Finance glossary
Seed Phrase
Definition
The list of words that backs up a crypto wallet — anyone holding it controls the funds.
A seed phrase (or recovery phrase) is a sequence of 12 or 24 common words that encodes the master key to a crypto wallet. From it, every private key in the wallet can be regenerated — which makes it both the ultimate backup and the ultimate vulnerability. Lose it and the funds are unrecoverable; let it leak and the funds are gone. The standard advice is to write it on paper or metal and never photograph, type, or share it — no legitimate service ever asks for it.
In a sentence
He kept his seed phrase engraved on a steel plate in a safe, never stored on any device connected to the internet.
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