What is a seed phrase?
The 12 or 24 words that are, in effect, your whole wallet.
A seed phrase (also called a recovery phrase or secret recovery phrase) is a list of 12 or 24 ordinary words that your wallet creates. It can rebuild every private key in the wallet on any device, so whoever has those words controls your crypto.
Never give your seed phrase to anyone and never type it into a website, form, email or chat. No exchange, wallet company, support agent, airdrop or "recovery service" ever needs it. Anyone who asks is trying to steal from you.
What it is
When you create a self-custody wallet, it generates a random number and shows it to you as words from a fixed list of 2,048 words, usually English (a standard called BIP-39). For example: "river · lamp · guitar · …". The order matters. From those words the wallet can calculate all your private keys and addresses.
That's why the phrase is so powerful: if your phone breaks or your hardware wallet is lost, you can type the words into a new wallet and everything comes back.
How to store it
- Write it on paper (or stamp it in metal for fire and water resistance) and check each word carefully.
- Keep it offline. Not in photos, cloud notes, email, a password manager you're unsure about, or a screenshot.
- Keep it private and safe: a safe, a lockbox, or a split between two secure places.
- Plan for your family. If something happened to you, would anyone know how to find it? Many people leave instructions with their will, without the words themselves.
Scams aimed at seed phrases
- Fake support accounts on social media offering to "fix" your wallet.
- Websites that look like your wallet asking you to "validate" or "sync" your phrase.
- Fake wallet apps in app stores.
- Hardware wallets that arrive with a phrase already printed. A genuine device always makes you create a new one.
- "Recovery services" that promise to get stolen crypto back for a fee.
Not sure about something? Run it through the scam checker.
The technical version
A 12-word phrase encodes 128 bits of randomness plus a 4-bit checksum (24 words: 256 bits plus 8). Each word represents 11 bits. The phrase is stretched into a 512-bit seed using PBKDF2, and keys are derived from it in a tree (BIP-32), so one phrase can create unlimited addresses across many coins. An optional extra word ("passphrase" or "25th word") creates an entirely different set of wallets.
Check what you learned
3 quick questions. Answers stay on your device.
Frequently asked questions
What if I lose my seed phrase?
If you still have access to the wallet, move your funds to a new wallet with a new phrase you write down properly. If you've lost both the device and the phrase, the funds can't be recovered.
Can I store my seed phrase in a password manager?
Some experienced users do, but it puts the phrase on internet-connected devices. Most security guides recommend offline paper or metal.
Is a recovery phrase the same as a password?
No. A password protects access to an app on one device. The recovery phrase is the wallet itself and works on any compatible wallet.
Where to next
Sources
Written for beginners and checked against the sources listed. Last reviewed October 26, 2026. This page is educational and is not financial, tax or legal advice. How we write and check pages.