How To Protect Your Seed Phrase From Fire Damage
How do you safely store your cryptocurrency wallet seed phrase? Do you write it on paper, store it in a digital file, or entrust it to more durable metal?
Regarding your method, you must know that storing your seed phrase in the same location where your cryptocurrency wallet is stored is not a good practice.
A natural disaster, like a house fire or a flood, can destroy both the device your wallet is installed into (e.g., PC, mobile phone, or laptop) plus the seed phrase.
On occasions, we don't have any other option than storing our crypto wallet and seed phrase under the same roof. But there is a way to ensure that at least our seed phrase will make it in case of a house fire.
We have exposed a seed phrase to house fire conditions and reviewed how well paper, a digital device, and metal have endured extreme conditions.
Seed Phrase Stainless Steel Engraving as the Most Durable Storage System
We want to make sure that you get the most out of your time, so we better tell you upfront that in case of a house fire, seed phrases stored in paper or digital media will not make it.
Even if protected by fire-resistant materials, paper and digital media cannot endure high temperatures for any period.
But a seed phrase engraved on high-quality stainless steel, if correctly protected, shows unparalleled resistance to very high temperatures.
Because an image is worth a thousand words, please have a look at the video we have made about this topic:
There is no need to watch the whole video if, for example, you have no time or are not interested in the metal engraving process. You can directly skip to the part of the video where we expose the seed phrases to fire or where we review the results.
Below, we describe the topics you can explore in the video and to what minute you need to fast forward to find them:
00:26 - Material and tools used for seed phrase engraving
We used an engraving pen to engrave our seed phrase into stainless steel washers and a high-quality stainless steel plate for this experiment.
00:54 - Seed Phrase engraving into stainless steel washers
First, we show how we engrave our abbreviated seed words into stainless steel washers (find the BIP39 word list, including the abbreviated form here, plus some other relevant information)
03:05 - Seed Phrase engraving to high-quality stainless steel metal sheet
We repeat the engraving process, but this time to high-quality 304 stainless steel.
04:40 - Preparing Paper, USB Flash Drive, and Stainless Steel Seed Phrases for fire exposure
In addition to the stainless steel engraved seed phrases, we will also expose seed phrases stored in paper and digital media to house fire conditions. But first, we prepare our paper and digital media seed phrases by storing them in a fire-resistant envelope.
05:35 - Exposing the Seed Phrases to fire and temperatures above 800 degrees Celsius (1400 degrees Fahrenheit)
Then, we expose all the seed phrases to a fire that, on average, burns at temperatures of around 800 degrees Celsius.
06:51 - Exploring the results
We review the results after an hour in those fire and high-temperature conditions. Which, overall, are very disappointing:
- The paper seed phrase has become dust
- The USB flash drive is unusable, so access to the seed phrase is no longer possible.
- The seed phrase words engraved on stainless steel washers are unrecognizable.
- The seed phrase words engraved on the stainless steel sheet are unrecognizable under the rust accumulated over the metal sheet.
10:05 - Apply the lesson learned and get ready to repeat the experiment
Our initial experiment and research showed us that even high-quality stainless steel can corrode when exposed to a corrosive environment. Please look at our research before committing your seed phase to stainless steel. So, for the second experiment, we encased our stainless steel engraved seed phrases in a protective stainless steel box before exposing it to fire and high temperatures.
10:50 - We expose the stainless steel engraved seed phrases to fire and high temperatures for a second time.
Once again, we repeated the experiment of exposing the metal-engraved seed phrases to house fire conditions.
11:22 - Unvelining the results
This time, the results are much more promising than during the first experiment, and we learn that:
- Procuring high-quality stainless steel is crucial to ensure the survival of the engraved seed phrase. The seed phrase engraved on poor-quality stainless steel washers is barely recognizable.
- Our seed phrase, engraved in high-quality stainless steel and encased into a stainless steel box, has survived exposure to fire and high temperatures with flying colors.
13:07 - Comparing the results
In the last few minutes of this video, we compare the results from the first and second experiments. It is always good to have a complete overview.
How do you protect your cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases?
Do you think that seed phrase stainless steel engraving is worth the effort, time, and additional cost of the materials?
If you found the video interesting and want us to make another one about seed phrase embossing or repeat the experiment in other conditions, please comment on the 'How To Secure Your Crypto Seed Phrase: Stainless Steel Engraving' YouTube video.
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Congratulations on completing this 5-minute crypto and digital safety power-up.
We hope this 5 minutes read was worth the time and that you have learned some valuable information.
