On the table
- Five casino dice. You must be able to read every face.
- Pencil, and extra copies of the recording grid.
- A closed door. No camera in the room.
At-home self-custody · no hardware-wallet company
Plebum Dominium
(PLAY-boom doh-MIN-ee-oom)
Absolute Ownership by the Common People
Plebum dominium is a goal, not a product. “Pleb” is an everyday Bitcoiner. “Dominium” is Latin for absolute ownership. This site is the how-to. A company, an app, or a custodian can fail the people who handed it the coins. The keys are made in private.
A computer that forgets the session. Dice you can see. Metal in three houses. Hardware signers are optional later — and only from more than one maker.
PLEBUM // AUTOPLAY_TIMELINE
M1 / M6
Before you start
Materials needed
Gather these before the first roll.
One computer
- Boot 1 stays on the network. It only watches. It never holds a seed.
- Boot 2 is a Tails USB on that same computer, with networking off.
- A second USB carries verified files and payment files only.
Files, from their own sites
These are the files the process runs on. Check each one before it is copied.
- Tails
- Sparrow 2.5.5 (required version)
- Electrum
- Ian Coleman page
- Dice converter
Metal
- Three titanium plates. One seed on each plate.
- With a StampSeed stamp kit you get the first plate. Choose the 24-word plate. Purchase two additional 24-word plates with that kit.
- Cryptotag is the other option. It punches the word numbers, and the kit includes two plates. Buy one more. Use one method on a plate. Do not mix them.
- Three places to keep them, far enough apart that one loss is not all three.
Sheets in the packetThe presentation teaches the why. These sheets are what you take behind a closed door.
- TTermsRead this first. The words on every later sheet.
- 03The whole jobTick a line only after that sheet is finished.
- 05Check the filesExact files. Fingerprint. Delete the download if it fails.
- 04Two bootsAfter the files pass. Label the USBs. Networking off first.
- 06Make the three keysKeep 1–4. Shutdown between keys. Two tools must match.
- 07Build the 2-of-3Sparrow 2.5.5. One seed per boot. Then the wallet, no seed loaded.
- 08Practice spendDust in. Seed 1 signs. Shutdown. Seed 2 signs. Broadcast.
- 09Metal and three housesStamp, read back, restore from the plate, then split.
- 11Hide the wallet mapEncrypt the descriptor. The passphrase is not a seed.
- 12If I am goneTwo plates, two devices, the map. No words on a phone.
- 13If you get stuckThe questions that stop people, and how to continue.
- 14If someone challenges itThree hard questions. The short true answers.
Optional
Not required to start. A signer can come later, and only from more than one maker. It does not create the key.
Hardware signersSeedSigner first. The others are the same kind of tool.
The Process From Start to Finish
1WhyThese are the single points of failure. Any one of them can lose the coins.
One seed
One list of words that can spend alone. A leak, a fire, or one demand takes the coins.
An app or an exchange
The company holds the keys. A login is not a key. The company can refuse the withdrawal, or close.
One place
One house, one drawer, one safe. Fire, water, or a theft at that address takes every copy kept together.
One device, one company
A hardware wallet is a tool. If it is the only copy, the coins depend on that device and on the company that made it.
A cloud or a computer
A photo, a note, a password manager, an email. One hacked account is the whole seed.
2Two bootsSame computer. The Tails USB is the offline machine.
3Check filesReal sites only. Two tools must agree.
Their own sites
Tails, Sparrow, Electrum, and the Ian Coleman page. No shortened link. No look-alike download page.
Hash and signature
Check both on the online computer before a file is copied to the USB. If either fails, stop and download again.
Two tools
The same 24 words, and later the same addresses, in two programs. If they disagree, stop.
Then the USB
Run verify_kit.sh first. It checks hashes only, not signatures.
- Official files
4Make keysKeep 1–4. Three lists of 24 words.
How the checksum is checked
The 24 words are not 24 free choices. The last word carries a short check so a copying mistake is caught before you stamp metal. Three ways to validate it. Use at least two.
