Multiple backups in different locations (countries) are better than 1

[coolcoinz]

How about instead of holding backups in different location you create a single multisig wallet with 2 or 3 keys located in different places? It doesn't have to be 3 different countries, but 3 different cities. I've heard of people using this system as a defense against robberies.

You can even simplify this:
Create a 3 sig wallet where 2 sigs are needed to sign every transaction. This eliminates the possibility of losing your money when 1 key is lost.
1 signature and backup is with you at your house.
1 signature and backup is held at a close family member's house, for instance at a parent's house.
1 sig and backup is in a bank safety deposit box.

You can also set it up at the bank that in case of your death or injury your parents can open the deposit box, which would allow them easy access to BTC. You might need that if you ever happened to be in a coma or something.

This setup has all the pros and just 1 con that I can think of: it takes more time to withdraw your money, but for someone who wants to hold for a year or more this shouldn't be a problem.

[Ultegra134]

This scenario might only work well in a situation where the person has different houses in different locations. The idea is not just about having your seed phrase across different locations, but it is also about having them in a secure spot. Whether we like it or not, security matters a lot, infact, it is better to have a single location of storage that is far more secure, than to have multiple locations with less security.

And this is also well applicable to those who have large amount. Users with little amount might not need to adhere to this idea. And like I said, different locations must be a safe spot.

I agree. There is no right or wrong way in such scenarios, what deems right for OP might not seem for us. Personally, I find it a bit overcomplicated, we're not Columbian drug lords, we simply have some Bitcoin and want to be safe with it. The OP's plan simply sounds too much, unless perhaps we're talking about a large number of Bitcoins, then I'd be paranoid as well, but I have my doubts that most of us here, including myself, have such amounts. I'd also be paranoid about the safety of all these hidden backups. I find it way better to have one or two backups at most, in locations around the house, car or family residence.

[Cookdata]

Technically it is better than keeping it in two different house on the same town but what are the odds of having three safe house in three different countries? I don't have that much money to go that way but if someone is holding thousands of bitcoin can try which is safer option and can ensure the funds can be accessed even if you lost access to your wallet from one country.

But it's bit of overstretch, I doubt anyone will give that much priority and move across oceans.

Flight aren't that cheap, you have you also consider local transportation within the cities to get to your location. By the time you have done the trip through, you may have spend half of your Bitcoin, what about food, and even sleep over because as far as I know, if you are going to another country, you will not get a return ticket for the next day, even if you have for the next schedule, it will be expensive than when the day it's not close, so you are like to spend more money just because of seed phrase you could have done within the country.

The only exemption I'm going to make on this one if you have large amount of Bitcoin and you live in a dictatorship country. I will strongly advice this, you can leave the country anytime you like without thinking about the things you have. Some people has left their country and seek for asylum in another country, this are one of the ways to protect your asset against dictators and anyone that are censorship resistance but not eight $500 dollar portfolio please.

[macson]

This would only work if you had a reliable location in those countries, and I don't think everyone could afford that. Maybe wealthy people could, but I doubt it would be possible for ordinary people.

So, this idea might be a good way to secure your seed backups in different locations to avoid the risk of total loss due to disaster, theft, or physical damage to one location. But it's much more expensive and less effective.

[Furball808]

You have forgotten one very crucial fact: not everyone has the capacity to go to different countries. How can we reach financial freedom with this when we are unable to afford this strategy in the first place?

Some people don’t even have passports. They can’t afford to leave the country. Some countries’ passports may also be weak and therefore can’t be granted access to the country they want to visit. When you’re in the country, where would you store the seeds? There’s too many things to smoothen out that only a wealthy person can actually do.

It's no secret that it's essential to back up your seeds, and in different places (either within a given location). I'd like to develop this idea a bit further. In my opinion, it's not enough to simply save a few seeds in different locations; you need to save several different seeds in completely different locations (preferably across countries). This is what will give you that very “financial freedom”.

