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Topic: How to keep safe the mnemonic phrase - Whats Your method? (Read 668 times)

sr. member
Activity: 1008
Merit: 366
I use a different method that I'm not going to disclose to the public, but I have another idea that might help you. Based on your phrase key (12/24), you can divide them in half and put them together again to make one key, so the middle part comes first, and the first one goes in the middle. That way even if someone gets their hands on the phrase key, they won't be able to access it easily.
Here's another idea. Find a book that has the same thing written on every copy. The book needs to contain every word that comes in the phrase key. One common choice could be a dictionary. Then you can find on which page the words are on and then from top to bottom you can mark the number and the page. After that you can write down the page number and word number in a piece of paper or wood or something metal. That way only you can understand it, and you can decode it in the future.

All the last thing you can do is combine this both and create a much stronger storing system. If one is smart then they might be able to crack it, but that won't be easy. My own method is related to math, but I'm not going to share it. If you think these ideas are good enough, then you can give it a try.
legendary
Activity: 2492
Merit: 1215
You might find it weird, but I keep my mnemonic phrase written in the small list in an empty ledger cartoon box. I have thrown that box into one of the boxes of my cupboard next to bed, together with mobile phone, laptop and other gadget boxes. And guess what, for 3-4 years it has been save. Want to know why? Because that cupboard box is a mess and no one wants to organize things there. Because this is a box graveyard that might be needed one day. Since this is considered as my cupboard, no one ever gets there.
It's really weird but how can I not think of doing that before. I guess it is really effective to keep it in a long period of time. Also it can avoid some people that likes to barge in to your house and check few of your things as he will only see it as a simple box. Might consider doing this also. But I was wondering, do you happen to have another way of keeping safe of your mnemonic phrase, so I can have another option aside from what I do to keep my mnemonic safe right now? Unexpected event may happen and your method of keeping them safe is vulnerable like if there's a fire, a flood, etc.


It isnt hard to avoid people getting into my cupboard and searching there for something - there is such a mess inside. Only I can find everything there. Also, no one get inside, because people are to lazy to clean. Instead of cleaning dust, sorting things and etc, everyone prefer relax to work. I can compare my method with grandmas box of spices - no one digs there or searches for something, and only grandma know what is there.
legendary
Activity: 3542
Merit: 1965
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
I have two methods :

I have laminated pieces of paper stored in secret places that are safe against theft and natural disasters. (high and dry and capsuled) AND I encrypted the phrases and split them up and stored them in online storage. (Only people close to me, will be able to decrypt the riddle I encrypted) ....and I left clues to it's location.

We decided to take the responsibility of storing our wealth on our own, so it is our responsibility to keep it safe. (We live in times of war and natural disasters, so we should step up and adapt to the changing times)  Wink
sr. member
Activity: 1260
Merit: 315
www.Artemis.co
You might find it weird, but I keep my mnemonic phrase written in the small list in an empty ledger cartoon box. I have thrown that box into one of the boxes of my cupboard next to bed, together with mobile phone, laptop and other gadget boxes. And guess what, for 3-4 years it has been save. Want to know why? Because that cupboard box is a mess and no one wants to organize things there. Because this is a box graveyard that might be needed one day. Since this is considered as my cupboard, no one ever gets there.
It's really weird but how can I not think of doing that before. I guess it is really effective to keep it in a long period of time. Also it can avoid some people that likes to barge in to your house and check few of your things as he will only see it as a simple box. Might consider doing this also. But I was wondering, do you happen to have another way of keeping safe of your mnemonic phrase, so I can have another option aside from what I do to keep my mnemonic safe right now? Unexpected event may happen and your method of keeping them safe is vulnerable like if there's a fire, a flood, etc.
full member
Activity: 490
Merit: 209
You might find it weird, but I keep my mnemonic phrase written in the small list in an empty ledger cartoon box. I have thrown that box into one of the boxes of my cupboard next to bed, together with mobile phone, laptop and other gadget boxes. And guess what, for 3-4 years it has been save. Want to know why? Because that cupboard box is a mess and no one wants to organize things there. Because this is a box graveyard that might be needed one day. Since this is considered as my cupboard, no one ever gets there.

