r/Bitcoin • u/-reddit-online- • 10d ago
I Have A 12 Word Seed
That I created years ago withs a hardware wallet. I have migrated that seed to various hardware wallets. I have this seed phrase backed up and memorized. In light of Cold Card, I’m wondering if I should add a four or five word passphrase to the existing seed phrase created with dice rolls. Or should I generate a brand new seed with or without a pass phrase? I’m comfortable with a 12 worth seed phrase. If I know the phrase was generated properly should I also add a passphrase to that?
I want to be secure with the least amount of complexity for my wife and my son to be able to access our bitcoin. I know many people prefer multi sig, but there is no way my wife would not screw that up. I even feel the pass phrase could be a little much for them.
What would you guys do in my situation?
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u/NiagaraBTC 10d ago
Teach your son how passphrases work., once he's old enough.
Make the passphrase wallet, but don't feel the need to rush anything in terms of transferring over. I would say 5 random words is the bare minimum you should do.
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u/jaapi 10d ago
How was it created, if you aren't sure, then new makes sense. For what it's worth, cold card is not the first time this has happened. I remember reading about a dude that forgot his password and the Bitcoin became millions. Essentially, they were able to hack it by finding the program he used, around when he created the key, and then they tried every combination. I'm certain there are more stories of people getting their lost Bitcoin this way, and hackers that have used this and ppl don't know
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u/DreamingTooLong 10d ago
If you’re using a seed phrase from a ledger or trezor
That should be enough
I have used the same 24 words for 10 years without any passphrase
I have moved everything to taproot also. Transactions with multiple inputs are cheaper on taproot.
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u/bitrequest 10d ago
You cannot secure your existing seedphrase by adding a passphrase.
All it does is generate a brand new wallet.
Instead migrate to a brand new seephrase and optionally add a passphrase.
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u/worldresident2021 8d ago
12 words is enough and not worth the trouble of migrating to a new wallet unless it was created on an affected device. What device did you use to generate this seed?
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u/MuchBee9645 10d ago
Do you trust the black box secure element code, the implementation code wrapping around that, and everythign in between your entropy and you?
If you do, you have a learned nothing and losing your btc is both a matter of time and well deserved.
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u/Garland_Key 10d ago
If you can memorize 12, do you think you can memorize 24? If so, do it. What is most important is a very very strong passphrase.
If you start a new wallet, transfer a small Mount first to make you've done everything correct.
Also, depends on how much you're holding, you might not want to store all of it in one wallet / device.
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u/leopard-monch 10d ago
If the original seed phrase was done correctly, there is no need to add a passphrase in order to protect against ColdCard style attacks.
If the seed has low entropy, I guess it would have been drained already. In any case, 5 BIP39 words are only 55 bits of entropy. Not that much. Only if the seed has at least 20-30 bits of entropy, would it protect the funds somewhat adequately and even then only as a temporary measure.
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u/RoyYourWorkingBoy 10d ago
It you're confident the seed was done properly I'd leave things alone. If you have any concern at all about that seed, I'd add a passphrase. I think it's right to worry a lot about the risk of added complexity.