Seed Phrase: Why You Should Really Write That Down

Imagine that you have a bunch of cryptocurrencies in a wallet somewhere, and you have no idea how to recover it since you did not use it for a long time? Do you know what could help you in such a case? That is correct, that seed phrase that you have written down on that little sticky note in the location only you would know about…you did write it down right? No…well…here is why you should have, and why you should if you have not yet indulged into the world of crypto.

What is a seed phrase?

A seed phrase is a series of generated words that cryptocurrency wallets use so you can access that wallet. It is like a master password that lets you access all of your crypto that you have stored on the wallet, even if you accidentally delete it or lose it, which is pretty neat.

You are given the phrase word whenever you are creating the wallet for the first time when it is completely empty, and usually, you will be told to write it down, and not just copy-paste it into a notepad file, but physically write it down, as that is the best way to keep your crypto wallet safe.

By using the seed phrase, it embraces the whole idea of crypto, which is to keep everything anonymous, including the identity of the person behind the wallet. A seed phrase wallet will never ask for any private information, and you can safely access the crypto as long as you have the seed phrase.

Here are some seed phrase examples:

czardom cellaret fulgent choker sallet raggedy reform shier codeine sememe sandman snuffle
nelson disjoin recount luteal dethrone hoof hotel faradic stipel pyuria overfeed bejewel
kingly easy lustring ileum paradrop moue albata rasorial quagga menial calomel inch
ablution costa congeal loosen vexed quintain malt rivalry meanie ration bishop moray

But since there is no identity, how does it know what is yours?

Well, the name is not just a random phrase. The word seed represents itself quite literally, as it is the first thing that is related to the wallet you are creating, and the word phrase represents the name of that seed. It is completely unique, and there are no others like it.

You might be wondering, why is it a string of random words and not numbers? The reason why the seed phrase is a series of 12 to 24 words is that it is just much easier to write down, and it is much harder to randomly guess if someone would try to hack a wallet by chance. Writing down words is easier than numbers, because it can be quite easy to misspell a series of numbers, compared to a series of words, especially in longer strings.

So, the main reason why you should write down your seed phrase is that without it, you cannot really access your wallet. What is a wallet? Well, in our crypto wallet explained text, we mentioned that it is essentially like a piggy bank for all of your crypto, and private keys associated with it. It stores everything from cryptocurrency to NFTs.

Seed phrase vs private key

We already said that the seed phrase is like a master password for your crypto wallet. However, a private key is a slightly different thing, as there are various keys inside a crypto wallet. They are basically used to do a crypto exchange or some other transaction. It is like looking at the seed phrase like a key ring, and private keys like…keys on the key ring. We know, it is not the easiest to understand, but it is quite easy to understand once you start using a crypto wallet.

Seed phrase recovery

One of the biggest and most common questions related to the seed phrase is “Can I recover it?”. Well, the unfortunate, or fortunate depending on how you look at it, is that recovering the seed phrase is not possible. By losing the seed phrase, you will lose ALL of your crypto on that wallet.

This is why it is important to keep the seed phrase somewhere that you will never forget, and that no one will be able to find it. We personally suggest carving it into a metal or wooden object which you can always get a hang of and that no one would be interested in.

Can you avoid using a seed phrase?

We understand that it is quite scary to even think of losing a seed phrase, as you cannot recover it. There are some solutions to this problem, such as using the Coinbase app for example, as it does not use a seed phrase. You can start using it the first time you get into crypto, but as your crypto starts growing in value, we really suggest that you move them to a wallet like Wax wallet or Ronin wallet that has a seed phrase, as it is the best way to keep it safe.