As long as Bitcoin exists, self-herb is the ability to handle and keep with your own wealth without an intermediary of third parties such as a bank or other financial institution-central in the offer.
For some, self -guardianship is a well -maintained belief in the right to ‘be your own bank’. For others it is a practical step that has been taken to protect a valuable property that can be exchanged by hacks, mismanagement or collapse in FTX style. A bit like a locker full of cash keeping at home, if there is a run on the “bank”, your coins are immune.
And although the ‘how’ of self -guardianship in Bitcoin’s history has changed into the history of Bitcoin, today’s actual industry stands – the seed sentence – often leaves users in a (sometimes huge) loss when things go wrong.
A distinction without a difference
In the early days of Bitcoin there was only self -kept. With the risk of too much to do, self -guardianship meant managing private speech material -a series of 64 random signs that gave the person access to the underlying Bitcoin. Tools for managing private keys were quite limited: remember or write them on and keep them safely somewhere. But only do one character misplaced, and oops, your key doesn’t work. Even if you do everything right, there is still the very real possibility of loss – for theft, accident or disaster.
Seed sentences meant to make private keys easier to manage. Instead of protecting random characters, Bitcoin improvement proposal-39 (BIP-39) In essence, have a handful of simple words for a private key. As long as you have the correct order of words, you always get the same private key and you have access to your funds.
Although it is absolutely easier to deal with a few common words than a long series of characters, the risk of loss due to human mistakes, theft or disaster is essentially the same with a seed sentence as ever with private keys. For everyone who has lost a backup if they really needed it, it is a distinction without a difference. If it is gone, it is gone, and there is no back.
Go beyond the security of the stone era for space time points
Somewhere. But self -guardianship is not an object; It is a possibility. And seed sentences are much liable than they are.
Of course, with a seed sentence you can regenerate your keys or easily move your funds to another wallet, but it leaves everyone who also sees it. It is a nuclear option – one that gives everyone who keeps access to the entire load. That is why most people they use are forced to rely on beautiful archaic security measures to protect them: bury them, use book figures, distribute copies and buried that, vote for more and more heat -resistant alloys, and so on.
But the idea that the highlight of the security for digital money can be everything that can border on the absurd close to burying a coffee in the back garden. That is the protection of the stone era for a space age. And the idea that the only recovery tool of most people is something that they can lose quite easily, raises the question: if you can easily lose it, is it even a recovery tool?
Managing a seed sense may be better than dealing with private key material, but it is still not good – not for security or safety, not for user experience, and ultimately not for the growth of Bitcoin and the widespread acceptance.
The future of money should work as the future of money
Bitcoin itself started as and is intended as, electronic money. It is ultimately software, intended to be used to be used. For too many people, securing it has become a source of great fear and practical difficulty. There is a better way.
The future of money should feel and work such as and ultimately protected such as the future of money, not long ago that money past. It should open new possibilities, inspire trust, be intuitive and even pleasant to use – and you should not lose access to your coins just because you make a typing error or lose a piece of paper.
Even hardcore, self-sovereign bitcoiners will admit: seed sentences are difficult. They are an awkward stop gap and were never intended as the endgame for an apparently digital currency. We must stop treating them as if they were the determining feature of self -guardian.
This is a guest post from Max Guise. The expression of opinions are completely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.