[viljy]

I think there are weaknesses in the OP's plan. For example, the OP writes about theft or robbery. But what if he doesn't have the opportunity to transfer coins to another address, either because there's no time, or the robbers can simply torture him into giving them bitcoin? Also, there is a possibility that it will be impossible to get to another country due to various unforeseen reasons (war, natural disaster, lack of money after a robbery, illness, etc.).

I believe one of the advantages of bitcoin is precisely the cross-border nature and mobility of access to coins. The OP also offers a plan that actually negates this advantage of bitcoin, as access to coins becomes similar to real estate.

[davis196]

It's no secret that it's essential to back up your seeds, and in different places (either within a given location). I'd like to develop this idea a bit further. In my opinion, it's not enough to simply save a few seeds in different locations; you need to save several different seeds in completely different locations (preferably across countries). This is what will give you that very “financial freedom”.

For example, you have seed №1 with you, entered on hardware wallet. You duplicate this seed №1 and save 2 or 3 backup copies in different locations. At the same time, you create seed №2 and seed №3, which you place in other locations (preferably in other countries).

Important note: You keep the addresses (preferably several) of the wallets in seed №2 and seed №3 (or use them to conduct small transactions to save them in your transaction history).

Now, if a threat arises (stealing, confiscation, robbery, or difficulties with transportation hardware wallet across the border) when you have a hardware wallet (seed №1), you send the wallet contents to address seed №2 or seed №3. Once you reach location seed №2 or seed №3, you gain access to your savings.

It seems to me that you are a bit too obsessed with securing your crypto. Are you a crypto millionaire or a billionaire?
Sending my wallet seed to different countries seems more like a way for the seed to get leaked. Why different countries? We live in a digital world. Location doesn't matter that much. Sending several hardware wallets, that have crypto to different countries also doesn't work for me.
Where are you going to keep those hardware wallets? Do you plan to buy several houses in various countries just for the sake of keeping hardware wallets there? What if the houses get robbed? Do you plan to keep the hardware wallets in various banks? This defeats the whole purpose of being your own bank.

[lovesmayfamilis]

I wonder where these phrases will be stored, considering three different countries. If I'm not mistaken, the OP is from Russia. Which three countries, considering Europe has been practically closed to Russians for some time now? A lot will happen by the time you get a visa. CIS countries? Oh, better to go to Europe for a month. And yes, where will we store these phrases, with friends or in a bank? Maybe I'm missing something.

[livingfree]

While it's a good idea, I don't think that it will ever work for me. Putting it on several locations for the back up from where I am will take time.

We don't know what might happen to us and if someone is able to find those back ups by accident and then they have knowledge about importing seeds and bitcoin, then that's a huge risk there.

Unless if you're the owner of the properties where you will scatter the seeds in the other locations in the other parts of the country, that's easier but travelling for a few hours or minutes just to get that back up without having a way to monitor them looks hard for me.

[OcTradism]

While it's a good idea, I don't think that it will ever work for me. Putting it on several locations for the back up from where I am will take time.

We don't know what might happen to us and if someone is able to find those back ups by accident and then they have knowledge about importing seeds and bitcoin, then that's a huge risk there.

Unless if you're the owner of the properties where you will scatter the seeds in the other locations in the other parts of the country, that's easier but travelling for a few hours or minutes just to get that back up without having a way to monitor them looks hard for me.

Not all people have many houses at different locations or countries for storing their wallet backups like this. The most possible backup method is making multiple backups and store them at different places in your house, that's easily to do with many people.

Having only one wallet backup is risky as you can lose it by any accident like water, fire, chemical and other reasons. Even you have only one house, if you can make multiple wallet backups, you can reduce risk of losing your money if the original wallet is lost or broken, and the only wallet backup is lost or no longer usable for wallet recovery.

How to backup a wallet.

