How to Unseal and Sweep a SATSCARD Safely

Unsealing a SATSCARD reveals the current slot's key material and permanently advances the card. Before you unseal, prepare a trusted destination wallet and verified receive address. Use a compatible app, authorize with the CVC, sweep the entire balance, and confirm the sweep before treating the old slot as finished.

Irreversible: you cannot reseal a SATSCARD slot. Do not unseal merely to inspect a balance or prove that a card is genuine.

Before you begin

A sweep is a Bitcoin transaction that spends all funds controlled by the exposed slot key to a new wallet address. It should be performed on a phone or computer you trust. Once unsealed, malware or anyone who obtains the exported key may be able to spend the same funds.

Prepare all of the following before changing card state:

• a compatible SATSCARD wallet or the official cktap tooling;
• the card and its six-digit CVC;
• a trusted destination wallet with a tested backup;
• a newly generated receive address verified through that wallet's normal procedure;
• enough time and privacy to finish the sweep without interruption.

Step 1: verify the card, slot, and balance

Confirm the factory certificate, current slot number, sealed state, payment address, transaction history, and unspent balance. Record the address and expected amount for your own reconciliation.

If the card is already unsealed, do not assume the key is private. Sweep immediately using a trusted workflow if the funds are still present.

Step 2: verify the destination wallet

Create a fresh receiving address in the wallet that will hold the bitcoin after the sweep. Verify the address using the strongest method that wallet supports. Confirm that its backup and recovery process works before moving meaningful value.

SATSCARD has no display, so it cannot independently show or approve the destination address. The app and destination-wallet verification workflow are responsible for that check.

Step 3: unseal the current slot

In the compatible app, choose the unseal or sweep workflow and enter the six-digit CVC only when prompted by the trusted application. The protocol authorizes the operation through an encrypted session.

Unsealing changes persistent card state. The current private key becomes available for export, and the card advances toward the next slot. This is the point at which the physical bearer model for the old slot ends.

Step 4: construct and review the sweep

Have the wallet construct a transaction that spends every unspent output belonging to the old slot. Review:

• the destination address;
• total input amount;
• miner fee and resulting amount;
• network selection;
• whether every relevant output is included.

Because the slot key is now exposed, leaving change or a forgotten output behind increases risk. The intended result is an empty old slot address.

Step 5: broadcast and confirm

Broadcast the transaction, save the transaction ID, and monitor it until it meets your confirmation policy. Confirm in the destination wallet that the expected amount arrived. Also confirm that the old slot address no longer has an unspent balance.

Until the sweep confirms, protect the exported key and do not assume either wallet view is final.

Step 6: handle the next slot correctly

The next SATSCARD slot is independent of the old one. A compatible wallet can initialize and verify it before use. Do not send to the printed QR after the first slot has advanced; that printed address belongs to slot one.

Do not reuse the old exposed private key, publish it, or mistake it for a backup of future slots. Each slot has its own lifecycle.

Failure cases

The app stops after unsealing

Keep the card, CVC, and any exported key material secure. Do not repeat random operations in multiple untrusted apps. Reopen the same trusted workflow or use the documented official tooling to determine card state and sweep the exposed slot.

The destination address might be wrong

Stop before broadcasting if possible. Re-verify the address from the destination wallet. SATSCARD cannot use an onboard screen to resolve a disagreement between what you intended and what the app displays.

The sweep is unconfirmed

Use the transaction ID to inspect fee rate, mempool status, inputs, and destination. Do not fund the old slot again. Apply normal Bitcoin fee-management practices through software that understands the transaction.

What this process does not recover

Unsealing cannot recover bitcoin already spent from the slot, reverse a transaction, or recreate a forgotten destination-wallet backup. It does not reveal keys for future independent slots. It also does not turn the SATSCARD into a seed-phrase wallet.

Review How SATSCARD slots work for the state model, or return to the Learn hub for gifting and verification guides.