Blockplate

How Blockplate works

Blockplate is a metal backupGlossaryMetal backupA backup of your seed phrase on steel or titanium – punched, engraved or made with letter tiles. Unlike paper, it survives fire and water. Independent tests show that simple stainless steel plates are robust and often the cheapest.On the learning path: Stage 5 · Step 3 – Backing up your seed phrase →In the glossary →× for your seed phraseGlossarySeed phrase (recovery phrase)A sequence of usually 12 or 24 words from which your wallet derives all its private keys. Anyone who knows the words has full access to your bitcoin – so they belong in an offline backup and never in anyone else’s hands.On the learning path: Stage 5 · Step 3 – Backing up your seed phrase →In the glossary →×: a plate made of 304 stainless steel. Instead of stamping letters, you use a centre punch to make dots in a grid on the plate; each dot stands for a character.^[2] Bitcoin developer Jameson Lopp found this quicker and simpler than stamping or etching letters.^[2] The plate works with any wallet that uses a seed phrase.

Stress test results

Lopp tests metal backupsTermMetal backupA backup of your seed phrase on steel or titanium – punched, engraved or made with letter tiles.On the learning path: Stage 5 · Step 3 – Backing up your seed phrase →In the glossary →AdManufacturers with a paid linkProviders from our comparisonCryptosteelMetal backup · United Kingdom (made in Poland)Visit Cryptosteel* (paid link, opens in a new window)BlockplateMetal backupNo partnership · Profile →All 4 compared – including non-partners →*Paid link: if you sign up or buy through it, we earn a commission. Your price stays the same. How we make money →× independently: up to 10 minutes in a flame of around 1,093 °C (2,000 °F), up to 12 hours in 16% hydrochloric acid and a 20-ton hydraulic press.^[3] Blockplate passed all three tests without data loss (grade A) – as did many other plates in his overview.^[1],[2] Lopp names simple plates with a dot grid, including Blockplate, as the best value for money.^[1] By his own account, his tests are not strictly scientific.^[3]

Price and availability (as of 28 September 2026)

Lopp lists Blockplate at $79.^[1] We could not check the current price: when we accessed the manufacturer’s shop on 27 and 28 September 2026, it showed ‘This store is unavailable’.^[4] Until that changes, Lopp’s overview lists other grade-A plates that work the same way.^[1]

What to watch out for

• Protects against fire, not theft: anyone who finds the plate can read your seed phrase. Keep it somewhere safe and discreet.
• Transfer carefully: after punching, check every dot against your notes.
• Never digital: do not photograph the plate or type the words in anywhere.

How to plan copies, storage locations and a passphrase is explained in Backing up your seed phrase.