TL;DR (Focused Takeaway)
You should not retain temporary paper copies of your cryptocurrency wallet seed phrase.
The Vault12 digital vault is ideal for permanently and securely storing your seed phrase backups.
It’s easy to discard temporary paper seed phrases, but details are very important.
You can dispose of it by burning it in the kitchen and then washing away the ashes.
It can be disposed of by erasing, shredding, and cutting into pieces, then washing them in water.
Remember that you can access your cryptocurrencies via your wallet seed phrase.
Now you know what your cryptocurrency wallet seed phrase is. The most important Things to protect To protect your crypto assets. You have probably read about the need to use randomness to generate your seed phrase and how important it is to back it up to prevent it from being lost or stolen. This article assumes that you have already decided on which wallet to use, how to generate your seed phrase, and how to back it up. Once you have set up your wallet and have safely and permanently backed up your seed phrase, you now have a piece of paper with a “spare copy” of your seed phrase written on it. How do you dispose of this precious piece of paper?
Why do you carry around a paper copy of your seed phrase?
You probably received a piece of paper with your seed phrase as a result of the seed phrase generation and/or wallet setup steps. By the time your wallet configuration is complete and you have verified that you have a permanent seed phrase backup, you will probably have written your seed phrase down on a piece of paper during that process.
If you were using dice to generate seed words incrementally, you would probably count them one by one, and then write them down on a piece of paper after each selection.
Likewise, if your cryptocurrency wallet chose your seed phrase for you, you probably wrote it down to confirm the phrase again in your wallet during the configuration process. In any case, you probably didn’t write each phrase down directly to permanent storage the moment it was generated. You probably wrote it down offline, on paper, so that you had a copy to help you complete the steps of storing it on a permanent storage medium. You would then store the seed phrase on a permanent medium, such as a Vault12 Digital Vault, a steel card, or a backed-up encrypted file with limited access. You may even have chosen to use two such forms of secure and permanent backup.
Congratulations! But now you have an extra piece of paper that you don’t need. It would be foolish to leave it lying around until it gets stolen or just throw it in the trash.
I plan to destroy my temporary seed phrase copy.
You need a reliable way to destroy the temporary paper copies of your wallet seed stage that are no longer needed. They can never be recovered. Here are a few things to keep in mind when planning your destruction:
- Don’t procrastinate. If you don’t keep your temporary copies in a high-security vault until you destroy them, you risk losing them or accessing them in some other way every time you read them. Proper disposal is not difficult and doesn’t take long. Get the job done.
- Meanwhile, beware of cameras that can record seed stages on paper. Smartphones, laptops, tablets, or security cameras can all capture images of seed phrases without you even realizing it. We’ve become so accustomed to having cameras all around us, especially when they’re part of a home security system, that we don’t realize what’s being recorded. Don’t risk accidentally capturing an image.
- If you wrote your seed phrase on paper, make sure there are no impressions on the page directly below where you wrote it that could be used to detect and reconstruct the word. Imagine the possibilities using your knowledge of spy novels! If necessary, destroy the page below to remove all traces.
- Make sure that no errors occur when backing up your seed phrase to persistent storage.
Now you are ready.
Option #1: Destroy the seed phrase copy with fire and water
Appropriate safety precautions must be carefully observed in all activities involving fire.
You can burn seed words outdoors, but it is better to do it indoors because the space is more controlled. (Outdoors, it is more noticeable, the paper can be half-burned and blown away, or in the worst case, you can accidentally start a bigger fire.)
Inside, you have a seed verse combustion area already prepared: the kitchen stove. When you are ready:
- Know where the fire extinguishers are in case of an emergency!
- Inspect the area around the stove to make sure there are no flammable materials.
- Turn on a ventilation fan near the stove to prevent the smoke detector from going off.
- Have a lighter ready.
- Place a metal pan containing the burning paper on the stove.
- Fold the seed paper in half to create a V-shaped “tent.”
- Place the folded paper in the pan with the pointed side facing up (in an upside-down “V” shape). This allows oxygen to circulate underneath the paper, burning it completely.
- Carefully light the paper and wait until the flame completely burns the paper.
- Wait until the paper cools. Crush the ash.
- To eliminate the possibility of re-assembly, flush the ash down the toilet.
Option #2: Destroy the seed phrase copy by shredding and flushing.
To destroy a paper seed phrase without fire:
- First, completely erase any writing you do with pencil.
- Shred the paper into very small pieces, making sure that only one letter is visible on any piece, even if you can still read it. (You can do this by hand, with scissors, or with a shredder.)
- To eliminate the possibility of reassembling them, flush the shredded pieces down the toilet.
Your Vault12 digital vault is safe and convenient for backing up your seed phrase.
It’s nice to know that your seed phrase is safe and secure without having to keep a paper copy around. Vault12 Digital Vault is the perfect place to store your sensitive digital assets, including your seed phrase. Congratulations on being an informed and responsible owner of your crypto assets.