Creating Bitcoin keys securely entirely off-line. I made this (extremely ugly but) functional prototype Codex32 wooden computer that can calculate Bitcoin keys using nothing more than dice, some paper and a pen. You do all the math by hand, including calculating the checksum.

Front and back of the prototype wooden Codex32 computer...

These two can keep a secret...also pretty good helpers.

I forgot to mention that part of generating the Bitcoin keys is splitting the seed via Shamir Secret Sharing (it just automatically happens as part of the key generation process.) recovering the seed means combining the shares (you can also do that using the wooden computer).

You can see a quick demo here of the Codex32 paper computers that this wooden computer is based on...

You can also download the full Codex32 book and print/cut your own paper computers right now - for free.

If you could peer in the Fractal’s brain…

😂👊🔥

Nice “unhosted wallet software” 🤣

Come and take it! 🔥👊

“extremely ugly” We might have different definitions of ugly this is sick and also sexy

Its just a buncha circles for the most part, I didn't get a chance to do much design work - the first step is always function over form, so I have to make sure it works, and it really is an easy-to-use device. I'm still working on fancy-ing it up ;) Thanks so much for the kind words.

@tatumturnup I wonder how small you can get it with the right material...

@tatumturnup I reconfigured it and got the computer itself much smaller, but I added a dice tower, and other necessaries that made it big again (LMAO!)

@MichaelDunwort1 Looks amazing actually. There’s a great interview about this with Andrew Poelstra on the @stephanlivera podcast.

@MichaelDunwort1 @stephanlivera I've watched every second of every Codex32 interview I could find. I even talked about it at dinner with @stephanlivera in Madeira during @BitcoinAtlantis. (Hi Stephan, hey scroll up and you'll see that device I was telling you about ;))

@MichaelDunwort1 @stephanlivera @BitcoinAtlantis I bet you’re going to make one of these math machines into something glittering and shining and magnificent, aren’t you? Like a glorious steampunk magus from 1000 years in the future.

@MichaelDunwort1 @stephanlivera @BitcoinAtlantis Could be! I do have plans 😉

Yes

This is beautiful. Imagine getting the result on steel somehow easy and foolproof. 🤔

Definitely need the steel once you've generated your secret shares!

Curious if you have a sense of whether manual calculation of spend signature/txn is possible/feasible?

Not yet. This is really the first implementation where I saw that you can create the seed entirely offline even with checksum, and do all the math by hand. But the limitation, is we need to wait for Codex32 compatible wallets for things like HD wallet creation & spends.

👀

Your kind of at the forefront between bridging digital #BTC w/ actual physical representation of it. Kind of brilliant to watch actually

That is extremely kind of you to say. Thanks!🔥🔥

Well deserved

wen workshop @bitcoingrove?

Oh this would be sweet 🔥🔥💪👀

Dope

🙏👊🔥

yo, this is the raddest fuckin thing ive seen in a longgggg time

Thank you! 🙏👊

Wow!

@FractalEncrypt you and @dataresilience should get on a call - I can only imagine how cool the effects of your collaboration would be 😌

@dataresilience I sent a follow request, thanks!

This looks like something a future civilization will dig up and spend 50 years trying to figure what it's for.

When can I get one?

This design is kinda "a way on the path" to finding the final form. I am working on a new one, but it looks totally different...Something will appear in the future, it's percolating ;)

Those are self-hosted wallets, do you have a license for that math?

@mononautical The evil maid attack now becomes secret gear ratio replacements. much more advanced

@mononautical Now that would be tricky! Bad maid!

Question: can you realistically calculate the checksum by hand? Is the SHA256 algorithm that easy to just do manually?

Absolutely 100% you can realistically calculate the checksum by hand. I'm right now verifying the seed + Checksum I calculated yesterday. If you messed up at all, it's immediately evident (your checksum has to resolve to "SecretShare32" mathematically or you fked up.) Codex32 also has error correction capabilities - it can detect up to 8 errors and help you fix up to 4.

This is so based, full respect man

Many thanks for that!

@GusGrillasca That’s not ugly at all, gorgeous and very cool

This ended up on my "for you" feed and I'm glad it did. Great job. Such a cool project. It's extremely clever, and a gorgeous presentation.

🔥👊🙏

Amazing, Fractal!

🙏🙏🙏

Dude, that's amazing

I don’t know what I’m looking at but I am incredibly impressed

I have a offline (entropy) system, I use Sha256 to generate my hash. All calculations are done offline via a spreadsheet + Shasum. No web browsers & done all offline. Additionally my system can generate pass-phrases using the niceware word list. Uses 32 D16 Dice

Yeah spreadsheets and offline computers make it a lot more practical 😅

It's cool you were able to learn out how to calculate it manually, but the time involved, ugh..

Yes, it is not a quick process. Low time preference living 😉😎

@DeBasedGhost Love the DIY spirit! There's something timeless about blending tech with tactile crafts.

@BitsInevitable

🤯

For sale wen?

Hopefully it's "some-kinda-I" at the very least 😅

@clickspring1 should make a bronze version! Reminds me of the Antikythera Mechanism

Amazing! Publishing the plans?

There are no plans 😅, it's a buncha separate cut files that look like this

🤣🤣

@leonwankum 🔥

very cool ser

Thanks brother 🙏

A crypto mortgage lets you leverage your BTC or ETH to invest in real estate. Instead of selling your crypto, you can use it as collateral to qualify and secure a mortgage. Apply in minutes and close your mortgage in weeks without losing the upside of your crypto asset.