Month: May 2021

Uncategorized

Restoring a YetiCold Bitcoin wallet

YetiCold or YetiWallet is a great way to store your bitcoin on your own. There is a great video walkthrough about how to do the wallet creation, and the instructions within Yeti guide you through this process pretty clearly. However, after that, you’re instructed to erase your entire machine, and it’s up to you to get your wallet back afterwards! I was a little nervous about doing this, and didn’t want to start sending coins to this wallet until I could be sure I knew how to get the wallet back after wiping the machine. So I decided to test it. I deleted my wallet, and tried recovering it.

This is how to get your wallet back using 3 of your 7 seeds. It also has a bit more explanation about how the 3 of 7 multisig wallet is set up, how wallet files work in Bitcoin Core, and what all the text at the bottom of each seed file is.

Bitcoin core keeps your wallet in a file called Wallet.dat in the hidden .bitcoin folder in your home directory. This wallet file has to be present for you to use your wallet and spend your coins. While it is gone (i.e., after you wipe your machine), you can still receive coins at a previous address generated with the wallet. The blockchain will remember that those coins are there for you. But what happens when you want to regenerate/recover the wallet so you can spend them?

Remember that YetiCold generates your seven seeds, and an additional file called “Descriptor.txt.” Descriptor.txt contains a very long string of letters and numbers that explains how all the seeds fit together so that 3 of the 7 can be used to regernate the wallet. This string from Descriptor.txt is copied at the end of each seed. So that way, each seed carries the instructions about how it fits together with the other seeds. Basically, to recover a wallet, you just load up a seed into YetiCold so it can pull the descriptor out of it. Then, you load up three seeds in succession. It will then rescan for a few minutes, and you’ll then have your wallet back. Here’s how it’s done:

Run YetiCold. This can be accomplished by opening Terminal, and running the following commands to enter the directory where YetiCold is stored, then starting it using Python3 to run initialize.py, specifically with the YetiLevelTwo version:

cd yeticold

python3 initialize.py YetiLevelTwo

YetiCold will open. From here, you just need to go to “Recover Wallet.”

You now need to download the blockchain and have your computer validate it. This will take at least overnight (with an SSD), and may take several days (with an HDD). YetiCold will wait around until this is complete. You can do this ahead-of-time so it’s ready without compromising security.

Next, Yeti will ask you to load up a seed (any seed!) so it can pull the descriptor. Just browse for the file (on your CD, or copied onto a device — careful!)

Finally, you’ll have to import any 3 of your seven seeds similarly. Put each CD in and browse to it and it’ll load them up. Each phrase will turn green once it’s validated.

After that, you’ll hit next. It’ll rescan for a few minutes, and then you’ll have your wallet recovered. If your blockchain is synced, it’ll know what your balance is (with all the coins received).

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Quick cryptocurrency getting started guide


1. Skim https://medschoolbeast.com/2021/03/09/cryptocurrency-bitcoin-ethereum-nfts-defi-and-more/ (high level overview)

2. Set up Coinbase account. Use “Earn” thing to get like $100 total of free coins (they have you watch short videos and take easy quizzes about the coins and you get like $3 for each answer; there are cheat sheets online)

3. If you actually want to buy anything, use Coinbase Pro NOT Coinbase. If you made a Coinbase account, you automatically have a Pro account already (pro.coinbase.com). Main reason is that Coinbase Pro gives you about 3-4% more coins for your money cuz their fees are lower. Transferring to/from Coinbase and Pro is free/instant.


4. Then there is the question of what to buy right now. No easy answer, many things are at all time highs. Personally I would say you want your portfolio to be about 50% ETH, 30% BTC, 20% everything else (good stuff like LINK, MATIC, and AAVE). BTC has been taking a nap this week so maybe nibble a little if it gets to the low $50k range. Long-term, ETH is its cooler younger bro that actually does stuff (DeFi, NFTs, etc) and I am pretty bullish on it, but it’s near all-time highs so hard to justify buying until it dips a little. Another option I would consider in your case is just having some money sitting in “crypto cash equivalents” and earning interest, and then you can quickly use this to buy a crypto when you want. Problem is Coinbase is easy to buy/sell but they pay little to no interest. You would have to start another account somewhere else to get interest. Best choices:

  •  KuCoin. Use USDT. If you use their Finance > Crypto Lending, you can lend out USDT for 30-40% annually. Pros: highest rates, tons of coins and features; Cons: more complicated to use, has to be locked up for a few days at a time. 
  • BlockFi. Use USDC. They’ll pay 10% annually for now, but usually 8.6%. Pros: easy to use, good security, can trade into a few major coins then get some interest on them; Cons: lowest interest rates and they keep cutting them. 
  • Ledn.io. Use USDC. They pay 12.5% annually. Pros: easy to use, decent rates, Cons: can’t trade any coins on there.

Yes 30-40% interest (annualized) is possible right now on stablecoins. I don’t understand why people continue to talk about their CDs and “high yield savings accounts” at a bank — you are locking in a loss of real money (against inflation). Most banks = dumb/corrupt old boomers whereas crypto is an amazing opportunity for smart young people that does not discriminate. Not to editorialize too much.

Careful w/ transferring assets. Fees on USDT/USDC transfers are high right now like $20. Lower for other blockchains like $0.04. Always copy and paste addresses carefully and double-check them. For sending large amounts, do a small test transaction first before sending the rest in 1-2 chunks.

Don’t buy: stupid meme coins near all-time highs (DOGE), dumb centralized scam projects (XRP, ADA, XLM).

Careful w/ scams (anyone saying “Send me 1 I’ll send you 2 back!” or obv anyone asking for passwords) and don’t get overhyped about most dumb new projects.