What is a seed phrase and how to store it safely

When you create your own crypto wallet, the app shows you a list of 12 or 24 words and asks you to write them down. That is your seed phrase, also called a recovery phrase. Most people jot it down quickly and forget about it. That is a mistake, because the seed phrase is the most important thing in the whole crypto world.

Your seed phrase is your money

A seed phrase is not a password for an app. It is the key to the money itself. Whoever has those 12 or 24 words can restore your wallet on any device in the world and send all your crypto to their own address, without your phone, without your password and without you noticing in time.

The reverse is also true: if you lose your phone and do not have your seed phrase, the money is gone. There is no “forgot password” and no support team that can bring it back.

Three rules

1. Never type it on the internet. Not on websites, not in messages, not in email, not for “support”. You only enter your seed phrase into a genuine wallet app, and only when you are restoring your own wallet. A new wallet never asks you to enter an existing seed phrase.

2. Never give it to anyone. Not to a “mentor”, not to customer support, not to a friend, not to a “development team”. No legitimate company, exchange, bank or police force will ever ask for it. Whoever asks for your seed phrase is trying to rob you.

3. Keep it on paper, not on your phone. Write it by hand or engrave it on a metal plate. Make two copies and keep them in two safe places, protected from water and fire. Never store it as a photo, in phone notes, in email or in the cloud.

The most common ways people lose their seed phrase

• A fake wallet app. It looks real, sometimes it is even in an official app store, and it immediately asks you to enter your existing seed phrase.
• Fake customer support. “Your wallet is compromised, confirm your seed phrase so we can protect it.”
• A fake website. Identical to the real one; only the address differs, sometimes by a single letter.
• A photo on your phone. If someone gets into your gallery or cloud, they get your money too.

If you hold larger amounts

For most of your savings, consider a cold wallet, a small device that is not connected to the internet. Every transaction has to be confirmed physically on the device, which stops many scams. Use a separate wallet for small everyday amounts, and a third one with nothing valuable in it for trying out new sites and apps.

If you are unsure how to set this up, we can go through it in a consultation. The first 20 minutes are free.