The important thing is even for the phrase to be safe and easy accessed when needed. Its importance i won't keep it there if i was the one, and looking at the duration it has stayed there means its safe for you to keep it there onlike me that anything that involves money I won't be even comfortable i will start thinking of several ways just how to keep it safe, once someone has access to it then thats the beginning of the problem. I love the psychological play using the natura of that box to hide it there no one will even think of going through that box except maybe the person is looking for something.
hero member
Activity: 882
Merit: 792
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If you write the seed phrase in a special book and are afraid other people can access it, you can use tricks like changing 1 or 2 positions of the words. That way, even if someone steals your phrase, they can't access your wallet. (You just need to change the position of the two words, no need to change too much to confuse yourself).
If you use that on 12 words seed phrase, then your wallet will be hacked in some minutes. If you do that on 24 words seed phrase, be sure that you really remember that or you'll lose access on your wallet.

1. My Trust Wallet Seed Phrase
People shouldn't use Trust Wallet because it's closed-source and is owned by Binance.

My way of keeping my mnemonic phrase is I created an excel file on my google sheets, you can find it on your gmail. Aside from that, I also created a copy of it on my computer notepad that was saved on my drive. I also saved on my notebook, all important information and passwords are in there. I always do that incase I lost one of my saved documents. I experienced losing it before, so I learned from it and I feel secured on that way.
You are a good example of how people shouldn't save not only seed phrases but important information and passwords also. Also, you shouldn't reveal too much about how and where you save things.
legendary
Activity: 2492
Merit: 1215
You might find it weird, but I keep my mnemonic phrase written in the small list in an empty ledger cartoon box. I have thrown that box into one of the boxes of my cupboard next to bed, together with mobile phone, laptop and other gadget boxes. And guess what, for 3-4 years it has been save. Want to know why? Because that cupboard box is a mess and no one wants to organize things there. Because this is a box graveyard that might be needed one day. Since this is considered as my cupboard, no one ever gets there.
hero member
Activity: 2520
Merit: 568
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My way of keeping my mnemonic phrase is I created an excel file on my google sheets, you can find it on your gmail.
Is this for real mate? You're doing it wrongly, to be honest, if you're telling us that we can find it in our gmails that means that you're storing it on a cloud storage/online or your email which is high risk if you're keeping your phrases there. Maybe you don't know it yet that it's one of the riskiest ways of keeping your keys through that means.

Aside from that, I also created a copy of it on my computer notepad that was saved on my drive. I also saved on my notebook, all important information and passwords are in there. I always do that incase I lost one of my saved documents. I experienced losing it before, so I learned from it and I feel secured on that way.
The latter is fine if you're keeping it in a notebook and you've written there. And keeping it on a notepad on your computer, you should be aware that when you're attacked by some malware because of how you're browsing and with your computer activities, that could be stolen, deleted, or edited by those.
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 16328
Fully fledged Merit Cycler - Golden Feather 22-23
My way of keeping my mnemonic phrase is I created an excel file on my google sheets, you can find it on your gmail. Aside from that, I also created a copy of it on my computer notepad that was saved on my drive. I also saved on my notebook, all important information and passwords are in there. I always do that incase I lost one of my saved documents. I experienced losing it before, so I learned from it and I feel secured on that way.

