What a bank would do — and what you do instead
A bank keeps your money in its vault and verifies you with ID, passwords and a fraud team. When you self-custody, the vault is a device or a set of keys, and the “fraud team” is your own habits. There is no reset button and no branch to visit, so the routines in this guide — writing things down, testing recovery, sending small amounts first — do the work a bank’s back office normally does. The upside is that nobody can freeze, lend out or lose your coins on your behalf.
What a seed phrase really is
A seed phrase is a list of 12 or 24 ordinary words that encodes the private key behind your wallet. Any compatible wallet app can rebuild your entire wallet from those words. That makes it the most powerful — and most dangerous — piece of information you own.
A bank protects your money with identity checks and fraud departments. In self-custody, the seed phrase is the identity check. Possession equals ownership.
Do
- Write the words by hand, in order, and number them.
- Use steel for long-term storage if you can — it survives fire and water.
- Keep at least two copies in separate secure places.
- Test recovery once with a small balance before trusting it with more.
- Tell a trusted person how to find your recovery instructions, without telling them the words.
Don’t
- Don’t take a photo or screenshot of it.
- Don’t store it in email, cloud notes, a password manager or a text file.
- Don’t type it into any website — including ones that claim to “validate” or “sync” your wallet.
- Don’t share it with “support” in a chat or direct message. Real support never asks.
- Don’t split the words across places in a homemade scheme you might not remember. Use multisig instead.
If you think it has been exposed
Frequently asked questions
Is a 24-word phrase safer than 12 words?
Both are considered extremely hard to guess. How you store the words matters far more than how many there are.
Can I change my seed phrase?
Not in place. You create a new wallet with a new phrase and move your funds to it.
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