Self-Contained Multisig Steel Bitcoin Wallet Backups
SeedEtcher is an open-source, air-gapped system for creating durable Bitcoin backups by printing seed phrases, descriptors, and QR codes with a standard laser printer and permanently etching them into metal.
It minimizes trust and attack surface by relying on offline hardware, simple materials, and a transparent, reproducible workflow instead of expensive machines.
SeedEtcher Controller
Raspberry Pi Zero–based controller firmware that drives a standard laser printer over USB.
Scan seed and descriptor QR codes offline and print deterministic layouts for etching.
SeedEtcher Workflow
A documented, repeatable workflow for chemically etching printed layouts onto steel.
> Print to transfer paper
> Heat-transfer toner to metal
> Etch steel
Tutorial video
Step-by-step walkthrough of the full SeedEtcher workflow.
Development status
SeedEtcher is in beta. The latest release — v0.2.0-beta.1 — adds important improvements.
This release introduces sharded descriptor support for multisig wallets, so
your printed/etched layouts can split a wallet’s descriptor into
deterministic shares. In plain English: One backup plate does not contain the whole descriptor!
It also improves the recovery/export flows with
clearer error handling and deterministic layouts so you can reliably
reprint if needed.
Recovery/export now supports both single combined QR export and animated multipart UR export modes. Overall this makes backups more robust, more secure, and easier to use with multisig wallets.
Next milestones:
- b0.3: Deliver the new etch-optimized plate layout with the custom rounded font and dotted QR module rendering for improved transfer/etch reliability.
- b0.4: Deliver a standalone, cross-platform, offline recovery tool for descriptor shares (`SE1:`), suitable for inheritance and break-glass recovery without Pi hardware.
Support SeedEtcher
SeedEtcher is an independent, open-source project.
If you find it useful and want to support development, you can donate via:
Lightning: stiffrag020@walletofsatoshi.com
BTC: bc1qzml52m9t0vv82p7437vdcuve73putam0ccfynd