Thankfully, self-custodying your bitcoin has never been easier. Thanks to improvements in user experience, large amounts of educational materials, and products that are designed to make everything easy, now the only concern a bitcoiner should have is to safely store a private key. But this can still lead to many mistakes.

This is why I’ve decided to ask my Nostr and Twitter/X followers a very simple question “what is the worst way to self-custody your bitcoin?”. Had I asked about the best, it’s likely that I would have triggered marketing departments that promote their own product/service. Or I would have ignited tribalistic wars between hardware wallet manufacturers. But since this is about the worst type of setup, everyone jumped in to provide funny or else depressingly real answers about self-custody.

As a way of honoring these efforts, I’ve recorded a video in which I also add a little bit of commentary on these particular situations. If this catches on, I might start an entire series based on social media answers. “21 answers” might be a good name, though I’m still considering it.

Anyway, I hope that you will enjoy this video and you’ll learn something new about self-custodying Bitcoin. If anything, this can help you avoid some mistakes that others have made.

Also, if you want to support me in my quest to get a Supra (the pleb’s Lambo), there are some affiliate links that you can use for products that you can use to improve your self-custody setup: so if you’re buying a Cryptosteel to put your seed phrase in cold storage, you can use promo code BTCTKVR to get a 10% discount. Also, if you want to buy a BitBox02 hardware wallet, promo code BTCTKVR will get you a 5% discount.

I also have an affiliate link for Trezor, though there are no special discounts that you can get for your purchase. It’s more like an indirect donation. Likewise, check out Satodime if you want to turn your BTC into a bearer asset – it’s like the Opendime, but cooler.

And if you want to get a printed copy of this year’s BTCTKVR magazine, you can find one at ShopInBit (use promo code BTCTKVR for €5 discount and pay with bitcoin to get another 3% off) and LNBits.

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Time stamps:

01:42 – Swallowing your backup (Evan Prim on Nostr) 

02:53 – Toyota Supra 

03:56 – Saving your file in a Google Drive (Aron on Nostr) 

05:55 – Memorizing your private key (Carlos Drive on Nostr) 

08:10 – 999 of 999 multisig (Kruw) 

09:45 – Allowing banks or politicians to hold your keys (Lord Snooty of Bitcoin) 

10:33 – Brain wallet (Phil Geiger) 

11:13 – Saving your seed phrase in a tweet (Corntango) 

11:57 – Card wallets? (Joko) 

13:33 – Libbitcoin (Gthmg)

14:48 – Tattooing your seed phrase to your forehead (John W. Ratcliff) 

15:17 – Being in a rush to self-custody (Joe Nakamoto) 

17:20 – Seed phrase words on different continents (NeedCreations is Stacking) 

19:33 – Leaving your seed phrase in the car’s glove box (R5ZM2) 

20:24 – Coinbase wallet (Alex343) 

21:04 – Any hot wallet? (AJ Nobody) 

22:28 – The issue with hardware wallets 

24:57 – Seed phrase written on fiat cash (Mission Accomplished) 

25:21 – Brain wallet for a short amount of time? (J3) 

27:21 – Overcomplicate your opsec (Madosatoshist) 

27:43 – Printing the blockchain (Catalin Bot) 

29:15 – Ledger stealing your coins? (Tsartoshi) 

30:37 – Overcomplicate security (Yoshi HODL) 

30:46 – Picture of seed phrase on your phone (Bitcoinator 13%) 

33:07 – Coinbase again (Seth Meister) 

33:14 – Girlfriend’s Coinbase account (Reptiloshi) 

33:18 – Opendime behind your ear (Icosanaut) 

34:14 – Security by obscurity (The Italian Stallion) 

36:35 – Handing your keys to your girlfriend (RaulTweet) 

37:53 – Losing your bitcoin like Peter Schiff (Ray Rizzling) 

39:25 – Wrap up, BTCTKVR magazine 

41:30 – Why you should listen to Bitcoin Takeover podcast to learn more about hardware wallets

Earlier this month, I’ve read the news about the launch of Trezor Suite – and the announcement took me by surprise, as I have been using and paying close attention to the development since the fall of 2020. I had no idea that they would take the wallet out of beta so soon, so I became excited to discover which features have been added to accompany this launch.

The first time when I heard about Trezor Suite’s development cycle was in November 2019, when I reviewed the most popular hardware wallets on the market for Bitcoin Magazine. At the time, I was a bit disappointed that Trezor didn’t have a desktop application just like Ledger’s Live and BitBox02’s BitBoxApp. But now Trezor users finally benefit from an experience which is comparable to the one offered by competitors Ledger Live and BitBoxApp.

During the interview I’ve recorded with Trezor co-founder and CEO Slush, he explained that Suite is a major step towards eliminating phishing attacks and increasing the transparency of the company’s software. Not only that, but there are lots of power user features that can be found on the roadmap: Coin Control (UTXO management), CPFP (Child Pays for Parent, a way of boosting the fee of Bitcoin transactions), a password manager, and even Chaumian CoinJoins.

To better understand the features of Trezor Suite and how it compares to Ledger Live and BitBoxApp, I’ve put together the table below. Criteria include some of the most interesting Bitcoin features which help users boost their financial privacy and sovereignty.

