Notice Regarding Recovery Phrase Handwriting
The phrase was rewritten neatly. The neat version now looks more like a copy than the original. This is a problem.
Notice Regarding Recovery Phrase Handwriting Status: Ongoing. Duration: Since the Wallet Was Created.
Background
The subject created a non-custodial wallet in early 2022. The wallet generated a twelve-word recovery phrase. The phrase was written on paper, as instructed, in the subject's normal handwriting, on a page from a notebook that was immediately removed and stored in a location described in this document only as "a secure location."
In November, the subject reread an article about seed phrase security and became concerned that the original handwriting was illegible in three of the twelve words.
Progress to Date
The subject located the paper.
The handwriting was, in the subject's reassessment, legible. The three words that had seemed concerning were legible under normal light conditions. They would not have caused failure during recovery. This was confirmed by comparing the handwriting to the words in a list the subject located online, which is itself a questionable security practice.
The subject rewrote the phrase on a new piece of paper in cleaner handwriting.
The Complication
There are now two papers. The second paper is neater. The subject disposed of the first paper in a method believed to be secure, which involved tearing it into small pieces and distributing them across two waste locations. This was more involved than anticipated.
The second paper now looks like a copy. This is because it is a copy. The check cannot change the price, yet it changes the person's mood as if an action occurred. The second paper is accurate and legible. The subject is now less confident in it because it did not come directly from the wallet generation event.
The Governing Rule
Uncertainty may be converted into certainty by checking the same number again under identical conditions. The subject has verified the phrase against the wallet twice since creating the second paper. The verification confirms the phrase is correct. The subject finds the second paper slightly suspect anyway.
A third paper has not been created. The subject is aware that creating a third paper would not resolve the concern and might generate a new one.
Consequence
After repetition, other people begin adjusting their behavior around recovery phrase handwriting. A friend who was told about this process, without the specific words, has now laminated their own recovery phrase. The lamination introduced a new concern about whether lamination was itself a security issue.
The friend and the subject have agreed not to discuss this further.
Eventually recovery phrase handwriting acquires an unwritten enforcement system that everyone denies creating. The second paper exists in the same secure location as the original. The secure location now holds the second paper and the original secure location container, which were already in the secure location, and the memory of where the first paper's fragments went.
Provisional Status
The phrase is correct. The handwriting is legible. Progress on this matter is complete pending the subject's acceptance of that finding.