Knowing Bitcoin · Edition 2026.11
The Two-Envelope Plan
A family recovery kit for self-custodied bitcoin
Everything your family will need to reach your bitcoin, in two envelopes and a booklet. Neither envelope is enough on its own to reach the coins, and you keep the envelopes and your backups in different places.
Every page is yours to print, copy and hand to your lawyer. Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
The rule
Three parts, kept apart
You split what your family will need into three parts: Envelope A, Envelope B and your backups. You keep the three in different places, and no person and no place keeps all three together.
Safety
What opens your coins is written by hand
Write by hand whatever opens your coins: seed words, PINs and passphrase. Everything else you can type.
Every page is meant to be printed, and every link is printed as plain text you type yourself. A copy with a QR code or an on-screen form has been altered. Download the kit from knowingbitcoin.com and check it.
Any message about your plan that claims to come from Knowing Bitcoin is a scam. Knowing Bitcoin’s part ends with this printed kit. The people who help on recovery day are the ones you name in the letter.
What is inside
Eighteen chapters for three readers
You, the holder, make the plan. Your heirs follow it. The executor and the lawyer deal with the estate. Page numbers are for the A4 PDF. The US Letter PDF has 82 pages.
Start here
- p. 2 How this kit was made Who made the kit, how each page was checked, and which chapters each reader needs. 1 page
- p. 3 Safety rules Ten rules for everyone who touches the plan, on one page. 1 page
For you, the holder
- p. 4 The two-envelope rule The three parts of the plan, where each one is kept, and why nobody holds all three. 3 pages
- p. 7 The 20-minute plan The shortest version: two templates, two envelopes, two people. 2 pages
- p. 9 Your workbook The full plan in six steps. Only step 3, which you shred, shows where things are kept. 6 pages
Templates to print and fill in by hand
- p. 15 The letter The letter your family opens first. It explains the plan and holds no secret. 3 pages
- p. 18 The access sheet Where the backups, the devices and the passphrase copy are, with the PINs. Written by hand, on a sheet of its own. 3 pages
- p. 21 Envelope covers Two covers to cut out and tape to the front of the envelopes. 3 pages
- p. 25 Seed card and passphrase card Two cards for copying the seed words and the passphrase by hand, onto paper. 5 pages
For your heirs
- p. 31 Read this first A booklet for heirs who are new to Bitcoin. It covers the first week, scams, the small test transfer and the device screen. 14 pages
- p. 45 Recovering one hardware wallet Step by step, with the helper, from the holder’s wallet into a wallet of your own. 7 pages
- p. 52 Recovering one hardware wallet with a passphrase The same route for a wallet that opens with seed words and a passphrase. 8 pages
Other setups
- p. 60 Questions for your provider What to ask about multisig, time-locked wallets and collaborative custody. 3 pages
For the executor and the lawyer
- p. 63 For the executor and the lawyer What the holder left, the legal points to take to a lawyer, and what to record. 3 pages
For you, once a year
- p. 66 The annual review Half an hour once a year to check that the plan still works. 2 pages
Checks and sources
- p. 68 Check this file Three short commands that show your copy is the one Knowing Bitcoin published. 4 pages
- p. 72 Sources and credits Every primary source with the date it was read, the credits and the licence. 5 pages
- p. 77 Revision log A page to record each review and each change to the plan. 1 page
About this kit
How this kit was made
Knowing Bitcoin is edited by Max Hale, a pen name. AI agents research, write and check each page against the primary sources listed at the back, following the editor’s rules, and the editor decides when each edition is released. Corrections are listed with their dates at knowingbitcoin.com/corrections/.
Every step is checked against the primary sources listed in the chapter “Sources and credits”.
The two-envelope approach builds on work by Pamela Morgan, Jameson Lopp, SmartCustody and Glacier Protocol.
The files
The files and the release key
Each file’s address starts with knowingbitcoin.com/two-envelope-plan/files/.
- the-two-envelope-plan-2026.11-a4.pdfThe kit, on A4 paper, 1.3 MB
- the-two-envelope-plan-2026.11-letter.pdfThe kit, on US Letter paper, 1.3 MB
- SHA256SUMSThe list of checksums, 210 bytes
- SHA256SUMS.ascThe signature of that list, 265 bytes
- SHA256SUMS.otsThe timestamp of that list, 3 KB
Release key fingerprint
9BDC 88B1 23B4 7303 5B0F 2F30 BFF1 16F1 8103 1D9C
The public key is at knowingbitcoin.com/keys/knowing-bitcoin-release.asc.
The timestamp proves the list of checksums existed before Bitcoin block 975020.
Check this file shows how to use them, with three commands.