I hope you are joking.
Firstly it is very easy to leave a device with your google account logged in, so it would be quite trivial to find your keys.
Secondly, you are exposed to data leaks from Google.
Storing your key online is exactly the only thing you don't want to do.
sr. member
Activity: 854
Merit: 364
I ❤️Bitcoin
If you write the seed phrase in a special book and are afraid other people can access it, you can use tricks like changing 1 or 2 positions of the words. That way, even if someone steals your phrase, they can't access your wallet. (You just need to change the position of the two words, no need to change too much to confuse yourself).
Your opinion is correct that if someone is worried that someone can steal his wallet's phrases and access his assets, it is important to avoid the risk of this theft completely. But to some extent, it can be prevented by changing the positioning of the words in the phrase. But in my opinion, this is also not a tangible measure of the security standard because when a thief steals, he also has access to it. So, according to my opinion, what is tangible and somewhat more secure is the use of washers. Apparently, this is a bit expensive, but it is a better and safer method than changing the positioning of words in a phrase. Because, according to my opinion, changing the position of words in a phrase can lead to problems, like if you forget the positioning of the words, it will be difficult for you to access your wallet, or it will be your luck to meet.
legendary
Activity: 2086
Merit: 1058
What is this backup passphrase? Is it another pass phrase that can be used to unlock the original mnemonic seed phrase for your wallets? If not, what does it serves as in wallet security?
A passphrase is an extra layer of security for your wallet, it is an extra 'word' added to your seed phrase which creates another wallet and keys for you, take note that your passphrase does not have to be a 'word', you can use and add whatever you want, even characters to make it stronger and hard to brute force. So whenever you use your seed phrase without adding that passphrase you get the base wallet, but when you use your seed phrase + passphrase you get your second wallet, this set up is great for plausible deniability.

So with a passphrase set, if an attacker compromises your seed phrase, they will still need the passphrase to access your funds. Take note that if you use a seed phrase + passphrase set up, you will have more backups and you have to keep them in separate locations to avoid the possibility of a single point of failure.
It's also very important not to lose it as well. Most people focus way too much on the security side of things but then they forget about the issues that they have on their hands, which is remembering it, you will probably not remember it or even if you do, you may eventually forget it. While trying to secure it carefully, you may end up locking yourself out along with everyone else and that would result with something that would not be that much a profitable business.

This is why I believe that we need to do a lot better, and that could end up reaching a little later than expected as well. I understand that we could do much worse but we could end up trying to do the best thing we could potentially do by saving it somewhere easy to access by us, but nobody else.
hero member
Activity: 1722
Merit: 801
Because one big mistake many people make is writing down the name of the wallet that the seed phrase becomes to, and as such making it very easy for anybody to have access to your fund automatically. But if we can write just only the 11 Seed phrase without a clue which wallet it becomes to, it will be very hard for anyone to have access to it very quickly.
If you know what wallet you use for wallet creation, you don't need to write it down. Because backups are for recovery when your memory can not serve you, then writing down a wallet software name is good practice.

Like me, I don't use any other wallet than Electrum wallet, I don't need to write it down. If you use many wallet softwares, it will be a mandatory part of your backup but if you are careful, you can save it at a different place than wallet seed.

With wallet seed, you can figure out what wallet software use to create it, but if you lose wallet seed, you lose your coin.

Wallet software name is like your wallet password, lose it, you will have another way. It is less important than your wallet seed or private key.
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 6660
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Because one big mistake many people make is writing down the name of the wallet that the seed phrase becomes to, and as such making it very easy for anybody to have access to your fund automatically. But if we can write just only the 11 Seed phrase without a clue which wallet it becomes to, it will be very hard for anyone to have access to it very quickly.

If the name of the wallet is just some gibberish then that information is not going to be helpful to anybody without having access to the device. Besides, it's most likely the case that the person has only one wallet on their computer anyway, so anybody searching the wallet folders on the device will only find just the one wallet.
sr. member
Activity: 1022
Merit: 277
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My way of keeping my mnemonic phrase is I created an excel file on my google sheets, you can find it on your gmail. Aside from that, I also created a copy of it on my computer notepad that was saved on my drive. I also saved on my notebook, all important information and passwords are in there. I always do that incase I lost one of my saved documents. I experienced losing it before, so I learned from it and I feel secured on that way.
legendary
Activity: 2184
Merit: 1024
Vave.com - Crypto Casino
I don't want to make things difficult for myself, I save my seeds in 1 flash disk and 1 special book because I'm the type of person who is forgetful so I think a flash disk in a book is the right place to store my seeds.
I don't trust flash drives, hard drives, or any external storage device of that nature because they can get damaged and the files inside will corrupt, including your seed phrase and other valuable documents you saved in there, but saving in a flash will be a bit better than leaving it online in an email or so because anything connected to the internet is very risky and can easily get hacked.

