How to keep using your Trezor wallet after the Tezos Babylon protocol update

Published in

TezEdge

10 min readOct 25, 2019

In this article, you will find a detailed guide on how to install updated firmware in order to transfer and delegate Tezos on your Trezor device.

The Babylon protocol update for Tezos has gone live. The update is not backwards compatible for users of the Tezos wallet on Trezor. In order to transfer and delegate Tezos from your Trezor, you need to install the updated version of the firmware onto your Trezor device.

You can wait until Trezor releases the firmware update on or after November the 6th 2019. However, if you need to immediately delegate or transfer the Tezos funds stored on your Trezor wallet, scroll down to the Firmware download and installation guide. The entire installation process will take around 15 minutes.

What’s new in the Babylon protocol update?

There are several major changes in this protocol update, the most notable being the deprecation of the scriptless KT1 accounts that are mainly used for token delegation. Now users can delegate tokens from the implicit (tz1, tz2 and tz3) accounts. All the scriptless KT accounts contain manager contracts and a master.tz script. This script allows manipulation of the formerly scriptless accounts (set the delegate or transfer the tokens to an implicit account), thus creating new kinds of transaction operations. These transactions have an entrypoint with MICHELSON code prepended.

Firmware download and installation guide

This guide will show you how to:

Check your Trezor seed phrase (also known as the mnemonic)
Upload custom firmware onto your Trezor device
Recover your Tezos wallet via your seed phrase
Install the updated desktop wallet and add accounts
Transferring funds from KT1 accounts to tz1 accounts
Delegating funds from tz1 accounts

Necessary prerequisites:

A physical backup of your seed phrase
Your Trezor device
PC/Mac

Important: Before you begin the installation process, you must make sure that you have your seed phrase backed up. The seed phrase is a phrase consisting of 12/18/20/24/33 words that are written in a certain order and it is used to recover a wallet.

You should have your seed phrase written on a piece of paper and stored in a secure location. Retrieve it and have it ready before you begin the recovery seed phrase check process.

1. Check your recovery seed

Before you begin, we need to make sure you have the correct backup of your seed phrase. If you do not have the correct seed phrase backed up, you will lose access to your wallet. You will need the correct seed phrase to recover your wallet after you install the updated firmware.

Under “Advanced settings”, access the “Check recovery seed” section of your wallet’s page on the Trezor website

1.1 First, locate your seed phrase. Then connect your Trezor into your PC/Mac and enter https://wallet.trezor.io/ into your web browser.

1.2 If your Trezor is connected, you will be shown its page on the Trezor website. Now click on the tab “My Trezor”. Please note that it could be titled differently if you have given your Trezor a custom name.

1.3 Now locate the “Advanced” tab on the Trezor website.

1.4 Click on the “Advanced” tab. Now scroll downwards.

1.5 Locate and click on the “Check recovery seed” button.

1.6 Click on the “Continue” button.

1.7 Now finish the process on your Trezor device.

1.8 On your Trezor’s screen, you will be requested to confirm the recovery seed checking process. Press your finger against the green check mark button.

1.9 You will be prompted to confirm the recovery seed checking process once more. Press your finger against the green “Select” button.

1.10 Count the number of words in your recovery seed phrase and press your finger on the button with the correct number of words.

In our case, our recovery phrase consisted of 12 words, therefore I pressed my fingertip on the “12” button.

1.11 You will be prompted to confirm the entry of your recovery seed. Press your finger on the green “Enter seed” button.

1.12 Now enter each word in the exact order you have them listed in. Typing is intuitive and easy, each button contains up to 3 letters, pressing the same button multiple times will cycle through the letters, similar to how typing works on older mobile phones.

Trezor will provide automatic suggestions. If the suggestion is correct, press your fingertip on the suggested word to confirm.

1.13 If you have entered all words correctly, your Trezor’s screen will confirm the successful recovery phrase check. Click on the green “Continue” button to complete the process.

2. Download and install the updated firmware

2.1 On your PC/Mac, open your internet browser and copy this link into your URL address bar:

https://github.com/tezedge/trezor-firmware/blob/tezos-update-v2/core/build/firmware/firmware.bin

Your browser will open a GitHub page containing the firmware.bin:

2.2 Download the early release firmware by clicking on the “Download” button located on the right side of the page. The download should commence and will take a few seconds.

Optionally, you can check out the file’s address on your PC by clicking on the arrow menu and selecting “Show in folder”, since you will need to locate it during installation.

2.3 With the Trezor connected into your PC, access the wallet.trezor.io website. If your Trezor is connected, the URL should display your device id, followed by “/account/0”.

2.4 In the URL bar, replace “/account/0” with “custom_firmware”

2.5 Your browser will take you to the custom firmware uploading page on the Trezor website. Click on the “Choose file” button, then locate and select the firmware file on your PC/Mac.

