Instructions
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- Agree that you alone are responsible for the success of your effort, and that TreeLogic Software Engineering offers no warranty or guarantee, implied or otherwise, for this product or its performance or correctness, and is not liable for any loss sustained in the use of this product.
- You can do this. :)
- If you get stuck, try asking on Reddit.com, or contact us to arrange a support session.
- Ensure that you have a supported hardware wallet and one supported crypto on your hardware wallet: Check against this complete list.
- Optional (you can skip this step completely): If you want to re-use your sd card after you have verified your recovery passphrase, ensure that you either have a working Raspberry Pi Zero sd card first or alternatively clone the one that came in your Offline Crypto raspberry pi zero first, so that you can have an sd card to run your Raspberry Pi Zero from while you use the Linux "shred" program to securely erase it (of course, you can always buy a fresh one here).
- The cloning option: Cloning has the advantage of allowing you to start with a fresh Crypto Verifier sd card if you choose to destroy or shred (bit-shred) your sd card after verifying your recover phrase. Cloning can be done easily with the Etcher program on full-featured Debian-flavor Linux, such as Debian or Ubuntu. Etcher is available in the Ubuntu Software Store or from the link to Etcher above. To get the sd card out of your raspberry pi, first discharge any static electricity from yourself and then see this how-to video. Then, on a desktop or laptop Linux machine with an sd card reader that has the sd card you want to clone inserted, using the Linux command `sudo fdisk -l`, find the device (in the following example, it's /dev/sdc, but it might be different for your case) of your sd card reader/writer. Make an `.img` file from it with this command (being sure to change the device name as needed): `sudo dd if=/dev/sdc of=./offline-crypto-raspbian-2017-11-29.img`, saving the '.img' file anywhere on the machine's hard drive. Finally, use the Etcher program's nice gui to "burn" the image (.img) file to a second sd card of the same or greater capacity.
- If you have not already, remove the Raspberry Pi Zero computer from the case (it's about the same size as a credit card, although narrower and thicker, with a white top and red raspberry-colored bottom).
- Set the Raspberry Pi Zero computer up with (possibly in your kit if depending on the kit model) keyboard, mouse, and mini-screen (or use a different screen), and plug it in, but do not at any time connect it to the Internet (the sd card is already inside the Raspberry Pi Zero, and this type of Raspberry Pi Zero has no wireless or bluetooth; that is a different model called the Raspberry Pi Zero Wireless).
- Note that although you will be opening a web browser in the next step when you open the secure verifier program, named "bip39-standalone.html", there is no Internet connection on the Raspberry Pi computer. This is in order to provide the required security.
- On the Raspberry Pi Zero computer desktop screen, double-click the shortcut launcher icon named "bip39-standalone.html" on the desktop, at the top-left of the screen, just below the trash-can icon. It has a globe logo on it. Please be patient - the small Raspberry Pi computer will take a little while to open the web page: Wait until the "Loading ..." message disappears from the top of the screen (about a minute).
- Set up: Follow the on-screen instructions and use the on-screen form controls to enter your recovery passphrase and generate receiving hash addresses to verify:
- Click the language that your "mnemonic" - your recovery phrase that you want to check here - is in on the form field at top-left that is labeled, "Mnemonic Language".
- Now, you'll manually enter your recovery phrase (you won't generate a random mnemonic) in the text field labeled, "BIP39 Mnemonic", at top-left.
- Before taking it out to read, ensure that it is not in the view field of any video recording devices that may be installed at your location, so that its security is maintained against theft.
- Go ahead and carefully type it in.
- Wait for the "Calculating..." message to disappear at the top of the screen (about one minute).
- Skip the next field, the text field labeled, "BIP39 Passphrase (optional)", because it doesn't apply to the current use-case. Also skip the next text field, labeled "BIP39 Seed", for the same reason.
- Check the checkbox above that is labeled "Hide all private info", at mid-top-left, to keep onlookers to your screen from seeing your private data. (It must be unchecked in order for you to type in your recovery phrase, but you can check it after you are done typing it in).
- Now, select the coin type (such as BitCoin, LiteCoin, etc.) you are using from the drop-down list labeled "Coin". As with the previous step, wait until the "Calculating..." message both appears at the top of the screen and then, after about 30 seconds, disappears.
