowly and carefully engrave your crypto recovery seed phase.
Introducing Ti1000
We created the toughest titanium plate in the market to store your crypto recovery seed phase or passwords. Designed by an archeologist to last for thousands of years. You can safely bury it, drop it to the bottom of the ocean, and even send it to space, or have pieces of mind knowing your seed recovery phase will be safe for your lifetime and beyond for many future generations in your family.