Bitcoin doesn't have a help desk.

The key concepts

Descriptors

A descriptor is a precise, machine-readable description of how a wallet derives its addresses — the script type, the keys involved, and the derivation paths. It is what lets any tool reconstruct exactly which addresses your wallet controls, without ever needing your private keys.

Extended public keys (xpubs)

An extended public key (xpub) lets software derive all of a wallet's public addresses without exposing any private key. It reveals your balance and history to whoever holds it, but it cannot spend a single satoshi.

Hardware wallets

A hardware wallet keeps your private keys on a dedicated device that never exposes them to your computer or the internet. It signs transactions internally, so the keys stay isolated from everyday online risk.

Multisig basics

A multisig setup requires more than one key to authorise a transaction — for example, two of three keys held in different places. It removes any single point of failure, at the cost of added operational complexity.

What BitcoinProof needs from your setup

To reconstruct what your wallet held at a historical date, BitcoinProof needs the public description of your wallet — a descriptor or an extended public key (xpub). You export this from your wallet software and provide it to the application.

Your private keys and seed phrase never enter BitcoinProof and never leave your machine. The application reads only public information and queries the public blockchain. For the full technical detail of how reconstruction works, see the methodology.

When single-sig may be appropriate

Single-sig offers the greatest operational simplicity, but it also concentrates control in one key and recovery backup. Whether that trade-off is appropriate depends on the value at risk, your personal threat model, your ability to secure backups and who may eventually need to recover the wallet. Multisig adds complexity and its own failure modes, but can provide greater resilience when the consequences of theft, loss or a single compromised key become significant.

When to consider multisig and professional help

Above a certain threshold of value at risk, the failure modes of single-sig (single point of failure, theft, loss) begin to outweigh the operational simplicity. At that point, multisig becomes worth considering — though it's complex enough that most people benefit from professional guidance.

If you want professional help setting up multisig custody

If you want professional help setting up multisig custody, my own profile is at thebitcoinadviser.com/wenze.

Disclosure: Wenze van Klink, founder of BitcoinProof, is also a consultant at The Bitcoin Adviser. If you engage him as your adviser there, he is paid a commission for that work. Neither business pays the other for referrals — BitcoinProof and The Bitcoin Adviser are independent businesses.