Keep Your Keys Safe¶
After this page you will have a written backup of your phrase, a second copy in a different place, a passed restore test, and a short list of things you will never do with the words.
Who this is for¶
Anyone who holds BTG in a wallet they control, or is about to create one. If your BTG sits on an exchange and you have never seen a recovery phrase, read this before you withdraw.
Before you start¶
- The recovery phrase or private key of the wallet you are protecting.
- Two sheets of paper and a pen that does not smudge, or a metal backup plate.
- A second storage location outside your home: a deposit box, a second property, or a person you trust.
- Private Key, Mnemonic and Wallet Password, if you are unsure which secret you are holding.
Steps¶
1. Name the four ways the phrase gets lost¶
Your storage method has to answer all four of these risks:
- Device loss: the phone is stolen or wiped during a repair.
- Malware: something on your computer reads your clipboard or your screen.
- Phishing: a site or a caller asks for the words and you hand them over.
- Fire or flood: the paper is destroyed with the room it was in.
No single measure covers all four, so combine an offline copy, a second location, and a refusal to type the words anywhere.
2. Write the phrase by hand, once¶
Number the words in order and write them on paper or on a metal plate. Check every word against the screen twice, letter by letter: one wrong word produces a different wallet, which opens as an empty account when you restore it.
Never type the phrase into a computer "to check it". A typed copy is one that malware can read, and the restore test below is a better check.
3. Put the second copy somewhere else¶
Two copies in the same drawer fail together. Keep one copy at home and one outside it. The outside copy is the one that survives a fire, a burglary, or a burst pipe.
Splitting the words between two locations sounds safer and is often worse. Half a phrase restores nothing, so losing either half loses everything. If your wallet offers a multi-share backup that tolerates a missing share, use it; otherwise prefer two complete copies.
4. Refuse every digital copy¶
A photograph of a recovery phrase is the most common way a self-custody wallet is drained. The same applies to a screenshot, a notes app, a cloud document, an email draft, a chat with yourself, and any password manager entry that stores the words as text.
No legitimate site, app, airdrop, or support agent needs your phrase. A wallet asks for it in one place only: inside the app, on the import screen.
5. Separate the device that signs from the device that browses¶
If the wallet is on your phone, do not use that phone to open links from messages, ads, or search results. The busiest device is the one most likely to be compromised.
A second, cheap phone that holds only the wallet reduces the surface. A hardware wallet does more, but confirm support first: Bitgold does not document hardware-wallet support.
6. Write the inheritance plan¶
Someone has to be able to find the backup if you are unavailable for a month, or permanently. Tell one person that a backup exists and where it is, without telling them the words. Keep the location in a sealed letter with a lawyer or in the deposit box, and review it once a year.
Verify it worked¶
- Restore from your written copy on a spare device, or after reinstalling the app, and confirm the same address.
- Compare both copies word for word, including order and spelling.
- Confirm that the second copy is far enough away that a fire at home cannot reach it.
- Search your photos, notes, and email for a distinctive word, and confirm that nothing comes back.
Troubleshooting¶
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| The restore shows a different address | A word is misspelled, repeated, or out of order. Re-check before you move funds. |
| You already photographed the phrase | Deleting the photo is not enough. Create a new wallet and move the funds. |
| The backup is with someone you no longer trust | Create a new wallet, move the funds, and retire the old phrase. |
| The wallet app offers to back up to the cloud | Decline. A cloud backup is a digital copy under someone else's account. |
Next steps¶
- Loss Prevention — what happens when the phrase is gone, and how to prepare for a dead device.
- How to Verify the Wallet App — the phrase is only as safe as the app you type it into once.
Self-check¶
- Both copies exist, and neither is a photo, note, email, or cloud file.
- I restored from the written copy once and saw the same address.
- I can name the person who would find the backup.
- The second copy is outside my home.