Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: What if...
by
CryptoBry
on 02/12/2017, 06:04:44 UTC
What if you physically damaged your hardware wallet. What sort of recovery process is there?

Which wallet do you use? The reputable hardware wallets allow you to load your bitcoin (or supported coins) balance to a new device as long as you have your passphrase (the 20+ random words given when you first established your account) and any PIN or secret pass word you've added for additional security. Do you have these security protection items? If so, buy a new device (the same brand) and enter your passphrase and password/PIN and you should be back to where you were before the damage occurred.

This is actually what is nice with hardware wallets...anybody can still recover as long as one has kept the passphrase serving as the key to the account. Of course, if one has lost the passphrase then there is nothing we can do about it. The best thing to do is to print the passphrase and have copies in secured places away from scammer and hackers as well as family members or friends who might use it for their own evil purpose.