I’ve very recently come to the end of a story that should help to remind others about why its so important to back up your codes properly.Ive been into crypto for a few years and have slowly amassed a respectable but not major amount of crypto. I purchased a Ledger Nano S hardware wallet to store my purchases because I knew the importance of keeping it offline. Something I paid less attention to was my recovery codes.Its important for me to state that I spend my time inbetween two different countries. I’m reside In one country for several months a year to work, but am a national of another country and spend time in my home country at intervals throughout the year. Due to this, I had always kept my crypto devices and info in my country of work/residence.Going back to my Ledger, I knew it was important to keep my recovery codes. I wrote them down in a notebook and put it in my apartment safely. I very rarely lose valuables, so I figured I’d never really need it.All was going well. My Ledger never leaves my house so I never have a risk of losing it....then Covid 19 hits. I happened to be on holiday while the corona virus outbreaks started to really hit hard. As it was a two week stay, I had decided not to take my Ledger with me. The prices wont change that much in two weeks I thought. For personal reasons, i decided to travel from my holiday destination to my home country (it was deemed safer to do so). I’m now separated from my crypto.As most of you know, prices dropped like a stone at first. I felt helpless, but in hindsight at least I couldn’t panic sell. Prices then recovered and all was good. I just needed to get back to my country of work and back to my Ledger. Then, of course, airports and flights were shut off. I was grounded thousands of miles away from my ledger and more importantly my recovery codes. I’ve sat for nearly 6 months, utterly helpless as the prices went down and went up. More importantly for all your hodlers our there, I couldnt even be sure that my savings would still be there when I got back. Empty apartments tend to go noticed after a while and there was nothing I could do about it.This story does have a happy ending. After 6 months i have finally managed to gain access to the codes and transfer my balances to a new wallet. i wanted to share my story to highlight How vital it is to have your recovery codes in a secure location and back up copies held in places that you frequent. You May not get trapped abroad like me, but fires, accidental damage and theft are just as prevalent and easy to suffer from. Back your codes people. Don’t keep all of your eggs in one basket.TLDR: Got stranded 5000 miles away from my Ledger and recovery codes due to corona virus. Had to wait 6 months to regain access to my crypto currency.
Submitted June 25, 2020 at 06:00PM
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