Multisig Wallet 2 of 3

[Bitcoiner2023]

Hello dear bitcoin community,
i would like to create a multisig wallet via Electrum and HWW.

My questions now would be:

1)
Do I only need the 3 seeds of the hardware wallet to restore the wallet, or do I also need the master public keys?

2)
To sign I would then need 2 of 3 of the HWW,
but to restore I need all 3 seeds right?
Or are 2 out of 3 enough to restore the wallet ?

3)
Is it also possible to create a 2 of 3 multisig with the Bitcoin Core wallet?


Thanks very much.

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[hosseinimr93]

Generally speaking, for creating a m of n multi-signature wallet, n master public keys are required. For spending fund from the multi-signature wallet, m of seed phrases are also required.
Take note that master public keys can be derived from the seed phrases.

If you want to create a 2 of 3 multi-signature wallet with three seed phrases, no master public key is needed. Because all master public keys are derived from the seed phrases.
If you want to create a 2 of 3 multi-signature wallet with two seed phrases, you will need 1 master public key as well.
If you want to create a 2 of 3 multi-signature wallet with one seed phrase, you will need 2 master public keys as well. (For spending fund from this wallet, the transaction has to be signed by a cosigner as well)

[dkbit98]

Do I only need the 3 seeds of the hardware wallet to restore the wallet, or do I also need the master public keys?

I don't know for all hardware wallets, but I know that for Blockstream Jade you need both recovery phrase and xpub to restore your wallet.
Ledger and Trezor are not great for multisig setup, or they didn't fully support it when I last checked, so I would be very careful whit devices you going to use.

To sign I would then need 2 of 3 of the HWW,
but to restore I need all 3 seeds right?
Or are 2 out of 3 enough to restore the wallet ?

Yes, with two keys you can spend keys, and there is no single point of failure, but you need to have all three to restore (unless you have xpub from the lost key).

Is it also possible to create a 2 of 3 multisig with the Bitcoin Core wallet?

I would generally not recommend doing this, unless you are already running Bitcoin node 24/7.
If not than you will have to wait for days for blockchain to download and wallet to sync, not ideal situation when you want to make multisig transaction,

[Bitcoiner2023]

Do I only need the 3 seeds of the hardware wallet to restore the wallet, or do I also need the master public keys?

I don't know for all hardware wallets, but I know that for Blockstream Jade you need both recovery phrase and xpub to restore your wallet.
Ledger and Trezor are not great for multisig setup, or they didn't fully support it when I last checked, so I would be very careful whit devices you going to use.

To sign I would then need 2 of 3 of the HWW,
but to restore I need all 3 seeds right?
Or are 2 out of 3 enough to restore the wallet ?

Yes, with two keys you can spend keys, and there is no single point of failure, but you need to have all three to restore (unless you have xpub from the lost key).

Is it also possible to create a 2 of 3 multisig with the Bitcoin Core wallet?

I would generally not recommend doing this, unless you are already running Bitcoin node 24/7.
If not than you will have to wait for days for blockchain to download and wallet to sync, not ideal situation when you want to make multisig transaction,

I already have a full node that doesn't run 24/7, but the synchronization is actually fast, it usually takes a maximum of 1 hour until everything is synchronized.

I use the multisig wallet to hold my bitcoins, I make very few payments with it, about 5-6 payments a year

I'm just unsure whether I should use Bitcoin Core for my multisig or Electrum via EPS....

and the HWW I wanted to use would be:
cold card
BitBox
Foundation Device or OneKey.

In your opinion, would this HWW be problem-free for a multisig?

[NeuroticFish]

I'm just unsure whether I should use Bitcoin Core for my multisig or Electrum via EPS....

I didn't manage to make Bitcoin Core work with hardware wallet. It was half a year ago, but I don't expect it to be better now.

If it helps, I use (with my hardware wallet) Electrum with Electrs as server, not EPS. I've found EPS far too restrictive (although afaik it does support multisig wallets too!). So if you'll get into troubles and want to go for a better server, my tutorial is made for Windows, but since Electrs is installed onto the WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), it can be useful even if you have actual Linux.

[Bitcoiner2023]

I'm just unsure whether I should use Bitcoin Core for my multisig or Electrum via EPS....

I didn't manage to make Bitcoin Core work with hardware wallet. It was half a year ago, but I don't expect it to be better now.

If it helps, I use (with my hardware wallet) Electrum with Electrs as server, not EPS. I've found EPS far too restrictive (although afaik it does support multisig wallets too!). So if you'll get into troubles and want to go for a better server, my tutorial is made for Windows, but since Electrs is installed onto the WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), it can be useful even if you have actual Linux.

Then I will use Electrum instead of Bitcoin Core.

What exactly is the difference between Electrs and EPS?

Can Electrs also be privatized?
Or does that only work with EPS?

And in case of loss or damage, do I have to save seeds and public keys to restore my multisig wallet and move money or are just the seeds enough?

[NeuroticFish]

What exactly is the difference between Electrs and EPS?

EPS is focused for single-wallet usage.
Electrs can be used with any amount of unrelated wallets. Also can be used by block explorer (if you install one).

Can Electrs also be privatized?
Or does that only work with EPS?

I'm not sure what you mean here. I've always user Electrs locally and didn't expose it to the internet, it works very good like that. But I don't know if or where would be the settings Electrs would advertise itself as Electrum Server. However, since I have no port forwarding done for it, I'm not concerned.
On the other hand, I've done tests with another server, Fulcrum, and there I had to explicitly disable its announcing to get to same behavior as I have with Electrs.

And in case of loss or damage, do I have to save seeds and public keys to restore my multisig wallet and move money or are just the seeds enough?

In theory the seeds should be enough to re-create the wallet if it's the case.
Just imagine: from the seeds you can restore the original 3 wallets. And I guess that from the 3 original wallets the multisig one can also be re-created. I don't see any reason to not be like that, but you can easily try this when you have the devices (or wait until you get answers from somebody who has actually done that).