Los Angeles wildfires wipe out wallets and seed phrase, how to prevent your crypto wealth from burning to ashes?

Here is the English translation of the text, with the specified terms preserved and not translated: The Table of Contents of this Article - What Forms of Crypto Assets May Be Lost? - How to Prevent Asset Destruction from Disasters? - Keeping Private Keys Private is Still the Right Way The recent devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, California have caused the destruction of thousands of homes and the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. Many disaster victims not only lost their homes, but also their crypto wallets and seed phrase backups, sparking widespread discussions on crypto asset security and the importance of private key preservation. What Forms of Crypto Assets May Be Lost? In this wildfire disaster, many forms of crypto assets face serious threats: - Unbackedup hot wallets: Apps like Metamask, if installed on a phone or computer without backing up the seed phrase, will result in asset loss if the device is damaged. - Unbackedup files on computers or hard drives: Many users store seed phrases or private keys as photos or documents on their computers, but these can be easily destroyed along with the computer or hard drive in a fire, making asset recovery impossible. - Cold wallet seed phrase cards: Users who store their seed phrases on paper or physical devices face the risk of permanent data loss in the event of fire or flood. The raging wildfires left many people no time to attend to the digital assets stored in their homes, causing countless precious private keys and backups to be reduced to ashes, which is a devastating blow to those who rely on digital assets as their primary financial source. How to Prevent Asset Destruction from Disasters? This disaster has shown that properly safeguarding crypto assets has become an unavoidable issue. To mitigate the risk of asset destruction from fires, crypto holders can take the following preventive measures: - Social recovery wallets: This concept proposed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin allows users to create a network of trusted contacts, distributing private key shards to multiple guardians. If the private key is lost, these "guardians" can collectively help recover access to the wallet, reducing single point of failure risks and preventing data centralization losses. - MPC wallets (Multi-Party Computation wallets): MPC wallets manage private keys through multi-party collaboration, such as the OKX Web3 wallet and Ledger Recover, which can reduce the risk of asset loss due to single device damage and provide a unique way to securely store cryptocurrencies. - Fireproof safes: Storing cold wallets and seed phrase cards in certified fireproof, waterproof safes can effectively protect physical backups from disaster damage. - Metal seed phrase plates and steel capsules: There are specialized metal seed phrase plates and steel capsules on the market that can withstand high temperatures and corrosion, effectively preventing seed phrase cards from being destroyed in floods, fires, and other disasters. - Memorization or tattoo backups: Some users choose to memorize their seed phrases or record them as tattoos, but these methods carry higher risks as memories can be forgotten and tattoos can be exposed. Not Revealing Private Keys is Still the Right Way The above methods can help reduce the risk of asset loss in natural disasters, but it is also best to keep a low profile and not easily disclose private keys and asset management methods. Even with the use of fire-resistant devices or advanced technologies, if the storage location or method is known to others, it may still become a target for thieves. Crypto asset holders should be aware that the security of crypto assets not only requires protection against hacker attacks, but also against natural disasters and accidents. Users should adopt appropriate backup and protection measures based on their own needs to ensure that their digital wealth is properly safeguarded in all circumstances.