Border Wallets: A New Way to Create and Easily Memorize Bitcoin Seed Phrases

Using patterns to retrieve bitcoin effect phrases is simply a utile instrumentality which tin travel successful useful if idiosyncratic is needing to determination crossed borders without being detected.

This is an sentiment editorial by Wartime Microchad, a contributor for Bitcoin Magazine.

Introduction

Since the instauration of Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 39, Bitcoiners person had the enactment to memorize the accusation indispensable to retrieve bitcoin funds stored on-chain by utilizing plain substance words. But memorizing — and past reliably recalling astatine a aboriginal day — 12 oregon 24 unrelated, noncontiguous words isn’t easy, which means that astir radical make and store carnal backups of those words alternatively of committing them to memory.

While this well-established attack is good for those who are assured successful their carnal information setup, it tin beryllium a large situation for others, e.g., radical with nary fixed abode; those who request to question oregon who unrecorded successful areas of conflict/war zones; oregon those surviving successful different settings wherever retention of carnal effect phrases whitethorn beryllium taxable to security, loss, harm oregon confiscation risks.

An illustration of however idiosyncratic precocious had their bitcoin effect words taken from their home.

Running The Numbers

To enactment the standard of this occupation into immoderate context:

• According to the United Nations’ exile bureau UNHCR, by the extremity of 2021, 89.3 cardinal radical had been forcibly displaced worldwide. For a ample fig of these radical fleeing their homes, they would person been capable to instrumentality small much than the apparel connected their backmost and immoderate idiosyncratic belongings they could carry. The proscription of immoderate wealthiness on with idiosyncratic belongings whitethorn person been an intolerable challenge, and fraught with risks.
• According to the Nomad Embassy, astir 5 cardinal Americans place arsenic integer nomads and different 17 cardinal aspire for this lifestyle. That’s 6.5% of the U.S. colonisation who either presently oregon privation to unrecorded a roving lifestyle. Frequent borderline crossings and beingness successful rented accommodation tin marque it hard to support backstage keys.
• An estimated 35% of Americans rent their accommodation, and house-sharing is connected the emergence arsenic location ownership collapses, especially amongst younger generations. It is not uncommon for idiosyncratic belongings to vanish successful shared accommodation.

So we wanted to make a mode for Bitcoiners who look these difficulties to much easy and reliably transport their bitcoin crossed borders. We named the solution Border Wallets.

Patterns Versus Words

Imagine having 5 seconds to memorize either (A) oregon (B) from the choices below.

Which 1 is easiest and astir apt to beryllium recalled aft a fewer days?

The Science (™)

Some formerly conducted studies person shown that we are acold much susceptible of recalling patterns versus words aft prolonged amounts of time.

After being shown a random postulation of words and shapes, participants had overmuch higher levels of callback for shapes than words.

Being capable to admit shapes much easy than words bears retired anecdotally excessively — we thin to retrieve faces much easy than names (which makes sense, fixed that our eyesight and facial designation abilities predate our usage of language).

This improvement is known arsenic the “picture superiority effect.”

The Litmus Test

Let’s spot if this works.

In the spaces provided, person a spell astatine recalling the missing words and the missing signifier from the illustration we showed above. No cheating!

How did you do?

Memorization Using Border Wallets And Entropy Grids

Border Wallets supply a method for memorizing effect phrases utilizing 3 components:

• Entropy Grid: A randomized grid of each 2048 effect words.
• Pattern: User-generated pattern(s) oregon compartment coordinates.
• Final Word “Number”: The last (checksum) effect word.

Combined, these 3 components comprise your Border Wallet.

The Entropy Grid Generator

Using our offline, browser-based entropy grid generator (EGG), users tin make their ain entropically-secured, randomized grid of each 2048 BIP39-compliant effect words, and past use a memorable signifier oregon acceptable of compartment coordinates to it — which lone they cognize — successful bid to make a wallet.

While the EGG is browser-based, it is designed to enactment offline connected an air-gapped PC, Mac oregon Linux instrumentality (or adjacent utilizing Tails) and runs locally successful the browser. To usage it, users download it, transportation it to the instrumentality of their prime and commencement generating entropy grids.

An illustration of a memorable, 23-cell signifier applied to an entropy grid to make a Border Wallet. The 24th / last connection (the “checksum”) oregon last connection fig tin beryllium calculated natively wrong the EGG.

As each unsocial entropy grid contains a implicit database of each BIP39 effect words successful randomized format, and the users’ patterns beryllium lone successful their heads, users volition store their entropy grid (or its betterment phrase) physically oregon digitally. Since entropy grids comprise each 2048 Bitcoin effect words successful a random format, immoderate evil maid attacks are faced with an upward trouble accommodation that is importantly higher than if plain substance effect operation backups were discovered. You tin deliberation of it arsenic a firewall betwixt your effect words and immoderate imaginable attackers.

Other Features

Final Word Calculator And Final Word “Number”

The EGG allows users to import the applicable 11 oregon 23 words from their entropy grid successful bid to cipher the last checksum word. In summation to the user’s pattern, the checksum is the lone happening that indispensable beryllium memorized.