Trezor Suite: What I Like

Now that Trezor Suite is the default onboarding application, SLIP39 (Shamir Secret Sharing, or Shamir Backup) gets a more central role. When you perform your initial setup with a Trezor Model T, you get to choose between a standard BIP39 configuration or a Shamir Backup. And this is very important, as Trezor’s breakthrough empowers individuals to perform a more complex backup (20 words, 1 to 20 shares of which an arbitrary number is required to recover) without paying the transaction fees of multisigs and without leaving a lot of data on the public blockchain (both issues will eventually get fixed by Taproot).

Furthermore, I was impressed with how easy it is to connect your own Bitcoin full node as a backend for Trezor Suite. As initially configured, you connect to Trezor’s proprietary blockchain explorer. And the fact that you use Tor by default is also of great significance, as it becomes impossible for Trezor or an intermediary to associate your real IP address with your Bitcoin transactions.

What I also like is the fact that new users get encouraged to set up a passphrase. For the longest time, the passphrase (or the 13th or 25th word) has been Trezor’s response to the threats of physical seed phrase extraction (we shouldn’t forget about Kraken Security Labs’ hacking of a Trezor that wasn’t secured by a passphrase). Therefore, reminding users to set up the passphrase is the wisest approach. I wish there could be a way to type on the Trezor One, though.

To connect Trezor Suite to your full Bitcoin node (or Electrum server, which is usually your node’s IP address with the 50002 port if you set up this feature on something like RaspiBlitz), you go to Crypto -> Put your mouse pointer on the BTC ticker -> Click on “Advanced Settings”. By default, the app connects to https://btc1.trezor.io and its other mirrors. But if you add the IP address of your own node, you should become fully sovereign and independent of Trezor’s backend. Note: according to the Suite roadmap, the feature to connect to your own Electrum server will get added after August 11th 2021. So an upcoming update should expand Blockbook connectivity to also include Electrum servers and Bitcoin nodes.

When designing the Trezor Suite experience, the developers have definitely taken cues from Wasabi wallet. Because you get a privacy button which hides your coin amounts just like Wasabi’s Lurking Wife Mode. The fact that CoinJoins are on the roadmap for the app also suggests that the Czech company is very much concerned with privacy and fungibility.

Additionally, I very much appreciate the fact that bech32 Bitcoin addresses are now being used by default. Now users will pay smaller fees and benefit from easier address verification due to the lack of upper case letters (everything is lower case, so you don’t run into situations where you’re not sure if the character is a 0 [zero] or a capital O).

I also like the fact that Trezor Suite integrates both the Trezor Wiki and a news section which highlights some of the most recent blog posts made by the company’s content creators. It certainly helps newbies find a friendly interface to learn about how Bitcoin works. Furthermore, the external links are .onion addresses by default: which means that you access the pages with the greatest amount of privacy, via Tor browser (which you should definitely install).

The easy access to helpful resources is also excellent. Click the lightbulb in the bottom-right corner and you have everything you need to know about how Suite works, how you can protect your privacy, how you should secure your coins, and more. Even if you don’t know anything after the initial setup, you get a useful crash course that I wholeheartedly recommend to all users.

Trezor Suite: What I Don’t Like

During my review, I’ve encountered a few issues. In one case, I removed the Trezor One cable to avoid typing the PIN and I was able to reconnect by bypassing the PIN requirement altogether. Naturally, I would have had to type the PIN if I wanted to make a significant change or send a transaction. But through this experience (documented around the 11-minute mark in my video), I’ve learned that the device PIN doesn’t also protect the Trezor Suite UI. For this case, there will eventually be a separate password.

Also, I don’t like the fact that the standard backup (BIP 39) doesn’t offer the option to generate 24 words. By default, you only get 12 words – which is enough in a situation where your second choice is a Shamir backup. If you want a 24-word configuration, you will have to turn to a more advanced wallet like Electrum. In comparison, Ledger and BitBox02 offer 24-word backups in their apps.

Additionally, the backup verification process only makes you check 3 random words out of 12. Sure, this can be useful to spot mistakes and it’s definitely a faster approach. But to help users better understand the importance of backup and verification, I tend to think that all words should get verified. Once again, Ledger does it with 24 words and less of a friendly interface (the two buttons can be a nightmare which make the process unnecessarily long).

Though Trezor Suite was taken out of beta, there are still improvements to be made. So I’m going to add an extra section which features my opinions or recommendations (which don’t include the ones I already wrote here).

Trezor Suite: Potential Improvements

Trezor is one of the devices which enabled and popularized the multisig setups. And it’s unfortunate that this feature gets no love from official software releases, while users turn to more advanced wallets like Electrum, Specter or Sparrow to unlock all the advanced features.

On one hand, I can understand that Trezor Suite is for beginners. On the other hand, I wish there was an all-in-one official software which unlocked the entire potential of the hardware wallets – including longer seed phrases, 33-word Shamir backups (or Super Shamir), multisigs, and the ability to easily bump your transaction fee (CPFP is on the Suite roadmap).

I also wish there was some sort of interface which enabled the Trezor One to have a keyboard for typing passphrases. Trezor is known for pioneering the famous scrambled on-screen keyboard which you press with your mouse. Why not do the same for writing your passphrase, instead of asking One users to type on their potentially-compromised keyboards?

