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by iapi 482 days ago
Hey HN,

I’m excited to share MnemonicSafe, a JavaScript library that securely splits and encrypts BIP-39 mnemonics using Shamir’s Secret Sharing (SSS) and AES-256-GCM encryption. This project is inspired by SLIP-39 (SatoshiLabs’ Shamir Backup), but it is an independent, experimental approach that offers flexibility for custom security models.

How It Works • Split a BIP-39 mnemonic into N shares using Shamir’s Secret Sharing. • Threshold-based recovery: Only T of N shares are needed to reconstruct the mnemonic. • Encrypt each share using AES-256-GCM with unique passwords for added security. • Supports reconstruction of the mnemonic only when the correct threshold of decrypted shares is provided.

Why Use This? • More secure than storing a single mnemonic. • Resistant to loss: As long as the threshold number of shares exists, the mnemonic can be recovered. • Better than just encrypting the mnemonic: A single compromised key won’t reveal the full secret. • Customizable & extensible: Can be adapted for advanced use cases like expiration metadata, threshold encryption, or HSM integration.

What This Is Not • This is not an official SLIP-39 implementation. It is inspired by SLIP-39 but uses password-based encryption for added flexibility.

GitHub: https://github.com/hackable/mnemonicsafe

Would love to hear thoughts from HN! Any feedback, suggestions, or security critiques are welcome.