Documenting Bitcoin Custody
Documenting Custody Knowledge Before It Is Lost
This memo is published by CustodyStress, an independent Bitcoin custody stress test that produces reference documents for individuals, families, and professionals.
What Documentation Attempts
A holder decides to document bitcoin custody arrangements. The holder realizes that custody knowledge lives mostly in their head. The holder wonders whether someone else could follow what is written. The holder is present and calm. No emergency exists.
This memo examines what happens when a holder tries to document bitcoin custody. It also describes how documentation reveals whether custody knowledge can survive handoff.
What Documentation Attempts
When a holder decides to document bitcoin custody, the holder attempts to convert personal knowledge into written form. The holder knows how the system works. The holder knows where things are stored. The holder knows what connects to what.
Documentation tries to capture this knowledge on paper or in files. The holder writes down what exists. The holder describes where things are. The holder explains how pieces connect.
Documenting bitcoin custody is an attempt to make private knowledge visible and portable.
What Documentation Reveals
When a holder tries to document bitcoin custody arrangements, the documentation process reveals certain things. The holder discovers what is easy to explain. The holder discovers what is hard to explain.
Some parts write down easily. Other parts resist explanation. The act of documenting forces the holder to see which knowledge transfers to paper and which stays in the head.
Bitcoin custody documentation often exposes gaps where knowledge exists only in memory. Documentation makes these gaps visible.
The Holder Documents Custody
The system in a scenario involves a holder who decides to document bitcoin custody. The holder writes under conditions where prior knowledge is already present. The holder knows what each section means.
The documentation reflects holder-present understanding. The holder knows what terms refer to. The holder knows what assumptions exist. No confusion is observed while writing.
A third party reading the same documentation would start from a different position. The third party did not write it. The third party does not know what assumptions underlie it. Recovery in a scenario where the third party uses the documentation would differ from the holder's experience creating it.
Documentation Is Not Access
Documentation describes what exists and where things are. It does not provide the things themselves. The documentation may say "seed phrase in fireproof safe." The documentation does not provide the safe combination.
Documentation is a coordination tool. It tells others what exists and where to look. It does not provide keys, passwords, or technical ability. It does not replace custody mechanisms.
A document custody bitcoin effort may help others know what to seek. It does not give them the ability to reach it.
Hidden Assumptions
The system in a scenario involves a holder who tries to document bitcoin custody. The documentation says "use the hardware wallet." The holder knows which device. The holder knows which software. The holder knows where the device is stored.
The documentation does not reveal these hidden assumptions. Each instruction depends on context the holder has but did not write down. Each step assumes other knowledge.
Without the holder's context, the assumptions remain hidden. "Use the hardware wallet" does not say which one. It does not say where. It does not say how. The documentation did not test whether others can follow it alone.
Clarity to the Writer
Bitcoin custody documentation often feels clear to the holder. The holder reads what they wrote. The holder understands every section. The holder sees a complete picture.
This clarity reflects the holder's position. The holder wrote the documentation. The holder knows the context. The holder can fill in what the words leave out.
A third party reading the same words would have different clarity. Different starting knowledge produces different understanding.
Memory and Documentation
While alive, the holder carries knowledge. The holder remembers what documentation means. The holder remembers context that is not written. The holder can explain what is unclear.
Documentation attempts to transfer this knowledge to paper. But not all knowledge transfers. Some knowledge stays in the holder's head. Some assumptions go unwritten.
Documenting bitcoin custody captures part of what the holder knows. It does not capture all of it.
Time and Documentation
Documentation is created at a specific moment. The holder knows everything at that moment. The system is current. Details are fresh.
Time changes these conditions. The holder may change custody arrangements. The holder may move things. The holder may change software or devices. The documentation captures a moment. It does not update itself.
Bitcoin custody documentation created today may not match reality years from now. The documentation did not change. The system did.
What Others Would Experience
The holder documents and sees clear instructions. A third party would see something different. Steps that seem obvious to the holder may confuse a spouse. Terms that seem clear to the holder may puzzle an executor.
A third party using the documentation would start from a different position. They would not know terminology. They would not know what steps assume. They would not know which parts are still current.
The holder's experience documenting does not predict a third party's experience following it.
Documentation as Coordination Test
The act of trying to document bitcoin custody functions as a coordination test. Documentation reveals what the holder can make explicit. It reveals what depends on memory. It reveals what assumes unstated context.
Documentation exposes gaps. It shows where knowledge has not been transferred to paper. It shows where steps depend on information that is not written.
Documenting bitcoin custody is a lens for seeing whether knowledge can survive handoff. It is not a solution for making handoff succeed.
The Confidence Gap
Trying to document bitcoin custody often produces confidence. The holder has written something. The holder has described the system. The outcome is interpreted as sufficient by the holder.
This confidence reflects what the holder observed. It does not reflect what remains unobserved. The holder documented using holder knowledge. The holder did not test using third-party confusion or unfamiliarity.
A holder who decides to document bitcoin custody has taken a coordination step. The holder has not guaranteed that coordination will succeed.
Summary
When a holder decides to document bitcoin custody, the holder attempts to convert personal knowledge into written form. The act of documenting reveals what is easy and hard to explain. The holder discovers which knowledge transfers to paper and which stays in the head.
Documentation often feels clear to the holder because context already exists. Others reading the same documentation would start from a different position. Documentation does not provide access by itself.
The result of documenting bitcoin custody reflects what the holder can make explicit at the time of writing. It does not show what others will understand later. Documentation is a coordination test that reveals whether custody knowledge can survive handoff, not a guarantee that it will.
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