Self-custody without fear: Do the $1 test before you trust your wallet

[Sammysmart001]

A lot of our newbies and many of us wea they shout not your keys, not your coinslike slogan. And again most of us they claim self custody but we never test if our backup they actively work.

Let me share with you guys shortly a real life story, that happened In the year 2024, my very own  good friend  happened to have 0.3 worth of BTC in Electrum. My friend with no doubt oh and for him make he dey safer side, he wrote down him 12 word safe for somewhere safe. We all know this things works na to avoid story that touches the heart. But my guy no know say their is more to that and me my self never no much that to cut the story short, and him getting this feeling, he his own self bank, like his in charge of his funds.
But unfortunately, my guy phone got spoilt a year later. So in the long process him buy new phone, open the app on his phone, he brought out his 12 words, input it and then nothing. It showing wrong word order and then boom eye don red Omo ….. 0.3BTC all gone, this not because of BTC failed oh but just because he didn’t do $1 test.

Some of us may be wondering what this one $1 test ?
This is very straightforward and simple. All which is expected from you. Before you trust any wallet with keeping money. All you need to do is to send $1 worth of BTC first, to any wallet after that you delete the app then you go on with recovering it with your seed phrase. So that after all if it comes back that shows that your back up is intact. And if it doesn’t you got your answer already it better you loss $1 than lossing ur life savings.

Common mistakes we make with seed phrases
1. Screenshot and cloud backup
This very risky in the sense that your photos, iCloud or WhatsApp. If in any way hackers get in touch with any of this it gone your BTC.
2.Never testing recovery
Confirmation is very important, writing down words alone won’t save. But rather u delect and reconfirm, just to be sure.
3.One copy only
Having to only have your Word in just one place it not advisable because anything can happen and then it gone no any other option.

Why is this important for us mostly in Nigerian
Things can change when you wake up one morning. Accounts can be freeze, policies can change, restrictions and so on. But the very only thing that can’t be taken from ever user it his BTC in his wallet. Where you alone control your key and rule self but all this will be of no use if it can’t be recover. So you see why it important right ?

So to everyone reading this right now if you haven’t delect your wallet and restored it with ur 12 word, you are advised to go do that today with your one dollar test. Do the test with a new wallet, recover and have a peace of mind over night 😊

Self custody is just self free, but only if we aren’t afraid to lose our small acces, let do well to test with small now so we don’t end up losing big after.

https://changelly.com/blog/what-is-self-custody-in-crypto/

https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/tekfhi/reminder_to_do_test_transactions/

Question
Have we all done the $1 test ? Or are we still in hopping custody ? Let share our experience

[ColdLava40]

Lol, it's funny putting with your title, but your friend made the mistake of writing down the wrong keys without checking.

It's not necessary to test your new seed phrase with $1 before you write it down and store. The truth is if you are too careful mistakes happens anyways.

It's important to take things slow when you are dealing with your seed phrase or anything that has to do with your cryptocurrency.

Common mistakes we make with seed phrases
1. Screenshot and cloud backup
This very risky in the sense that your photos, iCloud or WhatsApp. If in any way hackers get in touch with any of this it gone your BTC.

Most advanced wallet would restrict you from making screenshots when your wallet app is open. But it's a choice you have to take personal. Having your seedphrase as image is risk. Anyone who has access to your phone could steal your money.

[Bitcoin-Forever]

A lot of our newbies and many of us wea they shout not your keys, not your coinslike slogan. And again most of us they claim self custody but we never test if our backup they actively work.

Once I have my wallet as a non-custodial wallet, all I needed to do is to ensure that my private keys are well secured together with the keys in such a manner that makes me device up to two storage means for them, so that I can have an alternative to any of this keys anytime I misplace one or couldn't have access to it, there are many storage medium in which we can use and maintain privacy as well on how we safe keep them in order to avoid any third party from getting across to them,.

[coinlary]

You don't  need any $1 test to know if your wallet is genuine or not.
I don't  know which wallet your friend was using but wtf is "wrong word order"? The seed was saved on their server   ? I'm interested  in knowing  the name of such  wallet .

