
Get exclusive money-saving offers and guides
Straight to your inbox
We’re reader-supported and may be paid when you visit links to partner sites. We don’t compare all products in the market, but we’re working on it!
Name | CRYPTOTAG Cryptocurrency Backup Device |
---|---|
Price | EUR€169 |
Character types |
Uppercase letters |
Make | Handmade |
Steel grade | Titanium |
CRYPTOTAG is a device for securely backing up cryptocurrency hardware wallet recovery seeds.
The recovery seed is the string of words you are given when setting up a hardware wallet for the first time. It's like a password of last resort for accessing the cryptocurrency on that wallet. It's essential to keep it safe, because these words are used to restore access in case anything happens to your wallet.
However, if you just write those words on a piece of paper they can get lost or destroyed, and if anyone is able to see those words they can also use them to access your funds.
Recovery seed back-up devices such as CRYPTOTAG are designed to serve as secure, near-indestructible devices for backing up private keys.
In the hefty 3.6kg CRYPTOTAG box, you will find:
You are now in position to start stamping your recovery seed into the CRYPTOTAG.
Prepare the first four letters of each word of your recovery seed. These will be what you stamp into each section.
Repeat these steps for each of the letters until you've copied out the first four letters of each word in your recovery seed.
Afterwards, you can perform the same process in the space provided on the front (logo side) of the CRYPTOTAG device if you need to permanently label it, in order to tell your back-up devices apart from each other.
Once you're done, and certain that it's correct, you can use the included CRYPTOTAG-branded matches provided to burn your paper recovery seed.
Compared to other recovery seed back-up devices, specifically Cryptosteel and Billfodl, CRYPTOTAG immediately stands out in several ways.
Whether the extra cost is worth it depends on your needs, and how much danger you expect your back-up device to be in, but its titanium destruction does carry some additional benefits.
CRYPTOTAG claims to be able to take temperatures up to 1,665 degrees Celsius (3,029 degrees Fahrenheit).
This is much higher than both grades of stainless steel used by Cryptosteel and Billfodl, which start to lose their durability at around 925 degrees Celsius (1,700 degrees Fahrenheit).
What this means is that all brands would be capable of withstanding an average house fire, but only the CRYPTOTAG would be able to withstand a blowtorch if someone wanted to deliberately destroy it.
Both titanium and stainless steel are highly corrosion resistant, but which is more resistant depends on the exact grade of composition of each. CRYPTOTAG says it's made of "space grade" titanium, but all grades of titanium have use in the aerospace industry, so this doesn't say much.
Titanium is also lighter than stainless steel, but the CRYPTOTAG weighs in between the Cryptosteel and Billfodl.
Despite its higher quality materials, one area where the CRYPTOTAG falls down compared to Cryptosteel is the storage of characters other than letters.
CRYPTOTAG can only be used to store recovery seeds, while Cryptosteel can directly store private keys and passwords of other kinds.
Ultimately, the main differences between CRYPTOTAG and its competitors are its elevated price tag, its much higher temperature resistance and its energetic set-up process.
The CRYPTOTAG starter kit costs EUR€169, while expansion sets (2 additional plates) are €99 each.
You can buy it from the CRYPTOTAG website or authorised resellers.