- Verification: In this step, you will verify that one of the "receiving" hash addresses, which are the addresses shown in the "Derived Addresses" section on the verifier app, is exactly the same as one of the receiving hash addresses for your cryptocurrency coins or tokens as shown on your hardware wallet for the current coin type (e.g., Bitcoin or Litecoin, or any of the other coins on the list of supported coins).
- It is generally easiest to use a Bitcoin (or Litecoin) address, because documentation on the addresses used by those coins is easy to find and the format does not change very often.
- If you don't have any completed transactions for the type of coin or token that you want to check, you can easily generate a "receive" address to check against the verifier by doing a "Receive" action on your hardware wallet (you can cancel out of it later).
- Note that rarely, the address format used by a coin or token will change, as directed by the community behind the coin or token. For example, for LiteCoin, the newer addresses start with an "M". If you have one of those "receive" addresses, you will have to take the extra step of selecting the BIP49 tab, located directly under the "Derivation Path" heading on the software user interface, and directly to the right of the default BIP44 tab. Also, some bitcoin wallets require the BIP44 tab to be selected. For bitcoin addresses that start with a "3" or other coin addresses that start with an "S", use the BIP141 tab.
- It is possible that your wallet will show a "remainder" address. If you don't see a matching address on the verifier, try setting "External/Internal" to "1" (use no quote marks in the entry in the text field on the verifier app). The verifier will automatically re-compute (takes a minute).
- For more details, see the "Tab:" entry under "LTC SegWit" in this discussion).
- If there is a match, your recovery phrase is now securely verified to be correct! Congratulations, you have now achieved your goal!
The Receiving Address, as Computed on the Raspberry Pi Zero
The Receiving Address, as shown on a Ledger Nano S Wallet, for LiteCoin.
Please be sure to note that cryptos other than LiteCoin may work differently, although of those cryptos listed on the "How It Works" page, only Stellar differs. For details, see this Reddit discussion. To sum up: All the cryptos listed on the "How It Works" page use the "BIP44" tab (located underneath the heading, "Derivation Path" on the verifier program) except for the following: BTC SegWit format (uses BIP49 tab), BCH Main format (uses BIP32 tab), LTC SegWit format (uses BIP49 tab), ETC (uses BIP32 tab), ETH (uses BIP32 tab). Note that in the case of LiteCoin, often, users wil be using it in the Legacy format.
Final Steps
Final Steps
- Clean Up: You must remove the possibility that your recovery phrase could be read from the Raspberry Pi Zero computer or a different computer. You have two options:
- Option 1: This is the simplest option of the three listed here: Destroy (such as with a hammer, and using safety precautions such as gloves and safety glasses) the Raspberry Pi Zero, making sure to crush the sd card inside, and dispose of responsibly.
- Option 2: Unplug the Raspberry Pi Zero, first discharge any static electricity from yourself, then open the case of the Pi Zero (how-to video), and then remove and destroy the included sd card, and dispose of responsibly.
- Option 3: Just like Option 2, except that instead of destroying the included sd card, you can re-use it at your own risk. If you choose to re-use the sd card, you can clear Saved Form Data from the web browser using the browser's Settings dialog. But without using a program such as shred, that data could still be relatively easily retrieved. To use shred, restart your Raspberry Pi Zero with a different sd card in it, and an external sd card reader/writer attached via usb. Insert the sd card into the external sd card reader/writer. Use `sudo fdisk -l` on the Raspberry Pi Zero Terminal program (command line) to find the device name of the sd card reader/writer (in this case, it's /dev/sdb, but it might be different for your case). Finally, issue this command: `sudo shred -vfz /dev/sdb` (being sure to change the device name as needed) and wait for the rather lengthy process (at least 20 minutes) to complete. For more details, see this how-to.
- For owners of Deluxe and Super Deluxe kits: Use the included engraving tool, following applicable safety precautions (such as wearing safety glasses) and use instructions as detailed in the parts product information located in the zip-lock bag underneath the case cover, to engrave your passphrase on the included stainless steel plate. Simply use very light pressure on the engraver, letting it do the work. It's just like writing with a pen or pencil.