My good friend Bob has supported my writing since the genesis of LikeCoin and started buying Ethereum and Bitcoin in 2018, accumulating a certain amount of wealth. I’m not sure if it’s my influence or if our values were always similar, but Bob rarely uses centralized custodial services. His cryptocurrencies are mostly “off the grid,” managed through self-custody, and everything has been running smoothly. However, when we met in Taipei recently, I learned that Bob is facing a happy problem: he’s racking his brain trying to plan ahead, figuring out how to give his wife Alice his cryptocurrency as the last gift in a decentralized way, outside the traditional system, in the event of his passing. After not seeing each other for so long, I told Bob we should just enjoy a good meal, and I’d find time to write a series of tutorials for him.
Long-time readers of my newsletter might remember an article I wrote three years ago, DIY Dragon Balls: A Decentralized Way to Manage Bitcoin Inheritance, which could meet Bob’s needs. However, the industry has evolved over the past few years, and simpler methods have emerged that don’t require installing text software or operating through a Matrix-like interface. After all, while the tech-savvy Bob has the ability to create his own “Dragon Balls” like a Namekian, asking the recipient, Alice, to “summon the divine dragon” using a command line interface would make it hard for him to have peace of mind.
Given these technological advancements, I’m recommending another inheritance solution based on the Trezor cold wallet. I’ll explain it to Bob through a few letters. The following is the first one, which I’m sharing publicly for everyone’s benefit.
Bob,
As the saying goes, “You can’t make bricks without straw.” Before you get started, please go to the official Trezor website, trezor.io, to purchase a cold wallet.
The entire Trezor series has six models:
- Safe 5
- Safe 3
- Model T
- Model One
- Safe 5 Bitcoin-only
- Safe 3 Bitcoin-only
Trezor is a long-established brand in cold wallets, and the Model One is its oldest model. Unless you’re feeling nostalgic, don’t choose this one—it lacks the multi-share backup feature we’ll be using.
Since part of your assets includes Ethereum and stablecoins, you can also disregard the two Bitcoin-only models. Besides, the hardware for the Bitcoin-only models is identical to the standard ones and costs the same; the only difference is that the firmware has removed support for other coins. If you ever want a purer experience in the future, you can install the Bitcoin-only firmware yourself. However, don’t think that Trezor offering Bitcoin-only firmware and models is redundant. Fewer features mean fewer chances for error and a smaller potential attack surface. From a security perspective, this is absolutely true.
Of the remaining three, the Model T was the first touchscreen model and is a bit dated. If you want a touchscreen, the newer Safe 5 is a better choice; otherwise, go for the Safe 3. What’s that, we’ve narrowed it down from six to two and you still need me to recommend one? Then get the Safe 3. It’s not that I think the Safe 5 is worse than the Safe 3. They were released in 2024 and 2023, respectively, and both use a Secure Element that meets EAL 6+ (Evaluation Assurance Level 6+) standards, which the Model One and Model T lack. I just prefer physical buttons and believe they are generally more durable, so I lean slightly towards the Safe 3.
I use several models myself and can share a bit of experience. A while back, I found a bug in the Safe 5’s interface and submitted an issue on GitHub. I quickly received a reply from Trezor stating that another user had already reported the bug and it had been fixed; the firmware update just hadn’t been released yet. This reflects two things: first, some bugs are indeed specific to touchscreens, and second, Trezor is very responsive to user feedback.
Still suffering from analysis paralysis? Then just say, “Choices are for kids; I’ll take them all.” Buy one Safe 5 and one Safe 3. Don’t worry about it being a waste. In fact, even if you decide on one model, my next piece of advice is to buy two at once. Why? This is your vault, guarding the assets you’ve spent half a lifetime accumulating. You shouldn’t be skimping here. Besides, if your crypto holdings aren’t worth the cost of two cold wallets for safekeeping, then maybe you shouldn’t be thinking about decentralized solutions at all. Just throw them on a centralized exchange or give the seed phrase directly to Alice. The advantage of having two cold wallets is that while one is in active use, you can use the other to practice—repeatedly resetting to factory settings, reinstalling firmware, recovering accounts, and making transfers until it’s second nature, almost a reflex. When it comes time to transfer your life’s assets, you won’t be so nervous.
Furthermore, shipping from the official Trezor website isn’t cheap, but the cost is the same for one or two devices, so buying two at once actually saves you money. If you want, you could even buy ten—they make excellent gifts for personal use or for friends. Be careful not to buy from other places just for convenience or to save on shipping. I’m not encouraging you to distrust people, but as the proverb goes, “more middlemen, more potential problems.” Every extra intermediary introduces another point of uncertainty. For this reason, using a cold wallet gifted by someone else is not appropriate—otherwise, I would have just given you one. Of course, if you are the one buying it as a gift, you can ensure it hasn’t been tampered with. Whether the recipient accepts it is up to them. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: it’s best not to use your permanent, fixed personal information. Using a disposable email address, a temporary phone number, and a mail forwarding service can significantly reduce your risk of being phished in the future.
Please don’t curse me for recommending Ledger to you in the past and now suggesting Trezor. That was years ago, and times have changed. After Ledger secured two major rounds of venture capital funding in 2021 and 2023, its design and brand image certainly improved, but it seems less grounded than before. Its models have become flashy, and it even introduced features that go against the decentralized ethos, like Ledger Recover. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that using Ledger now is dangerous, I no longer consider it my top choice. If you’re interested in how Ledger went astray, I can tell you in another letter, but let’s not get sidetracked for now.
I’ve ordered from Trezor a few times, and I recall the delivery always being within a few days. Please place your order now and try to get them within a week. Next week, I’ll send you another letter explaining the operational steps, so you can follow along as you read.
Before then, please do some homework and think about a few questions:
- If you had to find three of your most trusted friends to help, who comes to mind?
- What if you increased that number to five? Or seven?
- What if there was an added condition that these friends couldn’t all live in the same country but had to be spread across the globe?
- And what if we add another consideration: these friends must have a certain level of cybersecurity awareness, at least to the point of using end-to-end encrypted communication tools like Signal?
- Finally—don’t kill me for this—what if these friends also don’t know each other, or at least aren’t close?
That’s all for now. Let’s talk again next week.
Rebuild. Hong Kong
2025.08.27
p.s. I’ve long had a plan for how to distribute my Bitcoin, Ethereum, and LikeCoin after my death. However, I’ve only recently started arranging the “three treasures” of the traditional system—a will, a durable power of attorney, and an advance healthcare directive—through Forever Gift, a service founded by a friend, and I’m still procrastinating on finalizing it. Matters of the physical world always leave me feeling helpless. Just the lawyer asking for my phone number and telling me to wait for his call at a specific time is enough to annoy me into ignoring it, not to mention all the other typical ways of doing things within the system. How about you? Have you arranged your will?
Leave a Reply