Crypto glossary
Seed phrase
A seed phrase is a list of 12 or 24 words that encodes a wallet's master key and can restore all its accounts and funds on a compatible wallet.
Also called a recovery or mnemonic phrase, a seed phrase is a human-readable backup of a wallet. Under the widely used BIP-39 standard, the words come from a fixed list of 2,048 and encode a random number from which the wallet derives every private key and address it will ever use.
Anyone who has the phrase controls the funds, so it should be written down offline, stored securely and never typed into a website, cloud note or chat. Losing it means losing access if the device fails. Some users add an optional passphrase, sometimes called a 25th word, for extra protection.
Many thefts begin with fake wallet apps or bogus support staff asking users to enter their phrase to fix a supposed problem.
Example
If your hardware wallet breaks, you can buy a new one, enter the 24 words you wrote down when setting up the first device, and your balances will reappear.
Related terms
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