Two tools, same words
Run the dice bits through the verified converter, then through the offline Ian Coleman page. Both must print the same 24 words. If they differ, stop. Do not pick the prettier list.
Let the wallet refuse a bad list
On Tails, networking off, Sparrow or Electrum will open a valid list and reject a broken one. If it will not open, stop. Do not change a word to force it. That is how a seed gets destroyed.
Check the math yourself
Each word is 11 bits. Twenty-four words are 264 bits. The first 256 are the entropy from the dice. The last 8 are the checksum. Hash those 256 bits with SHA-256. The first 8 bits of that hash must equal the last 8 bits in the list. Only word 24 can change to make that true. You do not choose it.
The converter in this kit appends that checksum after you have verified the file. The hand check is so you know what it did.
5Two of threeAny two keys spend. One key alone cannot.
6Practice spendDust in. Two keys sign. Dust out.
7Metal + mapThree plates. Three addresses.
The home plate
The 24 words alone open one wallet. Leave a little bitcoin there. A thief who takes only that plate and loads the words sees that balance and may stop.
The same words plus a passphrase open a different wallet. Use that one for modest spending. Write the passphrase down. Do not stamp it on the plate. Do not keep it in the same drawer.
Those words are still one key of the long-term fund. The fund needs any two plates. Do not put a passphrase on the 2-of-3.
8House rulesFive walls. Everything else is furniture.
The bench names for this same method
Tails with networking Disabled. 2-of-3 native SegWit (P2WSH), path m/48'/0'/0'/2'. Unsigned payment file = PSBT. Wallet map = output descriptor. Public watch key = xpub. Dice bits follow the unbiased 1–4 map; extra bits fold with SHA-256. Verify hashes and signatures before anything runs.
TermsThe hard word, then what it means.Print one page
- entropy
- Randomness you made with dice.
- airgap / Tails, networking off
- A computer that cannot phone home this session.
- 2-of-3 native SegWit (P2WSH)
- A vault that needs any two of three keys.
- m/48'/0'/0'/2'
- Sparrow fills this in. Confirm it. Do not type it.
- PSBT
- An unsigned payment file on the USB.
- descriptor / xpub
- The wallet map. It watches the money. It cannot spend it.
- BIP39
- The 24-word list.
- hash
- The file’s fingerprint. The site prints one. Your computer prints one. They must match, every character.
- signature
- The project saying that fingerprint is theirs. If the check does not pass, stop.
- zero-trust
- Do not take a company’s word for the key.
Download the kit
Download the whole kit
verify_kit.sh checks pinned SHA-256 hashes. It does not check signatures.
Individual files
- 00_Project_Overview.pdfTeam sheet. Scan the QR for the live site.
- 01_Slides.pptxThe original Plebum Dominium presentation.
- 02_Print_Packet.pdfTitle, contents, and all handouts. One staple.
- Handouts_No_Cover.pdfBench sheets without the cover.
- 03_Checklist.pdfBuy, prepare, and work in order.
- 04_Airgap.pdfOne computer. Two boots. Networking off.
- 05_Verify.pdfHashes, signatures, rule of two.
- 06_Dice.pdfUnbiased 1–4 mapping. Print extras.
- 07_Sparrow.pdfLaunch offline. Sign one PSBT.
- 08_Signing.pdfWatch-only → two Tails sessions → broadcast.
- 09_Titanium.pdfStamp, read back, three locations.
- 11_Encryption.pdfEncrypt the descriptor. Do not write xpubs in plain text.
- 12_Inheritance.pdfTwo plates, two devices, the map. No words on a phone.
- 13_FAQ.pdfWhat this is, and what your family does.
- 14_Speaker.pdfThree questions. The short true answers.
- verify_downloads.pyOffline. OK, or delete the file.
- verify_kit.shHash check only. Not signatures.
- 10_Recovery.xlsxPlaces and rehearsal dates. Never seed words.
- bip39_dice_converter.pyOffline only. Hash against VERIFY.md first.
- VERIFY.mdPublished SHA-256 for both scripts.
- README.mdProject map and house rules.