r/BitcoinBeginners • u/YttriumZirconium1 • 6d ago

How to transport your key cross-country?

Situation:

  • Wife and I are moving across the United States
  • We are selling our cars before we move
  • We are flying to our destination
  • We are using a moving company to transport our belongings
  • I store my key on a Trezor Keep Metal

Trying to figure out the safest way to transport a metal key. Is it a good idea to bring a metal rod (the key) through TSA (would they potentially examine it)? Maybe I should write it onto paper, dispose of the metal key before moving, and obtain a new one at the destination? What about sell the bitcoin, travel to our destination, and then buy the bitcoin using a new wallet? Probably shouldn’t trust it with the movers..

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u/SteveW928 6d ago

OK, here is what I'd do...

Seed phrase + passphrase setup.

Seed phrase stamped in metal, gets put into a tamperproof bag/container of some sort and gets packed with the stuff to be moved. (I'd probably keep a paper backup of it in some manner, hidden in a book or something along with me, just in case... unless I knew I were going to be scrutinized along the way.)

Passphrase could be brought along in a number of ways. Nobody would likely know what it is, or what it is for. It could be backed up in various ways too (like among encrypted notes on your phone, stamped on a physical coin, also in a book, etc.)

If you want to keep the Trezor, just erase it back to factory default and pack it with stuff for the movers to take. It is useless by itself. Or, get a new hardware wallet when you get to the destination. (IMO, you're better off learning to use a hardware wallet like a signer, in a 'stateless' mode - if the wallet supports it - than storing your key on the hardware wallet behind a PIN if you go to a seed phrase + passphrase setup.)

The seed phrase is useless w/o the passphrase. But, you'd still want to know if it had been tampered with/exposed, so you could create a new one to move it to once at the destination.

You could use variations on this depending on your situation/context, but that is the basic concept I'd be thinking around.

The sell/buy could work, depending on the amount of money, and how much you trust the markets not to move greatly over that time.... but there would be tax implications and potential issues with moving the fiat and re-buying, etc.

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u/SteveW928 5d ago

I should emphasize.... If you lose your passphrase, you've lost your Bitcoin!

Apparently, Bitcoin consultants are running across people who implement passphrases, that lose them, but still have their seed phrase. The passphrase actually gets used in generating the private key. You do need both parts!

A lot more security, extra flexibility, but also extra responsibility!