Though I’ve previously praised Trezor’s inclusion of full node connectivity, I wish they could take cues from Wasabi and make the software connect automatically to a full node that’s running in the background (as in Bitcoin Core running on the same computer) or on the same local network (if you have a node in your house, it should connect to it). Otherwise, downloading block filters to make the experience trustless could also help remove the reliance on Trezor’s backends.

Also, I’m baffled by the fact that Trezor Model T has been out for almost 4 years and the micro SD card slot doesn’t really do much. There’s a lot of untapped potential there, and the ability to label devices using an SD card (which is on the roadmap) just doesn’t do justice to what the device is capable of. In comparison, the BitBox02 can store an encrypted backup on the SD card and even undergo a speedy early setup which removes the BIP 39 writing (though this latter situation is a bit reckless and depends too much on the reliability of the card).

The lack of an official mobile app is also an issue which some scammers seem to perpetually exploit (Trezor still doesn’t have an official mobile app on any operating system, so never download any piece of software which claims to run with your hardware wallet). An Android app is on the roadmap, but in comparison BitBox02 already has it and Ledger also supports iOS.

Nonetheless, this first official public release of Suite is impressive and a major leap forward for all Trezor users who were accustomed with the old web page. Not only that the interface is better and offers more information, but the app comes with powerful features that will only get improved and extended in time.

Trezor Suite: Conclusion + Video

I’ve spent almost two hours with Trezor Suite, trying every menu, option and button. It’s certainly an interesting compromise between user friendliness and advanced features, with useful educational resources added for convenience. Overall, I enjoyed the experience and cheered for every power user feature which was implemented in a way that doesn’t make you think too much about the complexity of the actions taking place in the background (Tor, full node connectivity, Shamir, bech32 addresses by default, device verification to combat supply chain attacks).

Yet there were some very specific issues which reminded me that this is still a young piece of software which needs more testing and refinements. In terms of functionality, I already prefer Trezor Suite over Ledger Live. But when it comes to simplicity and intuitiveness, I still prefer the BitBox02 – which has had these features for almost 2 years and took the time to refine them.

Trezor takes a triumphant leap into the arena of desktop software wallets, and manages to live up to the expectations of most bitcoiners. On the other hand, there’s still a lot to get added and there are fine tunings to be made. Trezor Suite crashed the party a little too late and doesn’t disappoint – it only leaves me wanting that the waiting was justified by the addition of something truly game-changing.

On the other hand, the development roadmap looks really promising. I look forward to the upcoming days of increased CoinJoin popularity, when Trezor users make their coins more fungible. I can’t wait to see the simplified version of CPFP, which allows anyone to bump a transaction fee without breaking a sweat. And I can’t wait to see what a Trezor-made password manager looks like.

But right now, Trezor Suit finds itself in an interesting position: it’s a lot more feature-packed and intuitive than the old web interface, it’s provably more secure than the antiquated browser extensions, but it’s still not on par with ShiftCrypto’s BitBoxApp in terms of simplicity and features (BitBoxApp has had bech32 addresses, UTXO management, full node connectivity and Tor routing since October 2019). It’s still better than Ledger Live thanks to the Tor connectivity, but it needs to do a lot of catching up in terms of popularity (and I hope that this review of mine will help).

Without further ado, I’ll let you watch my hour-long review of Trezor Suite. Throughout this recording, I try all the options and click every button by using both a Trezor One and a Trezor Model T. It’s also a first experience with the app after a few months, so my reactions are genuine and I’m learning as I go.

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Wasabi wallet has been among my favorite desktop wallets since early 2019. I was amazed when I discovered how seamlessly it could integrate elements from Electrum and Bitcoin Core, and it’s been a thrill to see the product grow and become more refined. Like Trezor Suite, Wasabi routes your connection via Tor to boost your privacy. Also, the wallet automatically connects to your local full node or else downloads block filters to specifically avoid the trust involved in SPV setups.

You can also use your hardware wallets with Wasabi. But the truly unique feature is the ability to make your bitcoins more fungible via Chaumian CoinJoins. It’s a neat little trick which makes all coins involved in the mixing rounds equally tainted, therefore reducing the relevance and accuracy of blockchain analysis and boosting the plausible deniability of resulting transactions. If you don’t want the electronics vendor to see how much you got paid in bitcoin, then CoinJoins are your best friend.

Wasabi also offers easy UTXO management (also referred to as “Coin Control”), prevents you from reusing addresses, and enables a privacy-friendly Lurking Wife Mode which hides all of your BTC amounts and key transaction data. Download Wasabi wallet for free by clicking this link: it’s available on Windows, MacOS and Linux.

Read the Wasabi wallet terms of service to be sure that you understand the limits of the software and to which extent the company is liable for the ways in which you use the product.

To accomplish this release and offer a new hardware wallet at a competitive price, he would have to get rid of the aerospace aluminium body, IP68 waterproof certification, and IK09 impact resistance. The new device would be made out of more common materials, but deliver the same amount of security for the coins.

I was honored to be one of the first podcasters to have Lixin on, and then I was also among the very few people who reported on the launch. I was also among the first people in the world to get their hands on the Cobo Vault Pro hardware wallet, but for reasons which are still a mystery even to myself, it took me a whole year to open the box. I can say that I’ve been busy writing and producing content, but inside the box I had yet another goldmine for content.

