Transcription
One of the most powerful things you can do to improve your financial sovereignty is to move your Bitcoin off of the exchange into your self-custody. That means moving your Bitcoin from the exchange where you bought it to a digital wallet where you and only you control the access. Until you do this, you don't really own anything.
These wallets that are designed to help you self-custody your Bitcoin are guarded by a special master password or what's also called a seed phrase or key. Typically, this seed phrase is composed of what seems like a random collection of 12 or 24 words. And these seed phrases are mathematically very secure. Your responsibility is to safely guard the string of words and not lose it. Easier said than done, I'm afraid.
Here's a scary thought: What happens if you lose your seed phrase that controls access to your wallet? Or worse, what if someone else sees or steals that seed phrase? Either way, your Bitcoin is likely gone forever. And this scenario isn't just theoretical. Josh asked the guy in the UK who lost access to 8,000 Bitcoin worth over $770 million when he accidentally threw away his laptop containing his seed phrase. And the worst part is, he knows where the laptop is. It's in a landfill, and the city and the courts will not let him dig it up. Now, if he had the seed phrase, this wouldn't be a problem.
So, what's the big problem? Traditional Bitcoin wallets have a fatal flaw. They rely on a single seed phrase. That string of 12 or 24 words that controls everything. Lose it and you're done. Have it stolen and you're done. It's like keeping your life savings behind a door with just one key. Not exactly great peace of mind, huh?
This is why taking your Bitcoin into your own self-custody, while absolutely essential for self-sovereignty, can feel so nerve-wracking. It's a huge responsibility. Sure, moving your coins from an exchange to a wallet means you're finally in control, but with that control comes enormous responsibility.
Fortunately, Bitcoiners saw this coming. While basic wallets were part of the original 2009 Bitcoin Core code, by 2012, Bitcoin developers created something far more powerful: multi-signature wallets. Instead of putting your trust in the single seed phrase, multi-signature wallets, or multisig wallets, use multiple keys working together. Think of it like one of those nuclear switches where both keys have to be inserted and turned at the exact same time. Or at least, that's what they show on the movies. It's like that. There's no single point of failure.
The most popular setup for these multisig wallets is what's called a two-of-three multisig. In this setup, you have three total keys or seed phrases, but you only need two of them to sign a transaction and move your funds. This creates an incredible security system. Lose one key? No problem, you've got backups. Have one key stolen? The thief can't do anything. Need to give emergency access to a family member? Now you can do it, and you can do it safely. Want to store backups in different locations? We've got you covered. And if you want to set up an inheritance plan? No problem.
To make things even more secure, people often store these seed phrases in various hardware wallets, specialized devices that keep your Bitcoin safe from online threats. But here's where things get messy. Setting up a traditional multisig wallet means dealing with multiple hardware devices, complex software, and technical headaches that scare most people away. And with good reason.
But that is about to change. Because you found a handsome, smart, and humble YouTuber that will show you how to set up a multisig wallet quickly, easily, and securely. In today's video, I'm going to show you how to set up a powerful multi-seed wallet using nothing but just your ordinary cell phone and one Blockstream Jade. And no, we're not compromising security in any way. The Blockstream Jade only holds one seed phrase at a time and does so temporarily during setup and signing. You can still geographically distribute your seed phrases across different locations for maximum security. The real protection comes from how you store your seed phrases, not from juggling multiple hardware devices. Are you ready to get ultimate security without the technical nightmare? Let's get to it and see how simple multisig can be.
Okay, first, a couple of prerequisites. Number one, you need a wallet. So, we're going to be using in this demonstration a wallet called Blue Wallet. It's available at bluewallet.io and it's free, and it's available for iOS, Android, and various desktop platforms. You can go to the website, check it out, and download the appropriate application.
Number two, you're going to need a Blockstream Jade. I have a link in the description below that'll take you right to the store. Yes, it's an affiliate link. And the Blockstream Jade right now is priced at $78. The price fluctuates a little bit based on seasonality, but that's pretty cheap, and it's one of the best values for hardware wallets on the market. And incidentally, they just released a brand new device called the Blockstream Jade Plus, which is basically a Blockstream Jade, more modernized version, basically, and it's more expensive. So, if you want to save some money, you can get the same basic device for a lot less.
And lastly, you're going to need about 15 minutes or so. Hopefully, like I said, setting up traditional multisig wallets is a pain in the ass. Juggling multiple hardware devices, each with its own interface and protocols. You need separate seed phrases for each device, plus special multisig configuration. One wrong move could cost you everything. Not super user-friendly.