[Z390]

It's no secret that it's essential to back up your seeds, and in different places (either within a given location). I'd like to develop this idea a bit further. In my opinion, it's not enough to simply save a few seeds in different locations; you need to save several different seeds in completely different locations (preferably across countries). This is what will give you that very “financial freedom”.

For example, you have seed №1 with you, entered on hardware wallet. You duplicate this seed №1 and save 2 or 3 backup copies in different locations. At the same time, you create seed №2 and seed №3, which you place in other locations (preferably in other countries).

Important note: You keep the addresses (preferably several) of the wallets in seed №2 and seed №3 (or use them to conduct small transactions to save them in your transaction history).

Now, if a threat arises (stealing, confiscation, robbery, or difficulties with transportation hardware wallet across the border) when you have a hardware wallet (seed №1), you send the wallet contents to address seed №2 or seed №3. Once you reach location seed №2 or seed №3, you gain access to your savings.

It is a good idea with few disadvantages.

You can't do any of this if you get kidnapped, yes they won't be able to access your funds because the other half is in another country, but I bet with you at that minutes you will wish you have the complete recovery seed to give them so that you can live.
Some criminals lost their sense of cool if they can't have what they come for, some will even have to take a life because they can't go back empty handed, you would have think about saving your own life instead of money or Bitcoin.
Someone who haven't experienced an home invasion or violence attack will probably think that this makes no sense, no one is Jack bauer, movies are movies and this is real life, something that can safe your life at times is the same thing you choose to keep away millions of miles away, pray they don't come for it.

[d5000]

The only advantage I see to have seeds stored in different countries is if you really are afraid of confiscation or other legal or government-related trouble. This may be indeed a legitimate reason, as most of the world population lives in authoritarian countries. However, in this case the seeds would have to be stored in countries which don't cooperate in law enforcement, at least regarding the specific issue you're afraid of.

I think the most interesting reason for such a setup is opposition activity in an authoritarian country. Say you're living in Russia and are organizing anti-Putin activity, then it makes sense to store a seed of the coins from yourself or your group in Poland for example.

For people living in stable democracies and don't engage in criminal or "grey area" activities I don't see advantages of a multi-country setup. Even a multi-city setup in most cases seems like overkill to me: the trouble to protect access to the locations of the seeds (e.g. if one of the seeds is stored by a relative) may be higher than the possible benefit if you're robbed for example. I'd rather store them in different locations in the same city or region where I can really garantize to have access at most of the time.

[hyudien]

The idea is great but I think this strategy will only work for those who own homes in multiple countries, meaning large investors, I'm not one of those people and it's too complicated for me. I'll use the simple method of storing and distributing my seed phrase backups at home in multiple storage locations; I don't need to spend a lot of money on it and to avoid risk I don't disclose my Bitcoin holdings publicly.

[FortuneFollower]

The idea is great but I think this strategy will only work for those who own homes in multiple countries, meaning large investors, I'm not one of those people and it's too complicated for me. I'll use the simple method of storing and distributing my seed phrase backups at home in multiple storage locations; I don't need to spend a lot of money on it and to avoid risk I don't disclose my Bitcoin holdings publicly.

I agree. You would need much more resources to have other locations besides what you have at hand.. And I do think it would be better because you would be able to get to your backup easier / faster.

[livingfree]

While it's a good idea, I don't think that it will ever work for me. Putting it on several locations for the back up from where I am will take time.

We don't know what might happen to us and if someone is able to find those back ups by accident and then they have knowledge about importing seeds and bitcoin, then that's a huge risk there.

Unless if you're the owner of the properties where you will scatter the seeds in the other locations in the other parts of the country, that's easier but travelling for a few hours or minutes just to get that back up without having a way to monitor them looks hard for me.

Not all people have many houses at different locations or countries for storing their wallet backups like this. The most possible backup method is making multiple backups and store them at different places in your house, that's easily to do with many people.

