How to Store Your Crypto Private Keys Safely - Multi-Sig Edition
Multi-Sig has traditionally been used with PGP, but our guide will go through a very similar method called Shamir’s Secret Sharing Scheme. You can easily use this encryption by going to the URL below. I have verified that no information is sent back to their server, but I’d recommend disconnecting from the Internet while doing so if you want to be safe.
Doing The Encryption
How it works is, you enter the wallet’s seed. It will split the private key up into your chosen amount of “secrets,” which are essentially encrypted jargon that will later be used to decrypt into your wallet seed. You then choose how many of those secrets are required to decrypt into your wallets seed.
Example) If you split into a total of 3 secrets and require 2 in order to decrypt, you will then be able to use any 2 of those 3 secrets in order to decrypt it into the message, which will be your wallet’s keys/seed in this case.
Once you have done this, it’s time to safely store your secrets!
Storing Your Wallet’s Seed
For all of the methods listed above, aside from storing on an exchange (you do not own the keys when you use an exchange), keeping backups of your recovery seed or mnemonics is a must.
If you chose encrypting your seed with Shamir’s Secret Sharing Scheme, let’s say you used 2-of-3 encryption: you will want to store your keys in separate physical and/or digital locations with no more than 3 (or the amount chosen required to decrypt) within the same proximity. I recommend storing at separate locations as a precaution because if one location becomes compromised, such as your house, then the attacker (be it a burglar or a fire) has the potential to take away access to your keys. If they’re stored separately, then you will retain access to your funds in case of such a compromise. Here’s an example of a 2-of-3 setup.
- Secret 1- Printed on paper. Kept in a relatively safe spot at your home. An extra copy is made on a USB that’s also at your home.
- Secret 2- Printed on paper. Given to the most trusted person in your family/life who doesn’t live at your home. Alternatively, you can keep in a bank safe or other secure location.
- Secret 3- Copy put on Google Drive and an extra on Dropbox (optionally). You can use other alternative cloud providers if you do not agree with the privacy practices of Google or Dropbox.
Note: Do not keep the majority of your secrets (e.g. 2/3 or 3/5) on the same cloud provider. If you do so, that is no better than keeping it in plain text on the cloud provider.
For extra security, you can do a 3-of-5 setup. I would highly recommend implementing these keys/secrets, or the location of these keys/secrets, in your final will. I am not a lawyer or legal expert, so I can’t offer much information on last wills; however, I know enough to highly advise setting one up. Our time on Earth is both precious and scarce.
If you choose not to use encryption, I would recommend storing it in 2 of the safest places you can think of. For example, one in a bank safe and another in your own locked fireproof safe.
Notice: This post is an excerpt from the article "How to Store Your Nano Wallet and Recovery Seed Safely" found on https://xrb.life. I am the rightful owner of this content.