After you have securely generated your seed phrase, the next step is to write your seed phrase on something that will last a lifetime. Whether you decide to use a DIY method or buy a specialized product, taking the time to write your seed phrase in a secure offline environment is one of the most important steps to properly secure your bitcoin.
Each one of these 4 steps to protecting your seed phrase is as important as the other, so be sure to read up on the other steps to ensure you are maximizing your seed phrase security.
Step 1: Generate Your Seed Phrase (Randomness + Verification)
Step 2: Write Your Seed Phrase (Paper & Metal)
Step 3: Store Your Seed Phrase (Location)
Step 4: Recover Your Bitcoin Wallet (Privacy, Security, Wallet Settings)
Different Ways To Write your Seed Phrase
After generating your seed phrase, you should write your seed phrase on something that is capable of withstanding damage from the elements, data degradation, and will last a lifetime.
There are a multitude of options available, so I will touch on as many as I possibly can to help you make the best decision.
These options range from writing your words into standard paper all the way to stamping your words into titanium. For smaller amounts of bitcoin, writing your seed phrase on standard paper is just fine, but as soon as you accumulate a larger amount of bitcoin, it starts to make more sense to protect it by writing it down on something stronger.
Here are all of the different seed phrase writing methods and tools to consider for yourself.
Writing Your Seed Phrase On Paper
If you’re new to bitcoin and learning about seed phrases and how they work, writing your seed phrase on paper is a good place to start. You don’t need to start off by stamping your seed phrase into metal until you’re ready to commit to holding a larger amount of bitcoin in that wallet and you have a secure location to store it.
There are a couple of common practices to write a seed phrase on paper; standard paper or a seed phrase notebook.
Standard Paper
The easiest and most common way to write your seed phrase down is with a pen on a standard piece of paper. There’s nothing special or cypherpunk about this method. You’re just writing down 12 words or 24 words on a piece of paper and putting it someplace safe.
While the primary weakness of writing your seed phrase on standard paper is that it can easily be damaged or destroyed, it’s also one of its features. If you’re ever worried about a seed phrase falling into the wrong hands and you need to destroy it, standard paper is easy to shred, burn, soak, divide, or even swallow. In fact, using a “burner wallet” can protect your Bitcoin privacy because you can destroy the seed phrase after the wallet is empty.
For small amounts of bitcoin, a seed phrase written on standard paper is probably just fine until you’re ready to upgrade to something stronger.
Seed Phrase Notebook
If you want a slightly more robust medium to write your seed phrase on, using a dedicated seed phrase notebook is a great next step. I personally use the Shieldfolio Stonebook (Affiliate) because it was made specifically for writing seed phrases as well as a bunch of other relevant info: wallet names, passwords, passphrases, private keys, 2FA codes, notes, and more. All of the pages are water and tear-resistant, so you they offer much greater security than standard paper. The book also looks and feels special, so there’s less likelihood of you accidentally throwing it away — you will know it when you hold it.
Shieldfolio also has a specialized pen, the “ghost pen”, which writes with invisible ink that’s only visible with a blacklight. While I think this is mostly novel rather than practical, it could be a good way to write a down seed phrase if you absolutely needed to write one down in public and you didn’t want any prying eyes or cameras peeking over your shoulder to copy your words.
If you want to buy water resistant paper but would like something more private/discreet, Amazon sells water resistant notepads that you can use as a seed phrase notebook. They are often available for purchase over the counter at army surplus stores and hunting goods stores too.
Writing Your Seed Phrase On Metal
As soon as you’ve stacked enough sats that you don’t feel comfortable keeping your holdings on a piece of paper, the next logical step is to upgrade from paper to a metal seed phrase backup, such as stainless steel or titanium.
You have multiple options; each of which have their own pros and cons. As is true with seed phrase security, complexity is the enemy of security.
For the most comprehensive stress tests of all of the different metal seed phrase backup devices, be sure to check out Jameson Lopp’s seed phrase storage stress tests.
He puts all of the most common seed phrase storage devices under the stress of extreme heat, pressure, and even acid. Some are clearly more robust than others, and you will need to figure out what works best for your own budget, security needs, threat model, and ease of use.
DIY Metal Seed Phrase Backup
In the true nature of open source, collaboration, and building our own tools, bitcoiners have developed a number of different DIY metal seed phrase backup tools. Not only do these DIY methods preserve your privacy, they also tend to be cheaper than purchasing one of the products mentioned below.
Stainless Steel Washers
Stainless steel washers have become one of the most popular methods DIY metal seed phrase backup methods. You can purchase all of the tools and the washers themselves from your local hardware store for about $50-100. It takes about an hour to stamp them all of your seed words into the washers.
Small 3D printed jigs are available to help with the letter/number spacing and alignment. You can also purchase a stamping block or even a small anvil to ensure that you properly stamp each letter into each washer.
Electrical Box Plate Cover
If you’re more interested in preserving your privacy and saving money, you can use an industrial electrical box cover that only costs about $2 at your local hardware store, and then use either a letter/number stamp set or a Dremel to engrave each seed word into the steel.
This method is not only incredibly cost effective but also preserves your privacy. These can also be used to hide your seed phrase “in plain sight” if you use them as actual electrical box covers.
