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Contents
Learn
Start here. Crypto Security
Learn about how the risks of holding cryptocurrency are different than those of traditional investments, and how to move ahead with confidence and safety.
October 25 2024
Excited to launch 🚀 a new universal resource - all about cryptocurrency security.
Welcome to the exciting journey of owning Cryptocurrency. Start here to learn the basics about risks in the crypto landscape, and where to turn to learn more about how to keep your cryptocurrency secure.
Vault12: Keep Your Cryptocurrency Secure | Wasim Ahmad, Chief Crypto Officer
TL;DR
Crypto wallets are very easy to start using in an insecure fashion.
You need to understand what a seed phrase is.
You need to understand why your seed phrase backup is the most important part of keeping your crypto safe.
The right choices about crypto security are personal and unique to each individual.
Vault12 "Learn" articles offer you understanding and insights no matter your level of experience with crypto.
What can I expect to find in this set of "Secure My Crypto" articles?
We created this site for our friends and family who are new to cryptocurrency, and who want to learn more about how to secure their crypto funds. We hope that the next 500 million future crypto investors will also use the information presented here to make the right choices to protect their digital assets.
The world of crypto is very different from that of traditional finance - the risks of loss, theft, accidents, or even simply forgetting your access information can result in an irrecoverable loss of funds. We want to arm people with the knowledge to make the right decisions to protect themselves.
Crypto wallets are essential to have, and surprisingly easy to use - they allow you to start buying crypto quickly. BUT in order to get you to the buying stage, many "how-to" websites and wallet vendors gloss over options that you have for how to make secure choices along the way. Our guides offer the right security advice at the right time as you set up your wallet.
There are a couple of core concepts that you will need to understand about your crypto wallet along the way: What is a seed phrase? And what are the ways to back it up? (Paper is only one way, and not the most robust - yet it is often the default or the only option described).
If you are an experienced crypto enthusiast, and you want pointers on some advanced approaches to security, you may find that definitive guides simply don't exist on the internet - at least not in an accessible way. Technical tidbits from a mish-mash of timeframes and sources can be found buried deep inside forums, but it is challenging to string them together in a meaningful or reliable way. Our optional advanced articles point the way forward to explore complex topics like how to generate a seed phrase using a pair of 20-sided dice.
In publishing both introductory and advanced articles, we've brought the foundations of crypto security together as an easily-digestible collection so that you can be confident and ready to participate in this brave new world.
Can I responsibly manage my own crypto and digital assets?
If you lose your keys, you can call a locksmith to open your door or car. (There are about 26,000 locksmiths in the U.S., so clearly, there is a need for this type of service!) However, if you lose the private keys or seed phrase associated with your crypto wallet, you are out of luck. Bitcoin, as well as all other major cryptocurrencies that came after it, is built upon public-key cryptography, a cryptographic system that uses pairs of keys. Public keys are used to identify blockchain addresses, which are publicly viewable, and private keys are kept secret and used for authentication and encryption. This encryption is so effective that if you lose your private keys, you would not be able to authenticate that you are the owner of the funds stored at the blockchain address, and you wouldn't be able to move or sell your cryptocurrency - your funds would effectively be "gone."
The biggest difference between the traditional financial system and the world of cryptocurrency is that with crypto, you are responsible for controlling the security of your funds - not the bank, and not the government. Because of individual variation in assets, preferences, and risks, there is no single set of security options that is right for everyone. This means that you need to choose the right layers of security to use for your situation. This site will give you the practical knowledge about security essentials that you need and will explain some of the tradeoffs that exist so that you can make the best choices for yourself.
We discuss the risks associated with holding cryptocurrency in our article "Why should I care about Security?" These risks include:
What else do I need to understand about digital wallets?
There are a couple of basic concepts about wallets that you will need to know or learn, especially those related to seed phrases and how to back them up. Nine out of ten crypto wallets will tell you, or strongly imply, that you should write down your seed phrase on paper. As convenient as this is, it's not the most robust approach for protecting such critical information.
With seed phrase backups and other wallet setup choices, only you can decide the right approach for choosing and setting up your crypto wallet and other digital assets, but usually the right answer lies in using multiple layers of security. The right answer for you will come from understanding the options and making informed choices.
- What is a seed phrase?
- How to back up a seed phrase?
- How to set up your crypto wallet?
How can I learn more about Web 3 crypto assets?
