When you add your hardware device(s) to Casa to create your 3-key or 5-key vault, you're creating an entirely new set of public and private key pairs that are ready to receive and secure your funds.
Hardware devices like Ledger, Trezor, Coldcard, Keystone, or Passport are commonly used as single-signature wallets with a single key and backup.
When the hardware device is added to a Casa vault setup, its function with Casa is to be one of several signing keys in your vault, rather than its own wallet.
If I added the hardware device to Casa, why don't I see my funds in the Casa app?
If you have funds stored in the hardware device's single-signature wallet, it's expected that you would not be able to see those funds in Casa. Your funds do not automatically become secured by multisig just by adding the hardware device(s) to Casa.
In other words, you aren't importing your existing hardware device keys to Casa, but rather using the hardware device as part of a different, initially empty, newly-created vault.
Imagine you had paper money in a lockbox that was locked with one key, then upgraded to a safe that needed multiple keys to open it, one of which happened to be the same as the lockbox key. Your money would not be in the safe just because the safe and the lockbox shared a key. You would need to move the money from the lockbox to the safe for it to appear in the safe.
In order for your funds to be secured with Casa's multisig vault, you'll need to send your funds from your hardware device's single-signature wallet to the deposit address shown in your Casa app's vault.
- If you're using a Ledger, you would send funds to Casa following these directions.
- If you're using a Trezor, you would send funds to Casa following these directions.
- If you're using a Coldcard, you would send funds to Casa using an open source app like Electrum.
Looking for a step-by-step guide how to deposit funds to Casa? See Depositing (adding funds) to the Casa app.
When I add my hardware device to Casa, will it affect the other funds stored with it?
No, setting up your hardware device as a signing key with Casa will not affect the other coins you may have stored with the device's single-signature key in any way.
As a best security practice, we recommend that the hardware device you add to Casa be used exclusively for Casa.
Can my backup seed phrase restore the Casa signing key?
Yes, if you've retained the seed phrase for your hardware device, then that seed phrase can be used to recreate your Casa signing key on a new hardware device, without making any changes to your keyset.
Choosing to retain the seed phrase is optional, but our security model does allows for a "seedless" setup where you don't retain your seed phrase.
See Seedless multisig for more information and to decide what's right for you.