DIY Bitcoin Wallet Generator Turns Radioactive Decay Into Entropy

The device, dubbed “The Universe Bifurcator” by creator Alexander Higgins, functions by measuring the intervals between radiation pulses detected by a connected Geiger counter. An ATmega328P microcontroller processes these intervals, comparing consecutive timing data to generate a 512-bit pool. This raw entropy is then conditioned using SHA-256 to produce standard 12-word or 24-word BIP39 recovery phrases.

Designed for offline use, the hardware features no wireless components, relying instead on a 0.91-inch OLED screen and manual buttons. The firmware is built to clear buffers from RAM immediately after generating a phrase, ensuring that the seed is not stored permanently on the device. Despite these physical security measures, the project remains in an experimental phase.

Higgins explicitly cautions users against trusting the device with significant assets, noting that the entropy source has not yet undergone NIST SP 800-90B testing. Because the quality of the randomness has not been independently verified, the developer suggests that users should combine this data with other validated sources before securing actual funds. The repository, active since early September 2026, includes all necessary firmware and circuit-board files, but lacks any formal security audit or production release timeline.