Anyhow, it’s good to finally get my hands on the Cobo Vault and figure out how it works and what’s so special about it. The hardware wallet fees a lot like an Android phone, but has all the features of a cold storage wallet. You can’t connect it directly to your computer or phone, uses QR code scanning to validate transactions, and also makes use of the PSBT standard via micro SD card (just like the Coldcard).

▶ Play video Watch on YouTube

Here are some highlights of my experience with the Cobo Vault:

• I really enjoyed the multi-step verification process involved in the packaging. The big box was covered in a plastic layer which once removed reveals a carton box that’s sealed on both sides. To open the box, you must tear off a line of carton that you just can’t stick back. And inside this big box you will find two smaller boxes which are sealed with holographic stickers that read “Cobo” on the front side and “VOID” on the back. The hardware wallet itself also has a sticker which covers the screen, so you can’t read the information that gets displayed without removing it. Basically, Cobo makes it very easy to identify supply chain attacks and their layered security proves that they take their craft very seriously.
• The verification process goes even further, as the first time you start the device you must scan a QR code and input a unique identifier to make sure that nobody has registered the same hardware wallet before you. While this may seem a little excessive, it guarantees that your device is secure.
• The Cobo Vault feels a lot like an Android phone – from the keyboard input to the user interface, it’s all pretty familiar and requires no learning curve. I was able to set up a HD wallet with BIP39 seed words in a matter of minutes, and also verify it faster than on any other device (including Ledger, Trezor, BitBox02). There’s a lot to be said about not having to adapt to a new input method (something that I can only say about the Trezor Model T).
• It’s air-gapped, which means that everything that you do on the device stays on the device (including finger print, unlock pattern, PIN, seed phrase). You can still mess up when you connect the SD card to your computer or when you use a mobile app.
• You can either use a removable Li-Ion battery (available only with the Cobo Vault Pro variant) or AAA batteries. Unlike other manufacturers which put batteries in their hardware wallets, you don’t have to rely on Cobo’s manufacturing of spare parts to power up your device.
• The Pro version has a self-destruct mechanism.
• There’s a Bitcoin-only firmware, but it’s not the default setting and you must install it separately.

Here are the parts that I don’t necessarily like about the Cobo Vault:

• While the software is open source, the hardware is proprietary. Schematics for auditability can be found in Cobo’s public GitHub repository, but they only allow researchers to reproduce the device for verification purposes. Unlike the Trezor, you can’t build Cobos and sell them (which removes some incentives involved in verification). I’ve explained in this article why Bitcoin free open source software matters.
• You rely on Cobo for the early verification process. While it’s nice that you get to check that the same device wasn’t registered by someone else, it would be nice if you could undergo the procedure using a general-purpose wallet like Electrum or Wasabi.
• The mobile watch-only wallet doesn’t allow you to connect to your own full node and other trustless price oracles.
• The secure element chip is comparable with the ATEC you find in the Coldcard, BitBox02 and Foundation Devices Passport. It’s not really open source, but it’s more open than the Ledger chip. It makes a compromise for the sake of offering more physical security, and this is why I have high hopes that the Tropic Square project will make these chips more transparent.
• There are some minor design issues that can get fixed in future iterations: you can’t use the Cobo while the battery is charging, and the placement of the micro SD card port is a little awkward.

Cobo Tablet vs Billfodl

During the first and last part of my unboxing and setup video, you can also watch me play with the Cobo Tablet – yes, Lixin was nice enough to send me a couple of them. Call me ungrateful, but my first instinct was to compare the metal plates with the Billfodl I already had.

Personally, I prefer the Billfodl for the design (no need for a screwdriver, more organized way of inserting letters) and overall feel. But are the metal plates that much better that they justify the double price? Well, that’s a hard question to ask and it’s up to you to figure out what’s best for you. Both the Cobo Tablet and the Billfodl are metal plates to store your BIP 39 seed phrase (mnemonic) after all. They feature no electronic parts and they are extremely similar in build and design.

So if you don’t want to pay $99 for the Billfodl, you can go for the $40 Cobo Tablet. You won’t be able to tell the difference with your eyes closed, and the amount of effort that’s required to create both backups is nearly identical. This comes from a guy who regularly recommends Billfodl and has their referral link on his website.

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But the good news is that the RaspiBlitz is completely open source. This means that you can verify the software, fork it for another similar project, and even follow Rootzoll’s extensive guide to build your own node for half the price. So you don’t have to buy anything from a company, as you also have the possibility to undergo a DIY project and pick your own compatible parts.

I should also mention the Hyperbitcoinized 2021 calendar, which I received as a gift for my purchase. It’s one of the coolest Bitcoin community projects, as it features 365 pictures taken by bitcoiners and relevant quotes or significant dates from BTC history. So it’s gonna be valuable even when the year passes, as can be your portable history book which tells you when Satoshi Nakamoto has made significant advancements with the project and when notable projects launched. I hope that next year I get to contribute to the project somehow and also include Bitcoin Takeover.

A Story About HODLing for a Year

I bought the RaspiBlitz from Fulmo simply because I’ve been window shopping them for almost two years. And in February 2020, before my 28th birthday, I intended to build one myself. My friend MediumSqueeze has even sent me $100 in bitcoin as a birthday gift, so I could get the RaspBerry Pi 4 and then source all the other parts that were necessary for me to build a RaspiBlitz.