The articles below explain how crypto assets are used and protected, and contain more links that you can follow to dip your toes further into the world of Web3 tokens and assets.
https://linkedin.com/in/wasima
https://twitter.com/wasima
https://startag.xyz/wasima
Learn
Start here. Crypto Security
Learn about how the risks of holding cryptocurrency are different than those of traditional investments, and how to move ahead with confidence and safety.
October 25 2024
Wasim Ahmad
Wasim is a serial entrepreneur and an advisor in the fields of AI, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and encryption solutions. At Vault12, he led the private and public fundraising efforts and focuses today on expanding the Vault12 ecosystem. His crypto experience began with AlphaPoint, where he worked with the founding team to launch the world's first crypto trading exchanges. Previously he was a founding member of Voltage Security, a spinout from Stanford University, that launched Identity-Based Encryption (IBE), a breakthrough in Public Key Cryptography, and pioneered the use of sophisticated data encryption to protect sensitive data across the world's payment systems. Wasim serves on the board of non-profit, StartOut, and is a Seedcamp and WeWork Labs global mentor.
Wasim graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physics and French from the University of Sussex.
Vault12
Vault12 is the pioneer in crypto inheritance and backup. The company was founded in 2015 to provide a way to enable everyday crypto customers to add a legacy contact to their cry[to wallets. The Vault12 Guard solution is blockchain-independent, runs on any mobile device with biometric security, and is available in Apple and Google app stores.
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You will lose your Bitcoin and other crypto when you die...
...unless you set up Crypto Inheritance Management today.
It's simple — if you don't worry about crypto inheritance, nobody else will — not your software or hardware wallet vendors, not your exchanges, and not your wealth managers. So it's up to you to think about how to protect the generational wealth you have created, and reduce the risks around passing that wealth on to your family and heirs. What are the challenges with crypto inheritance?
- Crypto Wallets are difficult to use and do not offer crypto inheritance management. In fact, most of them tell you to write down your seed phrase on a piece of paper, which is practically useless.
- Some people back up their wallet seed phrases or private keys on paper, local devices like hardware wallets or USBs, or in the cloud. All of these options have severe drawbacks that range from hacking to accidental loss to disrupted cloud services.
- Software wallets operate onspecific blockchains, yet your crypto assets span multiple blockchains. For inheritance to work, you must be able to manage inheritance across every blockchain — now and forever.
Vault12 is the pioneer in crypto inheritance management. Watch our explainer video above, or our inheritance demo today.
Crypto Inheritance Management: Get ready today
Vault12 is the pioneer in Crypto Inheritance Management, and offers an easy-to-use and secure method for assigning a legacy contact to your crypto wallets. Vault12 Guard enables you to pass on your wallet seed phrases and private keys for any cryptos including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to future generations. It's designed for everyday people, yet strong enough for Crypto OGs.
This innovative, decentralized system uses a hybrid approach of software fused with the Secure Element of phone devices (the Secure Enclave for iOS devices, and Strongbox for Google devices).
Vault12 Guard enables users to appoint one or more people or mobile devices as Guardians. The designated Guardians are entrusted to collectively protect the user's comprehensive collection of wallet seed phrases and private keys, which are safely stored within a decentralized digital Vault. Nothing is stored on cloud servers or Vault12 servers, and no assets are stored on local devices, making them less of a target.
The decentralized approach reduces points of failure and removes the necessity for regularly revising wallet inventories or modifying instructions for your lawyers (which could lead to privacy breaches). Simply put, Vault12 Guard is the best way to preserve crypto generational wealth.
Take the first step and back up your crypto wallets.
Designed to be used alongside traditional hardware and software crypto wallets, Vault12 Guard helps cryptocurrency owners back up their wallet seed phrases and private keys (assets) without storing anything in the cloud or any single location. This increases protection and decreases the risks of loss. Making sure you have an up to date back up is the first step in crypto inheritance management.
The Vault12 Guard app enables secure decentralized backups and provides inheritance for all your seed phrases and private keys across any blockchain, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, ERC-20, and other crypto wallets.
Note: For anyone unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies, Vault12 refers to wallet seed phrases and private keys as assets, crypto assets, and digital assets. The Vault12 Guard app includes a software wallet that works alongside your digital Vault. The primary purpose of this is to guard your Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) wallet seed phrases, private keys, and other essential data, now and for future generations.
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