Grid Fingerprint

Every Entropy Grid you generate or regenerate now carries a short Grid Fingerprint - an eight character code such as 608725B6. It is shown on screen when the grid is created, and printed on the Grid PDF next to the “Checksum verified?” field.

The fingerprint is a compact identity for your grid. It is derived from the exact arrangement of words in the grid, so two grids share a fingerprint only if they are identical, cell for cell.

What it is for

The main use is confidence during recovery. If you ever regenerate your grid from your Recovery Phrase, check that the fingerprint on the newly generated grid matches the one on your original. If they match, you have reproduced exactly the same grid, and therefore exactly the same wallet. If they differ, something about your input was not identical, and you should stop and check before relying on the result.

This is most valuable for the Own Passphrase (Advanced) option. Spacing and capitalisation are part of your passphrase: “My Phrase” and “my phrase” produce different grids, and therefore different wallets. Recording the fingerprint alongside your grid, and checking it on every regeneration, tells you immediately whether you have typed your passphrase exactly as before.

NOTE: The Grid Fingerprint is a convenience for verification. It is not a secret, and it is not a substitute for keeping your grid and Recovery Phrase safe. It reveals nothing that would help an attacker reproduce your grid.

Where it appears

A note for existing users

The Grid Fingerprint was added in version 1.0.6. Grids you printed with earlier versions do not carry one, which is expected and completely fine - nothing about those grids has changed, and they regenerate exactly as before. From this version onward, new grids show a fingerprint, and any grid you regenerate shows the same fingerprint it had when it was first created.