And that's where the Blockstream Jade comes in. This particular device has a special feature that allows it to operate as a stateless signing device. A what? A stateless signing device is essentially a signing machine that maintains zero persistent storage. Unlike traditional hardware wallets that keep your seed phrase tucked away in an internal chip, a stateless device starts completely blank, and it only creates the keys you need when you provide your seed phrase. Then it wipes everything clean when you power it down. No leftover data, no stored secrets, just a pure signing tool that starts from scratch each use.
The downside is you have to re-enter your seed phrase every time you want to use the thing. But they thought about that as well. When you power up your Blockstream Jade, you can select "Temporary Signer" in the menus, and I'll show you a video on this, and enter seed phrase manually like every other hardware device. Or you can simply scan a QR code, and that activates the device. It literally takes a second.
And where do you get this QR code? Well, the Jade itself can help you create one, and there are instructions for that online. Or you can generate one using a seed phrase generator like this. This is a seed tool brought to you by Bitcoiner Dogu Seed. And what you can do is create your seed phrase on this website. Now, super important: never ever use a seed phrase that you create online. A lot of people say, "Never use the seed phrase that you create on a device that is connected to the internet." But that's another story, and I agree with that to some extent. So, what you need to do is download this page and then run it on your computer, sort of offline. Right now, I'm connected to the internet, but what I need to do is go to the file menu of my browser, select "Save page as," and then run the tool. It'll download a file, then double-click it, open it. It will open in your browser, but the address will be completely different. It won't be bitcoiner.dogu, it will be the path to the file on your computer. Okay, so you run it locally, not on the internet. I'm just going to show this while we're on the internet just to show you how it works.
You select the seed generation tab and simply select "Generate" to generate a new seed phrase, or you can enter a seed phrase right here. Either way, what you're going to be presented with is a compact seed QR. And that is what the Jade can scan. Okay, very important. So, let's go ahead and generate one now. We've generated a seed phrase right there, and right below it is the QR. If I use my Blockstream Jade, I can scan this QR code, and it enters the seed phrase into the device, and we're all set. It literally takes a second. And that is how you generate a QR code, either using a new seed or before you. They refresh this page. While the page is clean, you can enter a seed phrase. No, on the internet page, you have to run it locally. You can enter seed phrase into this area, and you'll get a QR for that seed phrase. If you want, you can disconnect from the internet temporarily. It doesn't need to be connected to the internet to do its job. Okay, so that's how you generate a QR code. You can print it out, laminate it, keep it in a drawer, whatever you want to do.
But we are using a multisig wallet, so we need two, three, four, five QR codes for five different seed phrases. So, you can work the setup however you want. I'm going to show you today a two-of-three multisig setup. Then, once you've activated the Blockstream Jade by scanning the QR code, you can sign transactions and operate the device like normal until it's powered off and the memory is wiped clean. That way, if you lose the Jade or somebody steals it, there's no information stored on it that might put your Bitcoin at risk. Let's go ahead and take a look at how you activate this stateless signing mode on the Jade right now. Oh, and I'll show you how to scan the QR, and then I'm going to show you how to display the xpub to be able to enter it into a multisig setup. Roll it.
Okay, let me show you how to activate this stateless signer mode on the Blockstream Jade. Well, first, you need to get a Blockstream Jade, and you do that by going down below and selecting that link and buying one from their store. Then, after you get it, power on the device with this button on the side. Wait a second, and then you need to navigate to the menu item called "Temporary Signer." You do that by going to the right using this little rocker switch here, and then selecting the menu item with this button here. And that's the options menu. You can see right here that the Jade is uninitialized. It does not have a seed phrase stored in the device. So, I'll select that. Select "Temporary Signer." "Do you want to temporarily log in using a recovery phrase?" Yes, I do. This gives you the option to enter 12-word seed phrases or 24-word by hand, so to speak, but it does a great job at helping you select the words and speeding up that process. But the fastest way to do it is to scan a QR code. And I'm going to select that, and when I do that, it will activate this little camera on the device. Then we're going to go scan the QR code, and I'll show you how quick it is.
So, there the camera has started up, and that's it. It scanned that QR code on my computer, and now it's asking for a passphrase. I don't have one associated with this account, so I'm going to go to the check mark. Check mark, select that, and then I select the connection method to the wallet. And for this video, I'm going to be doing QR code. And that's it. Now the device is activated in a stateless mode. You can see it's active. This is the master fingerprint of the Bitcoin wallet on the device. When I power off, the memory is erased. Now, in order to display the QR code for a multisig wallet to enter this device or this wallet into a multisig setup, you need to display the xpub. So, in order to do that, you go back to the options menu, and now that the device is activated, the options menu is different. So, I'm going to go into "Wallet Export Xpub," and there it is. And then I just take my Blue Wallet, scan this QR code, and that will enter this xpub into the wallet as one of the multi-keys. Then I repeat the process with the next key and the next key, or however many I want to enter into the wallet.