But in February and March of 2020 I couldn’t find any Raspberry Pi cases with active cooling. The only ones available were getting shipped directly from China, so I would have had to pay high delivery costs and border taxes (19% VAT). And since the Raspberry Pi 4 runs pretty hot and needs a case (especially in the summer time), I’ve decided to wait instead.

My initial waiting turned into HODLing. I’ve received my $100 birthday gift when the price of bitcoin was around the $9000 mark. So a year later, I’ve realized that the price has gone up to $50000 (it went even higher afterwards), so I’ve decided to use MediumSqueeze’s gift to get myself something a lot nicer.

Basically, this is a lesson about HODLing and time preference. Instead of buying myself a $100 Raspberry Pi 4 on my 28th birthday, on my 29th birthday I bought myself a $400 Fulmo RaspiBlitz node and also paid for the shipping. Maybe that I could have waited another year or two, but you know what they say: YOLO.

So I picked up the 4GB version of the Fulmo RaspiBlitz, which is also cased in the metal enclosure that makes it look more like an actual product. And I was lucky that Jeff from Fulmo has sourced me a case in times when the middle of a global supply chain crisis, as today I am the happy owner of one of the coolest Bitcoin full nodes. Also, thank you for the cool stickers, Jeff!

Why Did I Choose The RaspiBlitz?

There are three essential factors that made me want the RaspiBlitz, as opposed to the Nodl, the myNode, or the Umbrel. The most important one concerns its open source nature and the fact that is has been around for a longer time. This means that many more geeks and hackers were able to find issues in it and also launch security updates to fix them. When the issue at stake is your financial sovereignty, you should always choose security over convenience.

The second factor concerns the fact that RaspiBlitz supports JoinMarket for CoinJoins and also features support for BTCPay Server at no extra cost. If you’re not aware, JoinMarket is a great way to do CoinJoins in a decentralized way, in an environment where there is no central coordinator. For convenience, Wasabi is still great. But if you want to take your privacy to the next level and potentially also make some money from coordinating CoinJoins, then JoinMarket is ideal.

The third factor concerns the fact that I like Fulmo as a company. They are known for hosting events, interviews, and seminars about the Lightning Network. So they are not just salesmen who found ways to use the open source specifications for a device. The folks at Fulmo are developers and advocates of the Lightning Network who are also responsible for hosting the Lightning Conference and a series of hackatons.

Not only that this helps me figure out that they know their way around the Lightning Network, but I’m also happy that I can support their work with a purchase. I believe that they don’t get enough credit for their work and I’m always happy when I can make a contribution.

I’ll return with a more in-depth article to describe my experience with the RaspiBlitz. In the meantime, check out my article about using the Lightning Network to make Bitcoin transactions more environmentally-friendly.

Watch My Unboxing Review (Fulmo RaspiBlitz + Hyperbitcoinized 2021 Calendar)

▶ Play video Watch on YouTube

Time stamps:

00:00 – Intro and story about getting the package

03:01 – The stickers in the box

03:56 – The Raspberry Pi power adapter

04:14 – The Hyperbitconized Calendar 2021

07:28 – Unboxing the metallic shell RaspiBlitz

12:17 – The features of the RaspiBlitz

14:07 – RaspberryPi is environmentally-friendly, and so is Lightning

15:14 – Build a RaspiBlitz yourself for cheap

17:32 – BTCPay Server and JoinMarket

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But the Billfodl isn’t really private – anyone who spots one of these devices can open it and check out your 12-word or 24-word backup. All they have to do is take a picture or memorize the words, then get to the nearest computer and steal your funds.

Since you write the words on paper before doing your Billfodl backup, you can apply a few privacy tricks to make sure that nobody else figures out your seed phrase if they see it. These tricks can be labelled in two categories:

1. The ones that replace letters from your backup;
2. The ones that replace or scramble words from your backup;

So I thought it would be useful to create a video (and subsequently write an article) about how you can boost the privacy of your Billfodl backup. Since privacy is the main precondition for good security, the effects of these tips extend towards making your bitcoins more secure.

However, keep in mind that the complexity of your backup should follow your own ability to remember or write down sophisticated methods. Don’t do anything too complicated, as you may forget how to replicate the process and irreversibly lock yourself out. The damage is permanent, nobody else is responsible for your own mistakes, so you must be careful and embrace your sovereignty accordingly.

Billfodl Privacy Trick #1: Double the fun

This trick is one of the simplest that you can pull off and will most likely prove to be effective thanks to the two-sided numbered design of the Billfodl. Yet it only works for 12-word seed phrase backups.

Basically, the idea is to put your 12 words in the slots corresponding to words 13-24 and fill the other side with made-up words from the BIP 39 dictionary. This way, somebody who finds your backup will think that you’re using a 24-word setup and fail to retrieve any funds. And if they’re going to try to recover a 12-word backup, they will most likely start with the words numbered 1 to 12.

Though it’s not unlikely for them to try the words numbered from 13 to 24, you’re still giving the thieves a harder time. Also, it’s easy for you to remember to only count the words on the second Billfodl layer as the valid ones.

But if you want to increase the complexity of your backup, here are some more ways.