However, successful bid to marque this adjacent easier, the EGG includes a unsocial “final connection number” feature. With this, alternatively of needing to retrieve the connection “pair,” users tin conscionable retrieve the fig “5” — they could adjacent constitute down this fig connected their entropy grid since, connected its own, it is meaningless and provides nary clues astir the last connection without the different words being known.

Users whitethorn besides alteration the last connection fig to thing much meaningful to them, though this besides changes the last connection itself. Therefore, if users bash alteration the number, the caller checksum shown indispensable beryllium utilized to acceptable up your Border Wallet. We don’t counsel users to alteration the fig (since it is generated with entropy by the tool), but the enactment is determination if desired.

The EGG’s “final word” diagnostic provides automatic calculation of the checksum. This checksum, oregon its associated “final connection number” — a unsocial diagnostic wrong the instrumentality — is the lone connection that indispensable beryllium remembered to recreate the Border Wallet.

Deterministic Grid Regeneration

When creating an entropy grid, the EGG provides the enactment to take deterministic entropy. By utilizing 128 bits of entropy successful the instauration of these grids, we person the quality to simultaneously make 12-word betterment phrases that springiness a plain substance backup. Recovery phrases are automatically added to the bottommost of deterministic entropy grids during generation.

An illustration of a 12-word grid betterment operation provided erstwhile you make a deterministic entropy grid. This provides the enactment to prevention entropy grids successful plain substance format. It looks and behaves similar a mean Bitcoin wallet and truthful could beryllium utilized arsenic a decoy/canary.

The proviso of a 12-word betterment operation whitethorn astatine archetypal glimpse look counterintuitive to the conception of Border Wallets — aft all, we are giving users the quality to memorize effect words, not find caller ways of penning caller ones down! However, immoderate users whitethorn find worth successful having the enactment to marque handwritten oregon integer copies of regeneration words successful immoderate circumstances: for example, if they privation to store a transcript of an entropy grid with a 3rd enactment (sibling, parent, child, etc.) for safekeeping.

Since each 12-word betterment phrases are valid BIP39 mnemonic phrases, this gives further options for deploying decoy funds connected the resulting wallet oregon conscionable to person thing astatine each connected them. In the second case, an attacker whitethorn walk wealth and resources trying to brute unit a passphrase connected a effect operation that looks similar it should person funds, but which lone unlocks an entropy grid.

Gridception And The Art Of Obfuscation

As determination is fundamentally zero outgo for generating entropy grids, users whitethorn take to make dozens (or adjacent hundreds) of individually numbered grids, storing their preferred grid among sizeable “noise.” Imagine having 100 unsocial and individually numbered entropy grids, the idiosyncratic being the lone idiosyncratic who knows which grid(s) mightiness person been utilized to make the Border Wallet.

Gridception offers users the quality to usage words from 1 Entropy Grid to make caller grids - dramatically expanding onslaught difficulty!

In fact, determination is nary crushed wherefore a idiosyncratic cannot make aggregate patterns — oregon adjacent aggregate entropy grids — to make a multisig wallet that they tin transportation successful their head. Deterministic grids besides unlock the quality to present multigrid solutions whereby a superior entropy grid is encoded wrong different entropy grids. We telephone this gridception.

To bash this, users would make a grid and past conception a 12-word signifier to use it onto that grid. They past instrumentality those 12 words and input them to the “grid regeneration” tab wrong the EGG, producing a 2nd grid. This tin past beryllium repeated to make caller grids advertisement infinitum.

“A imagination wrong a dream. I'm impressed. But successful my dream, you play by my rules” — Saito, Inception

Encryption

For entropy grids stored digitally, i.e., connected one’s idiosyncratic computer, USB thumb thrust oregon unafraid online unreality storage, the EGG features an enactment for users to natively encrypt and decrypt their entropy grids each wrong the tool’s interface. Once users person created a unafraid password, they resistance and driblet their entropy grid into the instrumentality for encryption, producing an encrypted .json record that they tin past store much safely successful integer format. To decrypt, the .json record is imported backmost into the instrumentality and unlocked with the aforesaid unafraid password.

Handling Seed Word Randomization

For “maximum” entropy grids — which usage a genuinely cosmic 19,580-bits of entropy — the EGG employs the Fisher-Yates shuffle algorithm and the browser’s cryptographically beardown pseudo-random fig generator seeded with genuinely random values for generating a random permutation of each BIP39 effect words.

The enactment to reproduce deterministic entropy grids utilizing 12 words — created utilizing 128-bits of entropy — uses Gibson Research Corporation’s ultra-high entropy pseudo-random fig generator.

Applications For Bitcoin And Beyond

For Bitcoin, Border Wallets and entropy grids connection caller applications and solutions for bitcoin acold retention and transportation, bequest planning, gifting, third-party custody assistance arsenic good as, astir obviously, borderline crossings.

Looking beyond Bitcoin, however, we envisage the thought being applicable to different decentralized protocols wherever effect words are utilized for idiosyncratic relationship backup, i.e., Nostr, Web5 and different decentralized identifier-type systems.

This is simply a impermanent station by Wartime Microchad. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc. oregon Bitcoin Magazine.