What are metal backups (steel wallets)?

A “metal wallet” usually isn’t a wallet at all. It’s a physical backup of your recovery information – most commonly a BIP39 seed phrase – engraved, stamped, punched, or assembled in metal so it survives what paper won’t: fire, water, mould, time, and general household chaos. Think of it as disaster recovery, not a signing method.

The appeal is simple: paper burns and ink fades; metal tends to stay readable. The trade-off is that metal can create a false sense of safety. A perfect steel plate doesn’t help if you recorded the wrong words, stored it somewhere obvious, or forgot you also used a passphrase. A metal backup is only as good as what you put on it and how you store it.

For most people, the metal backup is the seed phrase (12/18/24 words). Some also back up the passphrase, but that’s a conscious choice: storing seed + passphrase together makes recovery easier – and theft easier too. Many people separate them (different location, different medium), or keep a passphrase recorded in a way that isn’t immediately usable to anyone who finds the seed. Whatever you choose, decide deliberately – don’t “accidentally” end up with everything in one box.

The main types of metal backups:

Engraved or stamped plates (single plate): Flat plates you engrave, stamp, etch, or mark with a punch set. They’re simple and usually the most robust. The most common failure mode is human: wrong word order, an unclear mark, or a “clever” abbreviation that Future You can’t decode under stress.
Tile/letter systems (capsules or frames): These use individual letter tiles (or similar) slotted into a holder. They can be tidy and less intimidating if you hate punching metal. The downside is moving parts: tiles can be dropped, mixed up, or assembled incorrectly. If you ever open it, do it slowly, over a tray, like you’re handling evidence.
Punch-dot/index systems: Some systems have you mark positions (dots) rather than writing words. They can be compact and durable, but they depend on a decoding scheme you must understand and reliably interpret later. If it isn’t dead simple to read when you’re tired and stressed, it’s a risk.
DIY steel (washers, tags, industrial plates): DIY can be excellent: stainless washers on a bolt, dog tags, or a thick plate and punches. It can also go wrong if you pick poor materials, mark too lightly, or invent your own encoding. Good DIY focuses on legibility, consistency, and avoiding “I’ll remember what I meant” decisions.

Most “steel wallets” are stainless steel; some are titanium. You don’t need to become a metallurgist, but the general point holds: different metals handle heat/corrosion differently, and thin plates can warp. Prioritise legibility after damage over aesthetics.

Common setup pitfalls:

wrong word order (especially when copying from paper notes)
one wrong word (one typo can mean a totally different seed)
mixing seed + passphrase without thinking about theft vs recovery
overcomplicated encoding (“I’ll definitely remember this…”)
storing it somewhere obvious (safe/desk drawer) without a threat model
never testing recovery (the big one)

Treat making a metal backup like a change-controlled operation: do it when you’re not tired, don’t rush, and verify each word as you go.

A decent storage strategy is: store the metal backup somewhere physically safe and discreet, and consider separation if you use a passphrase. For larger amounts, people often use two locations (fire and theft aren’t the same threat), or a split approach – but simplicity is a feature. If your backup plan needs a flowchart, you’ve introduced a new failure mode.

Once it’s made, do a test restore on a spare device or in a safe environment. Confirm you can derive the same addresses (watch-only is great for this), and that the backup is readable and unambiguous. Nothing builds confidence like proving it works.

A metal backup is a great upgrade over paper for durability, but it doesn’t magically make you safe. The goal isn’t “own a steel thing” – it’s “be able to recover reliably, under pressure, after something went wrong”, without turning your backup into an unsolvable puzzle.