Case Studies
How the idea behind STAHLX was born
Roughly every sixth Bitcoin worldwide is considered permanently lost — 2.3 to 3.7 million BTC with a market value well above 150 billion US dollars. In 2025 alone, $3.4 billion in crypto was stolen, often because seed phrases were stored insecurely. STAHLX was created to prevent exactly this loss: an encrypted backup that gives nobody access even if found.
≈ 1/6
of all Bitcoin are lost forever
> $150B
market value of the lost 2.3–3.7M BTC
$3.4B
crypto thefts in 2025 alone (Chainalysis)
24
words on the steel — all unreadable
Passphrases disappear. Anyone who truly wants to secure their seed phrase stores it in a few places — afraid it could be read or copied. Lose access or let the memory fade, and the coins are often irretrievably gone. Millions remain blocked forever.
The turning point. The fear of being read forces backups into hiding or onto a few fragile spots. STAHLX flips the logic: what is on the steel may be read — because it is 24 completely different, valid words. A find only leads to an empty wallet.
The revolution. Instead of putting the real seed phrase on the steel, STAHLX puts a ciphertext there. Your certificate file provides the passphrase that decrypts the words back into your real seed phrase — possible only for whoever holds steel and certificate file together. You can take your backup anywhere, leave it out in the open or store it with family, without a find ever leading to your wallet.
Customer scenarios
Three anonymised scenarios from our users' everyday life, showing how STAHLX changes the way backups are handled.
Backup in carry-on, without fear
A freelancer manages his coins through a hardware wallet. Instead of hiding the seed in a hotel safe, he takes his STAHLX backup on every trip. If it is inspected or copied, it is 24 meaningless words — the real seed phrase stays unreadable.
Deposited without revealing anything
A family keeps a STAHLX backup with the parents. They only see 24 foreign words and cannot decrypt anything. In an emergency, the authorised person needs only the steel plus the matching certificate file to restore the real seed phrase.
An emergency without exposure
A user prepares a STAHLX backup for the inheritance case: the steel with family, a copy of the certificate file with a notary. Each part alone leads nowhere — only when both come together can the real seed phrase be recovered.
Ready to rethink your backup?