Inheritance and 2/3 seed storage
I wanted to write my system for bitcoin inheritance and seed storage that will likely outlive me - the reason why is recently bitkey (squares hardware wallet) announced their inheritance system which is a vast improvement but still has a single point of failure square and the app they maintain though this is still a good thing and will improve the ecosystem and raise awareness there is a cheaper method that is just a secure but doesn’t have a single point of failure.
2/3 seed storage
2/3 seed storage is actually a pretty simple way of splitting up a key into three parts, if you have one part it’s useless, if you have any two parts it’s complete - if one piece is destroyed it doesn’t matter (demo below)
| A |
B |
C |
|---|---|---|
| 1. apple |
2. zipper |
3. dog |
| 4. tree |
5. car |
6. bus |
| 7. banana |
8. motorbike |
9. dune |
| 10. frank |
11. foundation |
12. meditation |
| 13. whiteboard |
14. laptop |
15. books |
| 16. perfume |
17. computer |
18. stone |
| 19. brick |
20. spreadsheet |
21. bird |
| 22. blog |
23. leaves |
24. grass |
This is a seed phrase split up into three parts (a,b,c) - now you can create your 3 parts
(1)
| A |
B |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1. apple |
2. zipper |
|
| 4. tree |
5. car |
|
| 7. banana |
8. motorbike |
|
| 10. frank |
11. foundation |
|
| 13. whiteboard |
14. laptop |
|
| 16. perfume |
17. computer |
|
| 19. brick |
20. spreadsheet |
|
| 22. blog |
23. leaves |
(2)
| B |
C |
|
|---|---|---|
| 2. zipper |
3. dog |
|
| 5. car |
6. bus |
|
| 8. motorbike |
9. dune |
|
| 11. foundation |
12. meditation |
|
| 14. laptop |
15. books |
|
| 17. computer |
18. stone |
|
| 20. spreadsheet |
21. bird |
|
| 23. leaves |
24. grass |
(3)
| A |
C |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1. apple |
3. dog |
|
| 4. tree |
6. bus |
|
| 7. banana |
9. dune |
|
| 10. frank |
12. meditation |
|
| 13. whiteboard |
15. books |
|
| 16. perfume |
18. stone |
|
| 19. brick |
21. bird |
|
| 22. blog |
24. grass |
Now you have your parts, you need at least 2/3 for it to be useful.
distribution
Distribution is pretty simple, keep one part, give a part to whomever you want to be able to claim your bitcoin upon death, give a part to someone you trust (along with instructions to post it to the claimant upon your death).
failure
For this to fail either
- Two out of three parts would have to be destroyed
- The trusted party would have to not post it AND either your part or the claimants would have to be destroyed
- The trusted party cannot figure out how to use a seed phrase (by default you should include instructions i.e NEVER SHARE THE SEED, transfer to a recommended wallet from bitcoin.org then transfer to an exchange and sell)
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