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Guys I got a stupid question about #bitcoin. Let's say I get a cold wallet, put some sats in there and save the seed phrase. Then a few years down the line the hardware breaks and they don't manufacture that wallet anymore and I can't get a new one. Can I take that seed phrase and restore my funds on ANY other wallet? Even a software one like an app? Or does it have to be the same kind of wallet?

I'm guessing yes, 'cauause bitcoin lives on the bockchain and not in a wallet, but I wanna make sure so I don't risk my money.

#asknostr

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Discussion

Thekid.999 8mo ago

Correct. The seed phrase is what you'll need.

TS 8mo ago

Yes you can, but you have to be sure that you save your seed phrase and know the derivation path. You also have to remember what script type your wallet is using.

TerrestrialOrigin 8mo ago

Ok, so you need 3 things then:

1) seed

2) derivation path

3) script type

Do all wallets list 2 and 3 in their documentation?

TS 8mo ago

I use sparrow wallet mainly. Not sure about others like a trezor or ledger but theoretically you could find it in the settings or a similar menu. For example, in Sparrow wallet on desktop, the wallet has a settings tab which shows all three.

TerrestrialOrigin 8mo ago

Ok, thanks!

Nostr Dev Team 8mo ago

Yes

You can argue some edge cases and things to be wary of, but yes. A properly generated bip-39 based seed (12/24 words) will be recoverable on any decent wallet.

Don't trust though - verify for yourself!

TerrestrialOrigin 8mo ago

Can you have two wallets hooked up to the se seed phrase? 'Cause I'm thinking to verify: put some sats on the wallet you're gonna use and then use another wallet (like an app-based one) to "restore" and see if the same number of sats show up. That would mean there are two identical wallets.

Should I also try making a few transactions on the test wallet? Like send some sats to a 3rd wallet to make sure it all works, or is that not necessary?

Nostr Dev Team 8mo ago

Yes, this would / should work fine, no issues

If it works in 2 (different) wallets there's no need to try a third

TerrestrialOrigin 8mo ago

Thanks!

PK ⚡️ 8mo ago

Yes. Depending on how all in you are (or are not, because you enjoy boating but are terrible at it and have had many accidents where any seed phrase you may have had almost assuredly got lost) it may make sense to buy a couple cold wallets from different manufacturers.

TerrestrialOrigin 8mo ago

And load them eith the same seed phrase so they are backup coppies? Or do you meam split the sats between them?

PK ⚡️ 8mo ago

Many options:

- Same seed phrase - more physical things to track per phrase, more redundancy

- Split - some safety, no redundancy, more complex setup

- Multisig - 2-of-3 with at least 2 hardware vendors, more safety, more redundancy, more complex setup

TerrestrialOrigin 8mo ago

Cool beans. Thanks!