Having only one wallet backup is risky as you can lose it by any accident like water, fire, chemical and other reasons. Even you have only one house, if you can make multiple wallet backups, you can reduce risk of losing your money if the original wallet is lost or broken, and the only wallet backup is lost or no longer usable for wallet recovery.

How to backup a wallet.

I agree with that choice of doing that in several areas in your own house. That's why it's not going to work for me for doing that stored in several places in the country.

It's going to be costly and not ideal for me, and that's why someone can also do that idea if they only live in a single house.

I guess that even if you've got 2 or 3 more houses, you'll choose to place it where you are mostly staying.

[hero_the_bossman]

It's a good idea but I don't think it's great as it only applies to certain class of people. I mean, you have to own a certain amount of Bitcoin to warrant saving seeds in different countries. The reason why I didn't call it a great idea is the fact that world war is still a probability too so even if you stored in multiple countries and those countries are involved in the war, it wouldn't help much. At the end of the day, there's no one-size-fits-all for this situation so everyone can do what works for them.

Again, not a bad idea but not a great one either.

Very situational, I agree.

And you won't have that many places to backup your seed regardless..Imo.

[Lucius]

Hey, just thinking out loud here, could you get a similar setup going with just one seed phrase and a bunch of passphrases?  Might be a bit simpler.
~snip~
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So, you get the same separation in terms of location and transactions, but without the headache of dealing with three different seeds.

I agree, and I think it's a better idea, because one seed and multiple unique passphrases create completely different wallets that can serve us in various ways. Our main wallet can be hidden behind a passphrases, which means it will remain secure even if someone finds the seed, which again does not mean that we should not have multiple copies of the seed, preferably in different locations.

For those who do not have the possibility to store their backups in different private locations, an alternative is to rent a safe in a bank. Of course, the seed and passphrase should never be stored together.

[Obim34]

It's no secret that it's essential to back up your seeds, and in different places (either within a given location). I'd like to develop this idea a bit further. In my opinion, it's not enough to simply save a few seeds in different locations; you need to save several different seeds in completely different locations (preferably across countries). This is what will give you that very “financial freedom”.

I agree on several locations but not different countries.

No matter how huge the Bitcoin in holding, it should be comfortably accessible when i need them, having them in different states with 2hrs-3hrs drive is better than in locations that will cost more on transportation and take longer before accessing.

Not all fingers are equal, lots of investors protect theirs without extra cost, find out what works and make it effective protecting your investment, i'm not supporting the idea of my seeds in different countries.

[WatChe]

It seems to me that you are a bit too obsessed with securing your crypto. Are you a crypto millionaire or a billionaire?
Sending my wallet seed to different countries seems more like a way for the seed to get leaked. Why different countries? We live in a digital world. Location doesn't matter that much. Sending several hardware wallets, that have crypto to different countries also doesn't work for me.
Where are you going to keep those hardware wallets? Do you plan to buy several houses in various countries just for the sake of keeping hardware wallets there? What if the houses get robbed? Do you plan to keep the hardware wallets in various banks? This defeats the whole purpose of being your own bank.

If you are a crypto millionaire or billionaire then you can go for such options to secure your wallet seed in different countries. If you are storing seed in different countries, then you also need someone to secure those locations in case of your absence. The more copies of your seed you create, more are chances that your seed will leak away. The best care of our wallet seed is to write it down on paper and store it at two different locations in your house or you can store one copy at home while other in bank locker. Make sure the copies of your wallet seed are only under your custody.   

[Bitcoin Smith]

~I will strongly advice this, you can leave the country anytime you like without thinking about the things you have. Some people has left their country and seek for asylum in another country, this are one of the ways to protect your asset against dictators and anyone that are censorship resistance but not eight $500 dollar portfolio please.

The only country that fit that criteria will be North Korea but I doubt anyone will be holding any personal assets in that country.

Travelling will be the least expensive of all this, there needs to be a safe place like so it must be under our name and also should be somewhere that not everyone will be can access it means it should not be a normal house, so must be a safe house like every spy movies that we see.