Not Gonna Test My Ledgers, I’m Not Gonna Test My Ledgers

I was just doing some key management checks. Had a small but not completely immaterial amount of bitcoin in a multisig with @unchained. It was an old test vault. One of the keys was a Ledger (which btw I don’t recommend Ledger and don’t otherwise use). Plugged in the Ledger and it was completely borked. Just didn’t turn on. Loaded the seed on to another device, all good. Lesson here: keep your seeds, use multisig, and it’s also good to have a fresh hardware signing device handy, should you ever need. 

Collaborative custody helps reduce risk by distributing risk and key management responsibility. I recommend it, but the personal responsibility remains on you to secure your signing devices and seeds and to periodically check that everything is in working order to ensure no third-parties could prevent you from accessing your bitcoin when you need it. Another note: I did a test transaction of an Unchained vault using Sparrow. It’s important to keep your configuration files and to have a path to spend without using a central third-party like Unchained. 

Sovereignty and censorship resistance over your money (life savings) is invaluable in my opinion (i.e. impossible to put a price on), but it comes with the cost of personal responsibility and accountability.