Billfodl Privacy Trick #2: Mirror the words

Though you can purposely place the letters in mirrored position, it’s not what this trick is all about. So you’ve placed your 12 or 24 words in the slots. How do you make sure that somebody who finds your Billfodl won’t be able to also steal your funds?

Well, the Billfodl is structured in 3 rows and 4 columns. So you can use its compact size and numbering system to your own advantage by purposely misplacing the words in a structured order that makes sense to you. Mirroring is one of the easiest principles and it works like this (applied to every line):

Word no. 4 gets moved to position 1;

Word no. 3 gets moved to position 2;

Word no. 2 gets moved to position 3;

Word no. 1 gets moved to position 4;

Essentially, whenever you want to recover your funds you will know that you should follow the words from the right side to the left side (which is counter-intuitive to most people, but easy to remember). If you have a 12-word backup, you can combine this method with the first trick for increased privacy and security.

If you want to take the sophistication to the next level, you can also do vertical permutations. But a smart hacker will know how to put your 12 or 24 words in a scrambler which generates all possible pairs, only to perform brute force attempts afterwards. The process is time intensive, but someone dedicated to stealing your bitcoins will definitely do it.

Now let’s add a little more sophistication with letter scrambling.

Billfodl Privacy Trick #3: Alphabet Soup

If you’re extra paranoid, you can replace the letters from your BIP 39 backup by following a simple logic that you follow yourself (but you should write down this logic somewhere, just in case you forget how it works in a few years).

The most simple setup is to move every letter one position in the alphabet. So if one of your words is “animal”, then it turns into “bojnbm” (A becomes B, B becomes C, and so on until Z becomes A). On the Billfodl metal plate it’s going to be only “bojn” – so you do need to remember what the word is, or else write it down somewhere else for extra security.

Feeling confident that you can do better? You can do more dramatic shifts which span across the entire alphabet. You can do a +5, a +7, or even a –10. As long as you have a good system that you know, understand, and therefore can remember (or write down) to later replicate, you’re good to go.

Now here’s a way to further encrypt your message, so that it becomes even less obvious: treat vowels and consonants differently. For example, all consonants get a +7 which skips vowels (B becomes J, C becomes K, D becomes L, F becomes N, and so on), while vowels get a +2 interchange (A becomes I while I becomes A, E becomes O while O becomes E, and U stays the same).

So if I write “animal”, it’s going to be iwavit. On the Billfodl metal plate you can only put the first 4 letters, so you (and your possible hacker) will only read “iwav”.

This last example is very complicated and requires some extra work to get right. This is why you should write down the algorithm you create and keep it in a safe place that you know is safe. Your own imagination and ability to compute creative solutions is the only limit – but ultimately, your sophistication should match your ability to remember and replicate a system a few decades later. For your own sake, it’s better to keep it simple in relation to your known limits.

Billfodl Privacy Trick #4: BIP 39 Dictionary Soup

Wait, so you thought that scrambling letters was crazy? Just wait until you figure out that you can do the same with the BIP 39 dictionary.

The English version of this dictionary has 2048 words – and whenever a new wallet gets created, 12 or 24 of them are combined. So if you want to mislead thieves and hackers, you can use the logic from the previous section to replace entire words.

For example, “animal” is number 73 in the dictionary. How about I create a +7 rule for the entire backup? So “animal” turns into “antique” (number 80), “farm” turns into “favorite”, “great” turns into “grow”, and so on.

If I want to make it even more difficult, I use different rules for even and uneven numbers. For instance, +3 for even numbers (position 2, 4, 6, and so on) and –1 for uneven numbers (positions 1, 3, 5, and so on).

So if my 12-word BIP 39 seed phrase is “animal farm great novel number one book like very much thank mom”, then this algorithm that I made up is going to make it into “angry fatal gravity number nuclear only online bonus link version movie then modify”.

If you don’t understand how this works, check out the BIP 39 dictionary. For a summary of this article, check out my video on the topic.

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And if you’d like to learn more about Billfodl, listen to my podcast interview with Bryan Aulds.

Billfodl also make Faraday bags and sell hardware wallets while respecting your privacy rights, so if you’d like to place an order please use my referral link. It won’t make me rich, but it helps me pay the bills.

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It only took me 7 months to finally sit down and go through all the features in a video, and then it took me another couple of weeks to edit the recording and prepare a review which explains the pros and cons. I’m always happy to receive products to test and review, and I try to write and do videos about every item. So I apologize in advance to Jessie Yang and Bobby Lee for being so late with this one, but during the pandemic I’ve been pretty moody during this pandemic.

Now let’s talk about the two types of wallets: the Ballet Real and the Ballet Pro. From the point of view of build quality, size and functionality, they are identical. They’re made from stainless steel, they are shaped like credit cards, they are unexpectedly heavy and have that “precious” tangible feeling to them. Also, they can receive funds in the same manner through scanning the large QR code on the right side.

Furthermore, the two devices benefit from the same user experience in the Ballet Crypto App. You scan the QR code and then enjoy the simple watch-only wallet experience which allows you to receive bitcoins from two addresses: a legacy one and a SegWit one.

The bad news is that you can’t generate any more addresses, which is bad for your transaction privacy. If you’re going to receive lots of Bitcoin transactions, then the bits will get stacked in the same address and everyone sending will also be able to see from where you previously received any money.

