Holding bitcoins (BTC) is above all holding the private keys (or mnemonic phrase) of your wallet. Some users have understood to their cost that centralized exchanges (FTX, Celsius, Voyager, etc.) hold the keys to their cryptos : in case of bankruptcy, the road will be uncertain to recover their funds. This painful experience is summed up in one sentence: “Not your keys, not your coins. not your corners). These precious keys must be secured: hide them of course, but the support must still be reliable. Let’s look at the wallet of SafePal, Cypher, its technical characteristics as well as its instructions for use.
Technical characteristics of the Cypher
Like any self-respecting metal wallet, the Cypher is made in stainless steel. It is therefore resistant to corrosion, water, salt, acid and fire. In case of’house fire (about 300,000 starts of domestic fires in France per year!), the Cypher will withstand 1400°C. A domestic fire can reach 600°C in 3 minutes and peak at approximately 815°C before firefighters respond. It goes without saying that prevention is important. Despite everything, if your house is on fire, you can find your bitcoins in the rubble…
How to use the Cypher?
The Cypher is delivered with its small metal letters to insert (4 sets of plates), two Allen keys to unscrew the plates which can then be reunited, stickers and a QR-code. If you scan it, it will take you directly to a user manual, after-sales service and the SafePal community (Discord).
- Each plate has 5 screws and 12 slots each corresponding to a word.
- Insert the first 4 letters of each word in its location. (in good order)
- If a word has only 3 letters, insert a letter you have left on its back.
- Close the Cypher using the Allen key and stick the two self-adhesive holograms on the edge.
Current wallets, including SafePal of course, use the standard BIP39 : 2048 words in English that you find on the internet and which are used to generate mnemonic sentences. It is impossible to have two words starting with the same first 4 letters.
Protect your Cypher
As you will have understood, you can secure a mnemonic phrase of 24 words or two of 12 words. Your words are well protected. It is perhaps useful to remember that if these words are lying around on a piece of paper on your desk, in a file on your pc or even in a photo on your smartphone, the Cypher will no longer be useful…). But we’re not quite done, a few safety tips are in order (again).
- Of course, passing on his passion for bitcoins (BTC) is understandable. However, a little discretion will also save you theft. If a burglar comes to your home, don’t leave any clues (poster, sticker, etc.).
- If you can’t find a suitable hiding place, you can entrust your Cypher to a notary (and even leave it in a banker’s safe). However, this solution has a cost (and you have an intermediary).
- Beware of metal detectors when considering the best hiding place.
Metal wallets and metal detectors
And yes, we don’t think much about it, it’s true, but some seasoned burglars are well equipped to find your hidden treasures. They already know all the classic hiding places: refrigerator drawer, back of a painting, hole in the floor, false books, even toilet water tank… Fortunately, stainless steel is not always detected by detectors of metals.
Stainless steel is a non-ferrous metal, so it is one of the metals that a metal detector cannot detect. The reason is that it has low electrical conductivity.
Despite everything, plan ahead and above all be creative: for the lucky ones who have a garden, consider burying your Cypher more than one meter 50 deep, for example (and why not in your compost?). Some even recommend “anonymizing” it with a thick coat of candle wax. If you place it in one or more containers, avoid ferrous metals of course.
For those who live in an apartment, don’t hesitate to use decoys: burglars don’t stay there very long. For example, if you choose to place your Cypher under a floorboard, place heavy furniture above it and why not metal objects in the same corner (or nearby). Tired of the useless beeps from their metal detector, burglars won’t linger in this place.
Technical Specifications: Weight: 190g, Dimensions: 91×58×6mm, Material: 304 Stainless Steel, Melting Point: 2548°F/1400°C. Price: less than 50 euros.
You now know everything about Cypher: its usefulness, how to use it and how to hide it (non-exhaustive list!). Like the hardware wallet offered by SafePal, its price defies all competition. A very useful object if you send satoshis to your wallet regularly (DCA), you can rest easy. Using the physical wallet, you will be able to generate as many receive addresses as you want and verify on the blockchain that your bitcoins (BTC) are still there. If you already have a physical wallet (Ledger, Trezor, Bitbox or other), you can still use a Cypher to protect your seed since these wallets all use the same BIP39 encryption.
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