Crypto security: followup

Yea, the Cold Card hack is turning into a Big Deal. Lots of people are waving the white flag and saying that self custody can't be a thing anymore. Just buy an ETF or store your coins on exchange.

You can still hold your own coins!

You can hold you own coins. You can do it securely, and it doesn't have to be that hard. It just takes a little bit of extra effort to get secure results.

Generating the 24 words

In my previous post I talked about the Entropia Seed Tablets, which are amazing, and I still recommend them if you can get them. But, they do cost 80$ and right now, that poor guy is swamped with orders, so it might be hard to buy it from him. You can also 3d print them as well.

The Dice Method

Let me talk more about the dice method and how it works exactly. It's a cheaper method then Entropia Seed Tablets; all you need is 1 coin and 4 six sided dice. You probably already have these in your house.
Go to this site https://github.com/taelfrinn/Bip39-diceware

The idea is that you flip the coin and roll your 4 dice and then use the results to look up your word in the huge word table there. You do this 23 times and then you can use Sparrow or a hardware wallet to produce your 24th word. You will be providing your own entropy, so you won't have to worry about a bad algorithm from a vendor.

Safety Note:

If you are using Sparrow to get your 24th word, keep in mind you are entering your seed words into a computer, which is usually considered bad. What I do is use a clean, freshly installed Linux computer that's disconnected from the Internet to do this part. So have a little spare cheap computer for this task. Or use a hardware wallet.

More on the passphrase

In addition to the above, you need to use a BIP39 passphrase. I would use something with at least 16 characters, something very random that isn't a word. It should like something like this:

v7Qm2Lx9Rk4Tn8Wp

Something very random, basically a good password.

Obviously you will need to write this down in a safe place and probably somewhere different then where your seed is kept. If you lose it, you will lose your coins, so don't lose it.

You can safely store your own crypto.

If you follow my advice above, you will sleep like a baby with confidence that your crypto is safe. It is very possible for people to store their own crypto and everyone should. I hope my post demonstrates that it really isn't that hard do it right.