On top of it all, since Ballet has created your Bitcoin wallet, they also hold your xpub (extended public key). This means that the company will know at all times how many coins you own, how much they’re worth, and when and where you send them. A newbie who holds small amounts will probably not care and compare the situation to bank which always know about your balance, but it’s always good to be cautious and consider educating yourself to upgrade your security.

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Now let’s talk about the differences between the two types of Ballet wallets. The most obvious one is the color: the Pro is blue, while the Real Series is silver. But the most significant difference is in the amount of trust you put in Ballet.

The Ballet Real Series relies on a trusted setup which is slightly better than Mike Caldwell’s work with the Casascius coins. If Caldwell put his reputation on the line and made it clear that he will be honest for as long as he mints the physical bitcoins, Bobby Lee has added an extra layer of complexity by having two separate parts of the private key printed in different parts of the world.

More precisely, half of the private key gets printed in China, and the other half gets added in the United States of America. Yet according to the Ballet website, the company never generates the entire private key in either of the two places. The process is called Two-Factor Key Generation (2FKG) and entails that the intermediate code gets generated in the USA via BIP38, and then the Chinese factory uses this encrypted code to generate the encrypted private key.

Also, the computers involved in the key generation process are airgapped to avoid external tampering. The employees from the Chinese factory can only act in a dishonest way if they can decrypt the BIP38 intermediate code.

Yes, this setup is a step up from Mike Caldwell’s trust-centric approach to Casascius. But in the meantime, bitcoins have become much more valuable and the risks are far greater. Furthermore, the standard for security has greatly improved with the launch of Trezor in 2014, so we must strive to do better.

For those who prefer the trustless setups, there’s the Ballet Pro Series wallet – which is the Ballet version that I recommend to beginners. It costs 3 times more than the regular version, it requires 15 minutes of effort to generate your BIP38 intermediate code (as demonstrated in this video), and it also makes you responsible for managing the 12 or 24 words by yourself.

But if you’re going to onboard an older bitcoiner who has no patience to learn how to use an electronic device, then it’s your moral duty to promote the right principles of trustlessness.

In my review video, I’ve described the Ballet Pro as the “boomer wallet”. Because it’s basically a paper wallet that’s meant to impress older people with the build quality and the credit card skewmorphism. When you hold the wallet in your hands, it feels like that premium card that you only get from the bank if you’re holding a million dollars in your account. There’s nothing cheap and plasticky about it, so I suppose that the build quality is the major surprise and selling point.

If transaction privacy and advanced features are the two elements that you’re willing to sacrifice, then the Ballet Pro is the perfect choice for older nocoiners. Your Bitcoin-skeptic father, grandfather, or uncle will appreciate something that they can understand and will most likely HODL with pride. If you were giving them a hardware wallet, they definitely wouldn’t react the same way – Ballet is all about aesthetics and offering a gift that makes a good impression.

Ultimately, it’s the Ballet Pro Series wallet that I recommend for those who want to introduce older friends and family members to Bitcoin. The form factor and build quality will definitely look attractive, and the trustless setup offers a balance between security and the fact that you will be sharing the xpub with Ballet.

Yes, you can buy a Trezor One for cheaper – but not everyone is willing to learn how to use a new electronic device. Some people need to take baby steps and start with something they can understand.

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According to Bitcoin Core developer and maintainer Jonas Schnelli, the $699 Mac Mini M1 was able to sync, validate, and download 12 years of Bitcoin transactions in 6 hours and 14 minutes. The performance is incredible not only because the inexpensive, tiny and quiet computer has managed to outclass more expensive Intel-based machines (a $3000 MacBook Pro with the i9 processor is 1.3 times slower), but also because it does it in emulation mode.

See, the M1 processor is ARM-based. So whenever it runs x86 applications such as Bitcoin Core, it uses a proprietary translation system that’s called Rosetta 2. So in theory, it should not be faster than an Intel processor which drains a lot more energy, costs more, and is designed for professionals. Yet we should never underestimate the power of optimization.

Now here’s another crazy fact (and I swear I’m not sponsored by Apple and they are responsible for ruining my savings): price-wise, the Mac Mini M1 is on par with the $850 Nodl Dojo (a machine whose hardware is dated and inexpensive, but is packed with pre-installed software that you can add yourself). So you can either purchase a new generation system which beats computers which cost 5-6 times more, or you can opt for the overpriced Rockchip RK3399 that’s packed in a nice box).

Now you might be asking yourself: the Mac Mini M1 costs about 12 times more than a Raspberry Pi 400. Is it 12 times faster to justify the cost?

And the answer is “YES!”. This computing machine is the bang for the buck, and it will only get better when developers catch up with the new hardware and update their applications. As soon as Rosetta 2 x86 emulation gets replaced with native software, everything is going to become faster. So will we be able to sync a full Bitcoin node in 4 hours? Sure, why not?

If someone called me last year to let me know that today I would be shilling an Apple computer, I would have laughed in his face. But this machine really is something special and I’m excited for the future of hardware and software development. Maybe that king Intel has been lazy lately, but the competition is rapidly catching up.