Now, really important note to keep in mind here: this is designated as a multisig key. Need to go in here, which is not default. Need to go into the options and make sure the wallet setting is on multisig rather than single sig, okay? Otherwise, it won't work. The wallet won't work properly. And that's it. So, you scan the QR code with the Blue Wallet, and that's how you enter the key.
There's one last thing I wanted to show you. I forgot to mention earlier. If you'll notice, the Blockstream Jade is initialized, and this is the master fingerprint of the seed phrase or the wallet that's on the device right now. I just scanned this QR code, but it, you don't have to turn the device off if you want to scan another QR code and move to another seed phrase. And that's easy, easily done. You go to "Session," and then press "Log Out," and you're clean. And then you can go ahead and go back into options, "Temporary Signer," continue, scan QR, and you can scan the next QR code. Easy peasy.
Okay, now all the prerequisites are done. You know how to work the Jade, you know how to create a stateless mode, you know how to create a QR, and you know how to scan a QR code to create a multisig wallet. Now we need to create the wallet. This is why you're all here. Go ahead and download and install the Blue Wallet application on your phone, and I'll meet you there.
Okay, here we are back on my iPhone, and as you can see, I have the Blue Wallet application loaded on my phone. I'm going to open that up, and there are no wallets in the application right now. Let's take a quick tour around. This is not a Blue Wallet video, it's a multisig video, so I'm not going to spend too much time poking around the application. I do have other videos on the Blue Wallet on my channel. If I click this three-button menu in the upper right, it takes us into the settings. There's a general area, some settings you can look at there, currency, set your language. There's a security area. I have it set to use Face ID. If you have seed phrases on your phone, you're going to want the encrypted password and password-protected storage, so that's important to select that. Make sure we're on the right network, and then there are some other tools available, Bitcoin tools, and that's about it. And then you can find out what version you're using. There's the tour.
But we are here to create a multisig wallet, so let's go ahead and do that. So, it's pretty obvious what you press. Press "Add a Wallet." Add now. Then you're given a selection of creating two different kinds of wallets: a simple single-sig wallet, which is pre-selected for you, or a multisig vault, which is right beneath it. Or you can import a wallet by clicking the "Import Wallet" button underneath. It doesn't look like a button, but those words are a button. I'm going to select "Multisig Vault." We're going to call this "Multisig Demo," okay, and I'm going to press "Create."
All right, now here's where you have the opportunity to change the setup of the wallet. It says, "A vault is a two-of-three multisig wallet. It needs two vault keys to spend and a third one you can use as a backup." I'm going to select "Settings." The quorum, which is how the wallet is set up, is already pre-selected at two-of-three, but you have an unlimited number of choices here for setting up any kind of multisig you want. And then you can select the derivation path of the wallet. Just leave it the way it is. We're going to leave it at two-of-three, and I'm going to press "Let's Start."
Okay, now you have the option to use three separate hardware devices connected to your multisig setup. Or, in our case, we're going to use one device that holds three separate keys. But instead of using three separate hardware wallets or three separate seed phrases that I scan with my device, I'm going to use a software key that stays in the application. So, one of the three keys will be a key that I put into the wallet itself. The other two keys will be Blockstream Jade keys. Makes sense? So, let's do that. In order to do that, I have to press "Import" rather than "Create New," and I'm going to put a seed phrase that I have set aside into the wallet right now. I'll be back. I'll do that, I'll press "Enter," and I'll be right back.
All right, key number one is in. And again, the full key is going to reside on the device. So, you're going to need to select that encryption option in the settings for security. Vault number two, the seed phrase is going to be temporarily in the Blockstream Jade, which we're going to scan the xpub in order to enter that seed phrase, but the seed phrase is not going to be stored in my device. So, the device will only have one seed phrase on here. If somebody got my phone and got into the application, they cannot send Bitcoin out of the Blue Wallet without the Jade. Okay, so let's go ahead and press "Import." And before I select "Scan," which is at the bottom of the page, I'm going to set the Jade up here. Select "Options," "Wallet Export Xpub," and let's go ahead and scan that code. Boom.
