US police accidentally publish video with access to detainee’s cryptocurrency wallet

A video from the body-worn camera of a Nevada police officer in the United States was posted on the Internet: during a search of a suspect, law enforcement officers found a seed phrase that allows them to restore access to a lost cryptocurrency wallet. The confidential information immediately became public.

This incident outraged members of the cryptocurrency community, as now anyone can get the digital assets of the detained investor. «The video of the police searching the suspect and finding the seed phrase is unacceptable. Imagine if your access code was made public by law enforcement! «wrote programmer Jameson Lopp, who is the co-founder and CTO of Casa, a bitcoin security company.

Чанпен Чжао" href="https://noworries.media/biography/chanpen-chzhao/" data-bio-id="3681">Changpeng Zhao, chairman of the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, also commented on the situation, advising investors to always consider the risks of different methods of storing digital assets. «I am a supporter of free choice. Store your cryptocurrency however you want. But before doing so, learn about the risks of each method ,» Zhao wrote on his Twitter page.

The video sparked discussions about the best way to store seed phrases, with the most popular suggestion being: «Learn a 12- or 24-word seed phrase by heart.» However, CZ pointed out that hereditary problems and the forgetfulness of the human mind are two of the biggest flaws when it comes to keeping important information in your head alone.

The former CEO of the BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange Arthur Hayes, who is a supporter of the seed-phrase memorization method, would disagree with Changpeng Zhao in absentia. Back in early September, in his essay For the War, Hayes explained how BTC allows you to protect your financial savings. The expert noted that the authorities could potentially ban the conversion of fiat into bitcoin, but it would be difficult to confiscate cryptocurrency from its owners. Cryptocurrencies have no physical embodiment, which allows them to be converted and used unnoticed.

«I can just memorize a seed phrase and spend money whenever I want, and no one will know about it. There are no externally visible signs of how many bitcoins I have,» explained the former BitMEX CEO.