So in this video I’m doing an unboxing of the Mac Mini M1 and I’m providing some commentary on the meaning of this machine. And yes, I will soon get to Bitcoin-specific devices. But I wanted to get this one out of the way (and possibly prepare you for holiday shopping).

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But after I finally received a review unit of the HTC Exodus 1S (thank you, Phil Chen & HTC), I wrote a bittersweet article for Bitcoin Magazine. On one hand, I was happy that the device exists and you can sync the entire blockchain on it. On the other hand, I wasn’t happy with the lack of integrations for the node and the absence of SegWit and the Lightning Network.

A year later, the situation has improved a little bit. An update for the HTC Zion environment has added SegWit support and has enabled some optimizations for the initial block download (IBD).

But there are still improvements to be made. From the Zion password typing system to the lack of Lightning Network integrations, HTC can really polish the Bitcoin experience. I also did not understand why a Bitcoin phone has more Ethereum features and chooses to include collectibles management instead of working with sidechain and second layer developers. There is so much untapped potential in this device, yet the development explores territories that are unrelated with the marketing for the Exodus 1S phone and the capabilities of a full node.

At 220 euro (260 USD), is the phone worth it as a 2020 BTChristmas gift? Sure, it’s one of the nicest instruments for individual financial sovereignty. Just be aware that the node is locked in the HTC Zion ecosystem, there is no compatibility with third party wallets, and sometimes you can’t even do something as basic as creating another receiving address.

Though a power user feature is included (running a Bitcoin node), everything else appears to be aimed at newbies. Which is definitely an interesting paradox, as there is so much more that can get added. Coin control (UTXO management), the ability to type commands in the node console, native Tor routing, receiving address labelling and management, and Lightning Network channel opening and management.

Instead of dividing its efforts in multiple directions and supporting more DeFi projects, the HTC Exodus team should just focus on getting the Bitcoin wallet right. There’s a lot of useful open source code that they can use from other wallets such as Blue Wallet and ABCore, and it shouldn’t be too hard to integrate everything in the native UI/UX.

So if you also have the HTC Exodus 1S, please support my advocacy and contact the manufacturer. Maybe that they will complete their work and finally deliver the complete Bitcoin financial sovereignty package. Given the hardware capabilities and the low cost, it’s a pity that the device hasn’t taken off yet. But who knows, we can always expect a #BTChristmas miracle, right?

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In the case of credit cards, you can no longer get one which doesn’t spend money without contact. And in the case of bluetooth and infrared devices, there are lots of vulnerabilities which can be exploited from afar.

So for the second video of my #BTChristmas, I’ve decided to once again talk about Billfodl’s Faraday bags. Yes, I know that I’ve reviewed them in the past. But this is for a special Christmas project, so I hope that you’ll forgive me for the holiday repetition.

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The Faraday bags are also useful for your Ledger Nano X hardware wallet, which has bluetooth connectivity.

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If you’d like to get your Billfodl Faraday bags and also support my work, you can use my referral link. I’m not making a fortune out of it, but it helps with the costs of keeping the website up and hosting my own episodes of the Bitcoin Takeover Podcast.

You can also send me BTC on the mainchain or via Lightning Network.

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Truth to be told, I’ve received and bought a lot of items over the last few months and some of them are still in the box because I’ve been too busy to produce content about them. But now the time has come to do justice to everything that I own and happens to be a useful purchase for other bitcoiners.

For the first episode of this #BTChristmas special, I’ve decided to talk about the Raspberry Pi 400. It’s a rather inexpensive computer which is built inside a keyboard case and brings you a lot more convenience than the previous model of the Raspberry Pi. It comes with an overclocked processor which makes it faster in applications, 4 GB of RAM, and all the connectivity you need.

And if you’re willing to pay $100 for the extended package, you also get a mouse, an HDMI cable, an SD card with the OS, and a book that will help you learn more about using the Raspberry Pi.

You can use the Raspberry Pi 400 to run a full Bitcoin and Lightning node, but also learn to code or emulate video games. Of course, you can’t do it all at the same time, as the system isn’t mighty enough to handle this kind of multitasking. But the configuration is mighty enough to handle all sorts of tasks.

The greatest accomplishment of the Raspberry Pi 400 is the fact that is solves the overheating problems of its predecessor. The large case and the lengthy metal plate underneath the hood create a more efficient heat dissipation system, which keep the system cool and quiet. No active ventilation is required, and you no longer have to buy a heatsink case either.

So for about $70, you get a powerful system which also comes with a built-in keyboard and requires no extra expenses for fancy cases and fans. It’s efficient, it’s all-encompassing, and it’s quiet. You will just need a mouse, a monitor, an SD card on which you install the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS (or Raspbian, call it what you want), and optionally an SSD on which you validate and store the entire Bitcoin blockchain.

If you get a Raspberry Pi 400 computer by virtue of my #BTChristmas recommendation and you want to effortlessly run a full Bitcoin node with Lightning, then I recommend RaspiBlitz. It’s completely open source, it has been around for a long time, many bitcoiners have successfully installed the software, and it just works. Also, the process is described step by step and you can even find a few videos which answer all of your questions.

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Stay tuned for 11 more Bitcoin product recommendations! This #BTChristmas is going to be really special 🙂

Watch out: I’m also mentioning FartFace2000 and the song that you hear in the background is called “To The Moon”, was written and recorded by me, and you can download it for free.

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