ColdSteel | Steel Crypto Seed Phrase Storage for up to 24 Words, Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrency Wallet - Compatible With Ledger, Trezor and Metamask, Easy and Safe Metal Crypto Seed Backup

This is great way to protect your seed phrase (the generated sequence of words that can be used to recover your crypto wallet though if you're looking at this listing, you probably already know that) and way better than paper. Paper burns, paper gets wet and falls apart, paper can be torn and lost, etc. Well I can't test how fire resistant this is, but it seems very sturdy and would definitely survive most hazards. Assuming it's actually quality steel it shouldn't rust easily or melt in a typical house fire. $50 is pretty pricey for 4 small sheets of stainless steel and some stamped metal letter cards, but it's worth it if you're looking for a simple & secure way to store your crypto. There are cheaper home-made options that use washers and metal stamping tools, etc.. to build your own fireproof/waterproof storage for way less, but they're not as nice looking as this and require a lot more work.It swivels closed and you can put a small lock through to keep it secure. It comes with sheets of letters punched into metal cards that you set into this card after unscrewing the top layer, which prevents them from falling out or getting mixed up. It's not the whole word every time, but the first 4 letters are enough because there are intentionally no similar words in the seed phrases that could get mixed up like helicopter and helix for example. Both sides of the card can store 12 words, so you can do one wallet with a 24 word seed, or two wallets with 12 word seeds. There are a few issues that you should still keep in mind though, not with this hardware itself, but just in the concept of secure storage in general.1: If it exists in physical form you can secure it with a lock or put it in a safe, but as long as someone knows it exists, given enough time, they can break into anything eventually. For example, this device seems great, but a determined thief can cut through your lock shackle, pick the lock or maybe just break the hinge, etc.. It's pretty thick and hefty, but that really only means it might slow someone down or stop the people that are afraid you'll find out they messed with it.2: Because we know any physical security can be defeated your best line of defense against other humans is security through obscurity (it's unknown or hidden). Don't tell anyone about it that you don't 100% trust and hide it somewhere nobody could stumble onto it by chance or search. The ultimate security is memorization, where your seed phrase literally doesn't exist in the physical world, and is only known to you in your own head. However, humans aren't perfect, and it's possible for people to get injured or otherwise forget things so, secure storage like this is the next best option.

The Prokey ColdSteel backup has a heavy feel to it. The top and bottom plates are thick and very stiff. This is important because bending could create a gap between the plates and the frame, which could allow the recovery word letters to get scrambled. After I loaded my phrase, I gave it as vigorous a shake test as I could, then dropped the ColdSteel from 8’ (onto carpet). The words all remained intact.I like that the letters are engraved, rather than painted and the letter plates had a protective backing that kept them from scratching adjacent letter plates during shipping.The reason for 4 stars and not 5 is that I used up all p’s and d’s, without one to spare, despite the fact the letters are interchangeable by flipping. Several of the letters are interchangeable by flipping them upside down: b=q, d=p, and n=u. I would have been very disappointed if I had to scratch my own letter onto the backside of a spare letter had I needed one more d or p letter.I do recommend the Prokey ColdSteel for phrase backup.

Good

While you want to keep your seed phrases secure I wasn’t very happy with how this crypto seed phrase wallet works. The wallet allows you to store one or two seeds depending on the length of the phrase. It doesn’t allow you to store full words only the first 4 characters. The screws to open and close the words inside the windows are so little that if you have big hands, you can lose the screws or tool very easily. Not to mention how heavy this is wallet in addition.

This is a review of the Prokey ColdSteel - Ultra-Durable Metal Seed Backup. I have used several different styles of metal seed storage over the years, including designs identical to the Prokey such as the Cobo Tablet (now Keystone). The idea is simple, two hinged plates are unscrewed and swing open to expose slots to store each seed word. A series of cards are included that contain little metal letter tiles that one organizes to form each seed word. Once the first plate is filled, one closes and re-screws the plates together locking the letters in place. When both plates are complete, they swivel together hiding the words from view. An additional hole passes through both plates through which a padlock can be attached for added security.It is important to note that some shoppers may be concerned that each seed word only contains 4 letters while actual seed words can be much longer. Every possible seed word in the dictionary can be represented and identified by only its first 4 letters, so there is no need to store the complete word so long as one types the full word when restoring a wallet. In addition, some letters tiles are re-used such as a "p" and "d", just flipped upside down when used.In terms of the build quality, I found the Prokey matched that of my other Cobo Tablet. Each card of laser-etched letter tiles was well constructed and easy to read. The tablets themselves swiveled freely and the screws were easy to remove with the included hex key. The process of adding the tiles to the plates can take a while as one works one tile at a time. When complete, it's highly suggested one tests the words as-entered to ensure the wallet can be accurately recovered by the tablet.Obviously, one cannot review the ability for the tablet to withstand fires or other catastrophes, but the materials seem solid enough and once assembled, the tablet feels significantly more secure than simple words on paper. The best part of this design is that it can be re-used if one changes their wallet seed in the future.