The file’s name will appear next to the “Choose file” button and a green check mark should appear on the right side of the file name:

2.6 Then click on the green “Continue” button.

A screen will appear in which you will be prompted to run Bootloader mode on your Trezor.

2.5 Run bootloader mode on your Trezor T

On the Trezor website, you will be prompted to run bootloader mode on your Trezor device. First, disconnect your Trezor device from your PC/Mac. Then re-connect the cable from your PC into your Trezor device while swiping your finger across the screen multiple times until the bootloader screen appears.

Press the green check button to connect the Trezor to your PC/Mac.

You can view the process in the animation below.

2.6 Uploading the firmware via the Trezor website

On your PC/Mac, complete the installation of the firmware via the wallet.trezor.io website.

2.7 Check the box titled “I have recovery seed with me” and then click on the green “Update to custom fw” button to upload the firmware onto your Trezor device.

2.8 The custom firmware is now being installed onto your Trezor device. A bar will fill up as the installation progresses.

Wait until the installation is complete, then wait until the Trezor device has rebooted.

3. Recovering your Tezos wallet

Your Trezor device has no wallet assigned to it. In order to re-access your Tezos wallet, you will need to recover it via your seed phrase.

3.1 First, check if your Trezor device is connected into your PC/Mac. Access the wallet.trezor.io website via your browser. You will be offered two choices; “Create a new wallet” or “Recover an existing wallet”. Click on the “Recover wallet” button.

3.2 Now click on the green “Continue” button.

3.3 If you used a passphrase to secure your wallet, click on the box left of “I used passphrase before” and then click on the green “Continue” button. If not, leave it unchecked and simply click on “Continue”.

On your Trezor, you will be required to confirm the wallet recovery process. Click on the green check mark.

3.4 You will be asked to confirm the recovery process once more. You should have your recovery seed phrase nearby in order to enter the number of words and the words themselves. Press your finger on the green “Select” button.

3.5 Count the number of words in your recovery seed phrase and press your finger on the button with the correct number of words.

In my case, the recovery phrase consisted of 12 words, therefore I pressed my fingertip on the “12” button.

3.6 You will be prompted to confirm the entry of your recovery seed. Press your finger on the green “Enter seed” button.

3.7 Now enter each word in the exact order you have them listed in. Typing is intuitive and easy, each button contains up to 3 letters, pressing the same button multiple times will cycle through the letters, similar to how typing works on older mobile phones.

The Trezor device will provide automatic suggestions. If the suggestion is correct, press your fingertip on the suggested word to confirm.

3.8 If you have entered all words correctly, your Trezor’s screen will confirm the successful recovery phrase check. Click on the green “Continue” button to complete the process.

Congratulations, now you can use your Trezor device to transfer and delegate Tezos. All users should still update to the newest firmware from Trezor as soon as it is released (on the 6th of November 2019 or at a later date).

4. Adding accounts to your desktop wallet

Now that you have updated your Trezor and recovered your wallet, you can try out the transfer and delegate functions. First, you need to download and install the desktop wallet, then you can add accounts.

If you haven’t already done so, please download the Tezos wallet for Trezor from the Simplestaking.com website.

Once the download has finished, click on the file and install it.

4.1 Now that it is installed, run the desktop wallet app and click on the blue “Get started with Trezor” button.

4.2 Connect your Trezor and then click on the “Continue to Select addresses” button.

4.3 Select your tz1 account and click on the blue “Continue to Add Contract” button.

4.4 Now select your KT account(s) and then click on the blue “Continue to Add Name” button.

4.5 Enter a name for your wallet address and click on the blue “Finish” button.

5. Transfers

5.1 Now select the sender address. Make sure the sender address has funds on it.

5.2 Select the recipient address.

5.3 Enter the amount you want to send.

5.4 Press the blue “Continue to connect Trezor” button. Complete the process on your Trezor device’s screen.

5.5 Confirm the transaction by pressing your finger against the green check mark.

5.6 Confirm the transaction one more time by holding your finger against the green “Hold to Confirm” button. Wait until the circular progress bar has completely filled.

6. Delegations

6.1 Now select the sender address. Make sure the sender address has funds on it.

6.2 Select the baker address to whom you want to delegate.

6.3 Enter the amount you want to send.

6.4 Press the blue “Continue to connect Trezor” button.

6.5 Connect your Trezor and complete the process on your Trezor device’s screen.

6.6 Confirm the delegation by pressing your finger against the green check mark.

6.7 Confirm the delegation one more time by holding your finger against the green “Hold to Confirm” button. Wait until the circular progress bar has completely filled.

Thank you for your patience and if you need any help with these instructions or you want to leave any comments, please contact me at jurajselep@viablesystems.io.