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quoting nevent1q…kzvk

𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗴 𝘃𝘀. 𝗦𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗲𝘆𝘀

To truly own your bitcoin, you must custody your private key. This usually involves writing down a 12 or 24-word seed phrase, and keeping it offline where it’s safe from theft, flood, and fire.

But what if it’s discovered? Is it safer to use multiple private keys connected to the same wallet, or to split up a single seed phrase into multiple pieces?

Let’s explore this below👇



Multisignature, commonly referred to as 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘨, is a method of 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘀. So instead of one private key being used to control the asset, multiple private keys are required to sign, execute, and validate a transaction.

The most common multisig implementation is a 2-of-3 scheme, where any 2 of the 3 private keys are needed to sign a valid transaction. In this setup, 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, allowing for trustless wallet management, even among a wallet’s co-owners.

Contrasting that with splitting your private key into smaller pieces, 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘰𝘣𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦, and then correctly guessing the rest. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗵𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀, but that is not the case with multisig.

It's important to note that multisig can be implemented at different levels, such as at the blockchain or consensus level — which provides the highest level of security — or by a particular application, which is far less secure. If the number of signers or authorization keys can be changed without a publicly-visible transaction on the blockchain, 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲, where the authors of the application ultimately control the asset.

Multisig offers several benefits, including increased security, as it requires multiple signatures to create a transaction, making it much more difficult for an attacker to compromise your wallet. Additionally, 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘂𝗽, so if a key is lost or stolen, a new multisignature wallet can be created, and the other key holders can move the funds into the new wallet.



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