Seed phrases are not self-guardation, it is a responsibility.

As long as Bitcoin exists, self-casustody – the ability to trade with your wealth and have your own wealth without the need for a third-party intermediary, such as a bank or other financial institution, is the core of this offer.

For some, self-custody is a firm belief in the right to be your own bank. For others, this is the actual steps taken to maintain assets that may be valuable (and have been forgotten) in exchange for hackers, mismanagement, or FTX-style crashes. It’s kind of like being sure to be full of cash at home, if there’s a run on the “bank”, then your coins are immune.

Although the “way” of self-guarding has changed form throughout Bitcoin history, today’s reality, the industry standard of recovery (seed phrase) often loses (sometimes huge) when things go wrong.

No difference

In the early days of Bitcoin, there was only self-custody. The risk of self-guardianship, i.e. self-guardianship, means managing private key material, which is a string of 64 random characters that allows anyone to use it to enter the underlying Bitcoin. There are very limited tools to manage private keys: remember them or write them down and store them in a safe place. But, putting only one character in one position, terrible, your keys don’t work. Even if you do the right thing, there is still the possibility of loss, theft, accident or disaster.

Seed phrases are designed to make private keys easier to manage. Bitcoin Improvement Proposal-39 (BIP-39) does not have long, random characters fixed, but instead allows a few simple words to essentially represent a private key. As long as you have the correct word order, you will always get the same private key and have access to your funds.

While it is absolutely easy to process several commonly used words compared to a string of characters, the risk of loss through human error, theft or disaster is basically the same as the seed phrase, as the private key. This is a difference, no difference for anyone who really loses the backup when it really needs it. When it disappeared, it had disappeared and was not reclaimed.

Security beyond the Stone Age, assets used in space age

Somewhere along the way, the whole idea of ​​self-concept has become synonymous with seed phrases in the minds of many. But self-guardianship is not an object. This is a capability. Seed phrases are much greater than their ability.

Sure, the seed phrase allows you to regenerate your keys or move funds to another wallet easily, but it also allows anyone to do so briefly. This is a nuclear option – a person who grants anyone who holds its access to its entire payload. That’s why most people who use them are forced to rely on beautiful ancient security measures to protect them: bury them, use book passwords, distribute copies and bury them, cover them over an increasing number of heat-resistant alloys, and more.

But the safe height of digital cash could be anything that canned coffee buried in the borders of a ridiculous backyard. That is the Stone Age security of space-age assets. And, the only recovery tool for most people is the idea that they themselves are easily lost, and is the question: if you are easily lost, is it even a recovery tool?

Managing seed phrases may be better than dealing with private key materials, but it is still not good – not suitable for security or security, not for user experience, and ultimately not for the growth and widespread adoption of Bitcoin.

The future of money should work like the future of money

Bitcoin itself starts with and intends to be electronic cash. It is ultimately software that is designed to run for use. For too many people, making sure it has become the source of great anxiety and practical difficulties. There is a better way.

The future of money should be like the future of money, not the future of a long time ago, and it should be like the future of money, and ultimately ensure your work. It should turn on new features, inspire confidence, intuitive and even pleasing use- you shouldn’t lose access to coins just because you make typos or lose paper.

Even hardcore, self-hosted Bitcoin admits: seed phrases are a pain. They are a clumsy parking device that is never the ultimate game of digital currency on the surface. We should stop treating them as if they were the defining characteristics of self-guardation.

This is a guest post from Max Guise. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.