TL;DR (Focused Takeaway)
You should not keep temporary paper copies of your cryptocurrency wallet seed phrase.
Vault12 Digital Vault is ideal for permanently and securely storing seed phrase backups.
It’s easy to throw away temporary paper seed stationery, but the details are very important.
You can burn it in your kitchen and then wash and dispose of the ashes.
You can clear, shred, then wash the pieces and dispose of them.
Remember that using your wallet seed phrase will give you access to your cryptocurrencies
Now you have your cryptocurrency wallet seed phrase most important What to protect To protect your cryptocurrency assets. I’ve read about the need to use randomness to generate seed phrases and how important it is to back them up so they don’t get lost or stolen. This article assumes that you have already decided which wallet to use, how to generate your seed phrase, and how to back it up. Once you’ve set up your wallet and backed up your seed phrase securely and permanently, you now have a piece of paper with a “spare copy” of your seed phrase scrawled on it. What should we do with that precious paper?
Why do I have a paper copy of my seed phrase?
You probably have a piece of paper containing your seed phrase as a result of the seed phrase creation and/or wallet setup steps. By the time you’ve completed configuring your wallet and backing up your permanent seed phrase, you’ve probably written down your seed phrase on paper along the way.
If you had used dice to generate seed words incrementally, you would have counted and selected them one by one, then captured each word on paper.
Likewise, if your cryptocurrency wallet allows you to choose a seed phrase, it’s likely that you wrote it down during the configuration process to double-check those words in your wallet. In any case, you probably wouldn’t have written each word directly to persistent storage the moment it was created. I wrote them down on paper offline to have a copy to help me complete the steps to save the words. Permanent storage media. The seed phrase was then stored on a persistent medium such as a Vault12 Digital Vault, a steel card, or a backup encrypted file with limited access. You may have chosen two forms of safe and permanent backup.
congratulation! But now you also have extra paper that you don’t need. It would be foolish to leave it waiting for it to be stolen or just throw it in the trash.
We plan to destroy copies of the temporary seed phrase.
Now you need a reliable way to destroy temporary paper copies of the wallet seed stage that are no longer needed so they can never be reconstructed. Here are a few things to keep in mind when planning to destroy it:
- Don’t put off tasks. Unless you keep temporary copies in a secure safe until they are destroyed, you run the risk of losing or otherwise accessing them for every moment they remain readable. Doing it right isn’t difficult and doesn’t take much time. Complete the task.
- Meanwhile, keep an eye out for cameras that can record the seeding stage on paper. Your smartphone, laptop, tablet, or security camera can all capture images of your seed phrase without your knowledge. We’ve all become so accustomed to having cameras around us all the time. Especially if the camera is part of a home security system, you won’t be aware of what’s being recorded. Don’t risk accidentally capturing an image.
- If you have your seed phrase written down on a piece of paper, make sure there are no impressions underneath the page you wrote that can be used to detect and reconstruct the word. Use your spy novel knowledge to imagine the possibilities! If necessary, we will also destroy the pages below to remove all traces.
- Be sure to check that no errors occurred when backing up your seed phrases to persistent storage.
Now you are ready.
Option #1: Destroy a copy of the seed phrase with fire and water.
Appropriate safety precautions must be carefully taken in all activities involving fire.
Although you can burn seed fries outdoors, it is better to do so indoors as the space is more controllable. (Outdoors, it will be more visible, the paper may partially burn and fly away, or in the worst case scenario, you may accidentally start a bigger fire.)
Inside, there is a kitchen stove, a pre-made seed stationery burning area. When you’re ready:
- Just in case, know where the fire extinguisher is!
- Check the area around the stove to make sure there are no flammable materials.
- To prevent smoke detectors from going off, turn on an exhaust fan near the stove.
- Get your lighter ready.
- Place the metal pan you will use to hold the burning paper on the stove.
- Fold the seed stationery paper in half to create a V-shaped “tent.”
- Place the folded paper in the pan, pointed side up (shaped like an upside-down “V”). This allows oxygen to circulate underneath the paper and burn completely.
- Carefully light the paper and wait until the flame is completely extinguished.
- Wait until the paper cools. Crush the ashes.
- Flush the ashes down the toilet to avoid any possibility of reassembly.
Option #2: Destroy copies of the seed phrase by shredding and flushing.
To destroy paper seed phrases without fire:
- First, if you wrote in pencil, erase it completely.
- Tear the paper into very small pieces so that no more than one letter is visible per piece, even if any letter is legible. (You can use your hands, scissors, or a grinder.)
- Flush any broken pieces down the toilet to avoid any chance of them being reassembled.
Vault12 Digital Vault is safe and convenient for seed phrase backup.
It’s a good feeling to know that your seed phrase is safe and secure without having to leave a paper copy behind. Vault12 Digital Vault is the perfect place to store sensitive digital assets, including seed phrases. Congratulations on becoming an informed and responsible holder of your cryptocurrency assets.