If your hardware wallet is lost, stolen, or disabled by a few incorrect PIN entries or a firmware upgrade, the recovery phrase you enter must be exactly correct.
Otherwise…
Your funds will be lost.
Yes, that means your funds will not be recoverable. They will be gone forever. All of them.
Here are some fictional, yet all too real, user stories:
"Fred recorded his recovery phrase in steel, but skipped a word somewhere. When he forgot his four-digit PIN unlock key for his crypto hardware wallet one day, his wallet locked after three incorrect attempts and Fred could not access his funds."
"Bunny also recorded her recovery phrase in steel - she used the inexpensive and easy Offline Crypto system, CryptoSure, for security and peace of mind. And she took 10 minutes to safely and securely verify the correctness of her recovery phrase, also using CryptoSure, fixing a nearly-invisible typo. Her house burned down with her crypto hardware wallet in it, but Bunny was easily able to get back to normal by using her verified recovery phrase on a brand-new, inexpensive hardware wallet that she bought, without missing a beat."
"Hoss verified his recovery phrase on his personal computer, and the next day when he checked his crypto hardware wallet, he had lost all his savings that were on it. Hoss' personal computer had a virus on it that had stolen the recovery phrase. Instead, Hoss could have simply verified his recovery phrase securely, with Offline Crypto's easy security product, CryptoSure."
"Anastasia also verified her recovery phrase on her personal computer, and enjoyed her hardware wallet for several months, diligently investing a certain amount in crypto every month. Unbeknownst to her, hackers were closely monitoring the wallet, having noticed that its balance was growing. Then one day, Anastasia, just like Hoss above, lost everything that was on that wallet."
"Dewann did the same thing on his phone, and also ended up having his recovery phrase stolen by a virus. As with Hoss, a hacker had restored Dewann's crypto wallet somewhere else, without Dewann knowing about it, and transferred all the funds off of it."
"Fatima felt comfortable keeping her funds on an exchange, instead of keeping it on her own crypto wallet. The exchange got hacked and Fatima lost all of her funds, with the exchange entering bankruptcy."
"John created his own paper crypto wallet, and verified his recovery phrase. When a big flood came, the paper disintegrated and he lost all his funds."
"John's neighbor Rosa also created a "paper" crypto wallet, but recorded it by taking 10 minutes to etch it into steel, using the easy Offline Crypto security system, CryptoSure. She also verified it. After the flood came, Rosa was able to access her funds instantly."
"Nancy was excited to get the firmware upgrade for her crypto hardware wallet. There was data corruption in the update and the hardware wallet company said to try again in 24 hours. Nancy tried again, but since her wallet was now starting from an empty, fresh state, she had to enter her recovery phrase. Unfortunately, she had recorded the phrase incorrectly; she never did figure out what she had done wrong. She lost all of her funds."
"Daniel recorded his recovery phrase in steel, using one of those letter-by-letter systems. Unfortunately, some of the letters shook loose and fell off somewhere after a long road trip, and Daniel also lost his crypto hardware wallet. All funds were lost. Instead, Daniel could have secured his recovery phrase with the easy and fast Offline Crypto etching system included in Offline Crypto's CryptoSure peace-of-mind product."
"When he first set up his crypto hardware wallet, Julio used the on-wallet feature to very securely verify a few of the words of his recovery phrase. But he felt that he still might have written down one of the words incorrectly. So he used Offline Crypto's quick, easy, and ultra-secure verification system, included in Offline Crypto's CryptoSure product, before confirming on his hardware wallet that he had correctly recorded his recovery phrase. Well, sure enough, Julio had made a recording error. So he started fresh, got it correct that time, and proceeded straight way to enjoy using his brand-new, truly secured hardware wallet."
Cryptocurrency exchanges are not secure. For example, in January 2018, there was a theft of approximately $US 500M at cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck. If you have cryptocurrency, hopefully you've pulled any significant amounts off of centralized exchanges by now and are using a Ledger, Trezor, or similar hardware wallet. And hopefully you wrote down the 24 words that make up your recovery phrase.
How do you know what you copied is correct?
Human error can and does happen to the most accurate among us, and often we don't even notice. The words in the recovery phrase must be copied down perfectly. They must be manually copied in the exact order that they were given in, and with correct spelling.
You only get one chance: The most secure cryptocurrency wallets will only show you your recovery phrase once. Did you get it right? How can you know for sure?
Some hardware wallets, such as the Nano Ledger S, will provide the opportunity to verify a few of the recovery words, but not all. Or, they allow you to insecurely and dangerously verify all of the words, exposing your recovery phrase to a vulnerable personal computer or mobile device.
Even if your hardware wallet allows you to verify your phrase after it is first created, how can you properly verify copies of your phrase that you make later (such as steel engravings)? If you copy your phrase and do not subject it to machine verification, you are opening yourself up to human error.
Proper, high-security wallets such as the Nano and Trezor hardware wallets won't show the recovery phrase (also known as recovery words or recovery passphrase) again. You need the right tool to verify your recovery phrase without ever exposing it to the Internet, where it can be stolen.
What if your recovery phrase copy gets destroyed, such as by fire or other physical damage?
Offline Crypto's kits provide the tools you need to securely and conveniently verify and protect your recovery phrase before it's too late. Get the peace of mind of the Wise Old Owl. Ranging from the basic to the ultra-convenient, these kits get the job done!
Consider these crucial advantages over other approaches:
Get peace of mind from the wise old owl!
How do you know what you copied is correct?
Human error can and does happen to the most accurate among us, and often we don't even notice. The words in the recovery phrase must be copied down perfectly. They must be manually copied in the exact order that they were given in, and with correct spelling.
You only get one chance: The most secure cryptocurrency wallets will only show you your recovery phrase once. Did you get it right? How can you know for sure?
Some hardware wallets, such as the Nano Ledger S, will provide the opportunity to verify a few of the recovery words, but not all. Or, they allow you to insecurely and dangerously verify all of the words, exposing your recovery phrase to a vulnerable personal computer or mobile device.
Even if your hardware wallet allows you to verify your phrase after it is first created, how can you properly verify copies of your phrase that you make later (such as steel engravings)? If you copy your phrase and do not subject it to machine verification, you are opening yourself up to human error.
Proper, high-security wallets such as the Nano and Trezor hardware wallets won't show the recovery phrase (also known as recovery words or recovery passphrase) again. You need the right tool to verify your recovery phrase without ever exposing it to the Internet, where it can be stolen.
What if your recovery phrase copy gets destroyed, such as by fire or other physical damage?
Offline Crypto's kits provide the tools you need to securely and conveniently verify and protect your recovery phrase before it's too late. Get the peace of mind of the Wise Old Owl. Ranging from the basic to the ultra-convenient, these kits get the job done!
Consider these crucial advantages over other approaches:
- Validates each letter, unlike shortcut methods used in other approaches
- Has no wireless and no networking, unlike with other approaches
- More convenient than other approaches because you can simply type in your seed phrase using a keyboard
- Unlike with other approaches, can be securely re-used: Simply destroy the inexpensive SD card and use a new one with the Offline Crypto image, available in the Accessories store
Get peace of mind from the wise old owl!