Overview
Lace Paper Wallet is a backup feature built into Lace, the Cardano browser wallet from IOG (the engineering company that created Cardano). It replaces the usual 24-word recovery phrase with a printable QR code that's been locked with extra encryption. Think of it as a recovery phrase sealed in a digital envelope1.
The catch: opening that envelope requires a PGP key (a personal cryptographic key), which most people don't have. This makes Lace Paper Wallet a feature aimed squarely at security-conscious users who already use PGP for things like email or document signing. For most newcomers, a regular written 24-word recovery phrase is simpler and safer.
Key Features
- A QR code instead of 24 words. Recovery information is encrypted and packed into a single QR code that prints onto a sheet of paper. No word list to write down by hand1.
- An extra layer of protection. Even if someone finds the printed paper, they can't recover the wallet without your PGP key as well, so the paper alone is not enough1.
- Built into Lace. No separate tool to install. Open the Lace browser wallet, go to Settings, click "Generate paper wallet," and the printable page appears1.
- Restore with a phone camera. When you need to recover the wallet, you just hold the printed QR code in front of your camera. Lace decrypts it on your device2.
- Nothing leaves your device. All the encryption and decryption happens locally. IOG doesn't see any of your wallet data.
What to Expect
Using Lace Paper Wallet is straightforward only if you already have a PGP key set up. After installing Lace (a free browser add-on for Chrome, Firefox, and Brave), you open the wallet, head to Settings, find the Security section, and trigger the paper wallet generator. The result is a printable page with a single QR code, designed to be stored offline like any paper backup.
Restoring is straightforward: open Lace on a new device, choose "recover with paper wallet," hold the printed QR code up to the camera, and Lace decrypts the recovery info using your PGP key.
The trade-off worth understanding: with regular 24-word backups, the recovery phrase alone gets you back in. With Lace Paper Wallet, you need both the printed QR code AND your PGP key, so losing either one breaks recovery. That extra layer of security only pays off if you're already comfortable managing PGP keys carefully. For most people, the simpler 24-word phrase (or a hardware wallet like Ledger or Trezor) is the better choice.
If you do use PGP, Lace Paper Wallet is a clever way to add an encryption layer on top of the standard physical backup, while keeping the wallet fully in your control.