The $1 test or whatever still doesn't have any meaning. Just copy the master public key and import a watch only wallet on a different wallet or same wallet  software if it supports multiple wallet imports. Delete the existing wallet and attempt to reimport using  the backup seed .
If successful  then check the address if it matches with what you have on the watch only wallet .

You just save a dollar or whatever you're planning to use for testing  

[SatoPrincess]

So in the long process him buy new phone, open the app on his phone, he brought out his 12 words, input it and then nothing. It showing wrong word order and then boom eye don red Omo ….. 0.3BTC all gone, this not because of BTC failed oh but just because he didn’t do $1 test.

lol he was unable to access his wallet because he made an error when writing down his seed phrase, and unfortunately didn’t confirm the seed phrase all those years. This tragedy is not a result of your friend not doing the “$1 test”.

I still don’t understand how this could have happened because you have to input your seed phrase manually when creating your Electrum wallet so if he made the mistake in the beginning, he should not have been able to create a wallet in the first place. Also Electrum would not display “wrong word order” if pass phrase is incorrect.

[Audrey Simmons]

Question
Have we all done the $1 test ? Or are we still in hopping custody ? Let share our experience

There is nothing smart about a 1$ testing, writing down your seed phrase on a sheet of paper is simple, you're not expected to make any mistake, putting down 12 words isn't a difficult task, $1 testing is pointless.

Anyone who cannot ensure full self custody in its simplest form, should avoid buying Bitcoin.

[Emjay24]

Did your obtain the wallet from the official site or did he download randomly from the app store, chances are still that he patronized a compromised app from the stores which lead to the loss of funds, you can check from the Tx history to see if funds were spent by a scammer.

The $1 test or whatever still doesn't have any meaning. Just copy the master public key and import a watch only wallet on a different wallet or same wallet  software if it supports multiple wallet imports. Delete the existing wallet and attempt to reimport using  the backup seed .
If successful  then check the address if it matches with what you have on the watch only wallet .

Mobile versions don't offer much flexibility. In desktop mode, you can import the same seed phrase again without deleting anything and treat it like a new wallet, it always opens in a new window, then place it side by side with the former and do your comparison.

[coinlary]

Mobile versions don't offer much flexibility. In desktop mode, you can import the same seed phrase again without deleting anything and treat it like a new wallet, it always opens in a new window, then place it side by side with the former and do your comparison.

Do you mean features?

I don't know the wallet he's using that why I added the note -like statement .
Self-custody  wallets that I do know allow adding as much as possible wallets  or to a certain satisfactory level even on mobile . You can easily do that by " Use a master key " on Electrum, "Import a public key" on Blue walllet, "Restore from keys " on  Cake wallet among others .

It's  quite straightforward, want just only wallets intead ? Hit on  create new wallet and a new wallet will be appended to the list of existing wallets.

The point is, Mobile wallet have as much as possible basic features  needed to carry out your transactions but it's not consider safe having large amount stored on it , few hundreds is usually enough.

[Dogedegen]

2.Never testing recovery
Confirmation is very important, writing down words alone won’t save. But rather u delect and reconfirm, just to be sure.

Many wallets have built in recovery and do not even let you proceed unless you verify it, even if some don't have the full words. I believe all wallets should make this a mandatory step, and then if something goes wrong it is only the fault of the person. For example sometimes they just copy the phrase directly without actually making a backup.

3.One copy only
Having to only have your Word in just one place it not advisable because anything can happen and then it gone no any other option.

It is not an issue, because it is not just one instance of the wallet. You have the wallet and the backup. If you are checking up on both regularly, the chance that at the same time something would happen to your wallet and something to your word backup is very low. We are talking about things that have environmental variables that have nothing to do with each other. The threat with the highest chance would be in cases where both are stored in the same location like a house, so it could burn down or be robbed but this still does not apply. Because if you are keeping everything in the same place, if you have one copy or 5 copies the same threat applies with the same chance.

Question
Have we all done the $1 test ? Or are we still in hopping custody ? Let share our experience

It is very good to practice it, but it does not always have to be a $1, it can be based in relation to the amount that you are transferring. I always do this for new wallets and when sending bigger amounts to someone, first a smaller amount to verify that everything is in order and then just repeat the full amount.