09 · Plebum Dominium
Metal and the map
A small payment has gone out and come back before the plates are stamped. Paper is not the backup. Three titanium plates are required, with one seed stamped on each plate. StampSeed is the recommended kit. Only one plate is included in the kit. Two more plates will have to be purchased additionally. Once all three keys are created and can be reproduced in an offline, air-gapped environment, they can be stamped into titanium. Those plates then have to be kept in three separate places. If two keys are stored in the same house, the separation is gone, and the setup has a single point of failure again.
The plates
- Three titanium plates are required, with one seed stamped on each plate.
- StampSeed is the recommended kit. Only one plate is included in the kit. Two more plates will have to be purchased additionally.
- Cryptotag is the other option. It punches the word numbers, and the kit includes two plates, so one more plate has to be purchased. One method is used on a plate, and the two methods are not mixed.
- Regardless of the product used, three places are required, far enough apart that losing one place does not lose all three keys.
- A photo, a note, a password manager, or an email is not a backup. That copy is a leak.
How to stamp at home
- 01 · An established private setting is required, and there is no camera in the room. The plate sits on a solid block, and each letter is stamped deep.
- 02 · The words are numbered 1 through 24. The plate is labeled quietly, such as S1. A name is not used, and the word Bitcoin is not used.
- 03 · Read the plate back against the paper seed. A mis-stamped word is a bricked backup.
- 04 · Restore from the plate on offline Tails and confirm first addresses.
- 05 · Destroy the paper only after the plate-restore check passes. Destroy the bit notes in the same pass.
The plate that stays home
The 24 words on the home plate, alone, open one small wallet. Leave a little bitcoin there. A thief who loads only those words sees that balance and may stop.
The same words plus a passphrase open a different wallet 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.
What goes on each plate
Plate A
Seed 1 only
Home safe / fire box
Never Seed 2 or 3 here
Plate B
Seed 2 only
Off-site #1
Not the same address as A or C
Plate C
Seed 3 only
Off-site #2
Not the same address as A or B
Print the output descriptor and keep the recovery workbook. Store that packet with Plate A and a copy at one off-site — never beside all three seeds. Hardware wallets do not replace these plates. Once a year at home: restore from plates, receive dust, spend dust, update locations. Write a letter that points to this packet and which two locations are needed — not the words.
Next. Hide the wallet map. The plates are not the map, and the map is not a seed.