All right, now I'm going to stop the recording, scan the other QR code relative to the third key, and then I will be back, and we'll do the same thing for the third key. Okay, I'm back. Let's go ahead and enter this third key. I'm going to press "Import" and "Scan" or "Import a File," and that's it. Then I'm going to press "Create," and there we are. And magically, there's some Bitcoin in the wallet. "Multisig Demo" is the name of the wallet, and it has 0.26384 or 26,384 sats. I'm going to click that button, enter the wallet, and it should give us a dollar amount somewhere. No, if I click there, there we go, right there. Okay, so the USD sign next to the or to the right of the dollar amount is actually a button. If I click it, I rotate through sats, dollars, or Bitcoin. Right beneath that, there's a "Manage Keys" button. If I click that, it does the Face ID, and as you can see here, the top vault key, it has the seed phrase in it. You can forget the seed phrase and just use the xpub instead if you don't want any seed phrases stored on an connected device, or you can leave it on there for convenience. I did it for convenience because because I want to be able to use the Jade one time to sign a transaction, which we're going to do right now. So, I'm going to send this Bitcoin out of the wallet, and I'm going to sign the transaction with the Jade. So, let's get this Jade out of this QR mode here. There we go. And then the other two keys beneath there are simply the public keys associated with those two seed phrases, not the seed phrases themselves. You do have an opportunity to enter them on here, but then you lose the security.
Let's go back. Let's go ahead and I'm going to get an address and then we're going to send this Bitcoin out of this wallet. Okay, we're back into the wallet. I have the address I'm going to send this Bitcoin to in the clipboard. Going to press "Send" in the bottom right, and I'm going to paste that address into the address field here. There we go. You can also scan a QR code for the address if you'd like to do that. And you can paste a note. Back home, the fee right now is of course, is high because I'm recording. It's $149, which is insane. Actually, I went over to mempool.space here, and it says the fee is 26 cents. So, I'm going to see if we can change that fee before we send this out. Let's go back to the Blue Wallet.
All right, so we have the address in. How much Bitcoin do we want to send? Well, when I click the Bitcoin or the dollar amount up top, it gives us a keyboard. At the top of the keyboard is the amount of Bitcoin that's in the wallet. I'm going to click that number, and it says "Use full balance." Yes. And it just says "Max," which is great. The fee is still set at $1.26. I'm going to click that 26-cent button, and we're going to change the fee. And now we're in more of a reasonable territory. I'm going to press "Next."
Here's the signing process. So, it's a two-of-three multi. The vault key number one is the key that resides on the device that automatically signs a transaction. Then I need one of the two hardware keys that we set up just a minute ago. Provide signature. I'm going to scan this QR code with my Blockstream Jade. Okay, it detected the code. It's, I'm going to verify the address. It looks good to me, and press "Next." Verify the fee. Press "Next." And then I scan the signed Bitcoin transaction with the Blue Wallet app by selecting "Scan" or "Import File." I rescan this. Come on, you little bugger. And that's it. That took a little bit to scan, but got it done. The only thing left to do is confirm the transaction, which I'm going to press here and send. Now, Face ID, and done. That is cool.
So, that is an air-gapped signing. And it says "Pending Transaction" right here of $24.83. And now it is available on the blockchain. Incidentally, when I, when I was scanning with the Jade, it was having trouble scanning. So, I had to turn the Blue Wallet application to the light mode and make sure it was on a light background, and it scanned just fine. And we go back to the main page, and you can see the Multisig Demo wallet has a pending transaction and a zero balance. We did it.
And that's how you use a single $78 hardware device to create a super secure, next-level Bitcoin multisig wallet with the Blue Wallet application. And if you use one software key, like we did in this demo, you only need to activate the Jade with one of the QR codes to sign the transaction. The Jade is never connected to your device, and it is completely air-gapped signing process. Basically, it's cold storage multi-security with hot wallet convenience.
In conclusion, I really think the combination of the Blue Wallet with this little Blockstream Jade device is a secure, easy way to get into Bitcoin self-custody. From a single-sig hot wallet with a passphrase to a watch-only wallet connected to a hardware device to a complex 30-of-5 multisig, both of these devices have got you covered. Both the Blue Wallet and the Jade are fully open-source projects and are under very active development. Honestly, with these two products, you're pretty much all set for self-custody. You don't need anything else. All for $78.
I have a referral link to the Blockstream store if you're interested in looking at the device. And then just launched a new version of the Jade, which I have on order, and I'll be doing a video on that as soon as I get it. If you like today's video, smash the like button and make sure you hit the subscribe button. After all, it's free. Thank you so much for watching, and I will see you in the next video.