What is that SSSS?
Ever hear of this abbreviation, SSSS?
Even Google had tough time to give me the right answer. 😃 Returned all kind of nonsense, until I gave him a better hint, "SSSS crypto"
To make this post shorter, here is a few links to start of, in case one wants to get a bit deeper into subj:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing
https://medium.com/clavestone/bitcoin-multisig-vs-shamirs-secret-sharing-scheme-ea83a888f033
How I came to this, and why it matters to me?
This happen because yesterday a new firmware update came out for my new hardware wallet, COBO VAULT. This genius product arrived to me only a day before, and even after update to the latest version, this "Shamir Split" function was not there.
But with this latest v1.0.8 update, this feature is now there, available and working
"Shamir Split" is a clever way to encrypt your 12/24 word mnemonic seed, a thing which backs up every hardware wallet, like Ledger, Trezor and others, or better to say - is behind every HD (Hierarchical Deterministic) wallet. For a very very long term storage, it is very essential that you can place your 24 words in a super secure way, preferably splited by location and between several trusted people. SSSS seems to be like an ideal solution.
But there is a problem
I have figured out, that COBO VAULT is only the second hardware wallet in existence, with such a feature. The first was Trezor. It seems both these manufacturers have implemented pretty much the same method, know as SLIP-0039.
So far so good. But I am kind of very paranoic person. I don't want to trust anyone, to rely on somebody. One of my constant mottos for years is "TRUST NOBODY".
Therefore very soon I came to a hard question - OK, but what happens, if after some 20+ years none of these 2 companies exist anymore, my original vault goes DEAD, and there is nowhere any compatible product available on the market anymore, where my inheritors could enter their saved shares, to combine into a working seed, so they can access my Bitcoins? I started looking for a third party's tool, something what could combine those SSSS shares on a separate app, or desktop PC or smartphone. Nothing. 6 hours of search, and I could find nothing.
Then I contacted COBO support, and they confirmed, that at this time THE ONLY possible way to combine these shares is to enter them into COBO VAULT or TREZOR. What a disappointment !
COBO Vault is a fantastic hardware wallet, with latest secure element, with fingerprint reader, open source FW, with impressive list of supported coins, and most important - with a true secure AIR GAIP.
NO WiFI, NO NFC, NO BlueTooth, NO USB... no connections what so ever!
The way a true COLD hard storage wallet should be.
Combining inside the working unit is fine, no doubt - very convenient. But I'm the one who wants always to confirm everything by an alternative method, like I usually do with HD wallets etc etc, with help of great tools by IAN COLEMAN.
HOPE never dies
But I still have a hope, that somebody who reads this post, has heard about SLIP-0039, is a programmer/coder, familiar with JAVA, etc etc, and has an idea, how my task could be accomplished.
If you do - give me a PM. (Discord, TLGRM, FB - I'm everywhere)