8 March 2025
Annual verification: a one-hour desk ritual
A repeatable checklist for confirming backup locations and wallet labels without exposing seeds during routine review.
Verification is not recovery. It is proof that your paper record still matches your physical setup.
Block one hour on the same weekend each year. Gather the ledger, a pen, and your location codes. Do not open seed backups unless you are deliberately rotating them—a separate procedure.
First twenty minutes: Walk the backup map. Visit or mentally confirm each location code. Mark the date in the verification log. Note any container that moved.
Next twenty minutes: Compare wallet labels in the ledger to labels on devices or envelope tags. Update rows for wallets you retired or renamed.
Final twenty minutes: Read the heir section aloud. Update phone numbers, contact roles, or storage instructions that changed.
If you find a gap—a wallet on a device with no ledger row—add a row before you close the book. Gaps discovered during an actual emergency are far costlier than gaps discovered on a quiet Sunday.
Clients who bind duplicate volumes for a secondary site should verify both copies stay synchronized. We stamp duplicate sets with matching edition numbers on the spine to reduce mix-ups.
When verification reveals rebinding needs—torn pages, loose hinges—schedule maintenance before the next annual round. A legible log on fragile paper defeats the purpose of the ritual.