Metal Plate Punch Grid
You can make your own seed plate punch grid, but this requires a bit more expertise and knowledge of the dangers of losing your seed phrase. Instead of the grid being part of the plate itself, you print the grid on a piece of paper or clear plastic and punch your seed words into the steel through the print. When you remove the paper, you are left with a blank piece of steel with approximately 50-100 punch marks on it.
In order to recover the seed phrase, you need to print off a new sheet of paper and match up the grid to the metal plate and then write down the letters on another piece of paper.
Note: Complexity is the enemy of security so I don’t recommend this method for new users. It requires at least an intermediate understanding of the risks of losing your seed words.
Buying A Metal Seed Phrase Backup
Since not everyone is interested in a DIY metal seed phrase backup, there are a number of different companies with solutions that simplify writing your seed phrase for long term storage. For a full overview of all recommendations, read our comprehensive overview of seed phrase storage products.
One Word Per Piece Of Metal
If you don’t want to keep all of your seed words on the same piece of metal, you can stamp a single word on a single piece of metal and then attach them all with a bolt or keyring.
This can add beneficial friction to the process as it requires extra work to decipher in the event that someone discovers your seed phrase.
These companies all produce different products for writing your seed phrase. Some of these may require you to have your own tools to stamp letters/numbers.
Metal Plate Word List
The most robust way to write your seed words is on a single piece of high-gauge stainless steel or titanium. With this method, all of your seed words are stamped/etched into a single piece of metal using either a letter/number stamping kit or a rotary tool such as a Dremel.
This single plate design has consistently proven to be the most resilient method for writing your seed phrase into metal because of the simplicity of it. One single piece of metal with 12-24 words stamped/etched into it. This method consistently demonstrates resilience against stress tests of all kinds.
Here are some of the leading companies that make seed phrase metal plates. Some of these may require to have your own tools to inscribe numbers/letters.
- Hodlinox (Germany)
Steel Plate Seed Phrase Punch Grid
Steel plate punch grids are another popular way to securely write your seed phrase. You simply punch a letter/number grid that corresponds to the first 4 letters of each of your seed words.
Not only are these punch grids made of solid steel, but they also require the least amount of tools and time to punch. The downside to these plates is that they are single-use, so if you mess up a single word, you may need to buy an entirely new plate. That will cost you an additional $30-70 in addition to what you already spent on the first plate. So make sure you are very careful when writing your seed phrase in a steel plate punch grid.
Here are some popular companies that sell these punch grids. You may need to have your own tools to punch grid squares and stamp letters/numbers.
- Punchplate (USA)
- Blockplate (USA)
- Bitplates (UK)
Metal Plate QR Code
If you use a SeedSigner to fully air gap your private keys, then you will probably get tired of manually writing out your seed phrase every time you power up the device to sign a transaction. To ease the seed recovery and signing process, SeedSigner uses a QR code system to the device interface to make it easy to write your seed phrase in QR format. You can print off your own QR code template and then manually (and patiently) color in each grid square.
Once complete, you can then make sure that the device doesn’t have any issues recovering your seed phrase by scanning it. After verifying that it’s correct, the next step is to transfer the same grid to a metal plate QR code layout that has been designed specifically for SeedSigner seed recovery QR codes.
One downside to this method is that if you punch even a single grid square incorrectly, it could potentially inhibit the ability of your SeedSigner to be able to read the QR code. In this case, you would need to purchase an entirely new backup plate. Again: be careful!
Inversely, if you ever need to destroy your seed, the grid punch layout means that if you need to render the plate useless, you can simply punch every square in the grid so that a QR code reader can’t read it.
There is currently only 1 reputable manufacturer of metal plate QR code plates. You may need to have your own tools to punch grid squares and stamp letters/numbers.
- Vulcan 21 (Germany)
Letter + Rail Devices
Standalone letter + rail devices are one of the first designs for a seed phrase storage system. They come with a small steel housing that has rails or slots for small metal tiles. Each tile is inscribed with a letter of the alphabet.
To “write” your seed phrase, you manually insert the first 4 letters of each of your seed words into the housing along the rail to spell out the first 4 letters of each of your seed words. These are all standalone devices so you don’t need any specialized power tools, number/letter punch sets, or hammers. All you need is the device itself and you slide the pre-made letter tiles into where they are supposed to go and then store it in a secure location. Some of these devices use slots that tiles slide into while others have a central rod and the first 4 letters of each of your seed words are stacked on top of each other.
While these devices offer the convenience of being able to be “erased” and reused with another seed phrase, they tend to be the most susceptible to loss from catastrophic damage, such as a house fire or pressure/impact. The letters tend to fall out if the metal warps under extreme heat or pressure.
Here are some of the most well-known letter + rail seed phrase storage devices.
Final Thoughts
Proper seed phrase management is a learning experience, and deciding what medium you’re going to write your seed phrase on is a critical part of that experience. If you’re just starting out, writing your seed phrase on paper or in a seed phrase notebook is just fine. But as soon as you feel that your Bitcoin stack is worth protecting with more security, the obvious next step is to purchase a metal seed phrase backup tool to protect it from physical damage, data loss, and last a lifetime.
As soon as you’ve written down your seed phrase, it’s time to store your seed phrase somewhere that’s immune to attacks.
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