Writing your seed phrase down in a special book is more secure and preferable than using an external flash drive because it will be there and will not corrupt, but if someone has access to it, your coin is gone, because unlike flash drives, you cannot put a password in a book unless you use some encrypted words that only you can interpret, and you can also duplicate the papers because of natural disasters like fire outbreaks, water, and so on.

If you write the seed phrase in a special book and are afraid other people can access it, you can use tricks like changing 1 or 2 positions of the words. That way, even if someone steals your phrase, they can't access your wallet. (You just need to change the position of the two words, no need to change too much to confuse yourself).

Also, I think we should have a better storage device than paper because paper is very perishable, as you said. Small sized steel plates as mentioned by Crypt0Gore are a better solution than paper.
Maybe if you have a risk that the seed phrase written on a special book might be stolen, then you should lead ill-wishers down the wrong path? Create a fake phrase and leave it where thieves can easily see or find it.

I would not store the real seed phrase where it could be easily found by people, outsiders and strangers alike. I mean, there is no need to keep seed phrase on the coffee table or under the computer mouse pad.

You're right, maybe I was too nervous thinking that someone might find my seed phrase while I had it stored in what I thought was the safest place. So changing the position of some words is redundant and will cause more trouble for me than for the thief.

Regarding changing the position of some words in a phrase, the main thing is not to forget where and how the phrases will be replaced. Therefore, it is better to leave some keys for yourself so that you can decipher this trick. Memory is not a permanent thing and can distort data. It's foolish to rely on that only when your savings are at stake.

The choice of paper or metal as a method of storing phrases has already been discussed many times. Anyone can carve a seed phrase even on wood or plastic, this is an individual choice and risks.
I remember there was a thread about memorizing the seed phrase by reading it every day instead of storing it by other methods, and I was a strong opponent of that idea. So when I change the position of those words, of course, I have my own tricks to suggest, I don't completely rely on my memory to do it. If I just rely on my memory, it's no different than memorizing the seed phrase. But I will reconsider my method because you are right, I kept it in a safe place where no one can find it but me.
legendary
Activity: 1792
Merit: 1296
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I don't want to make things difficult for myself, I save my seeds in 1 flash disk and 1 special book because I'm the type of person who is forgetful so I think a flash disk in a book is the right place to store my seeds.
I don't trust flash drives, hard drives, or any external storage device of that nature because they can get damaged and the files inside will corrupt, including your seed phrase and other valuable documents you saved in there, but saving in a flash will be a bit better than leaving it online in an email or so because anything connected to the internet is very risky and can easily get hacked.

Writing your seed phrase down in a special book is more secure and preferable than using an external flash drive because it will be there and will not corrupt, but if someone has access to it, your coin is gone, because unlike flash drives, you cannot put a password in a book unless you use some encrypted words that only you can interpret, and you can also duplicate the papers because of natural disasters like fire outbreaks, water, and so on.

If you write the seed phrase in a special book and are afraid other people can access it, you can use tricks like changing 1 or 2 positions of the words. That way, even if someone steals your phrase, they can't access your wallet. (You just need to change the position of the two words, no need to change too much to confuse yourself).

Also, I think we should have a better storage device than paper because paper is very perishable, as you said. Small sized steel plates as mentioned by Crypt0Gore are a better solution than paper.
Maybe if you have a risk that the seed phrase written on a special book might be stolen, then you should lead ill-wishers down the wrong path? Create a fake phrase and leave it where thieves can easily see or find it.

I would not store the real seed phrase where it could be easily found by people, outsiders and strangers alike. I mean, there is no need to keep seed phrase on the coffee table or under the computer mouse pad.

Regarding changing the position of some words in a phrase, the main thing is not to forget where and how the phrases will be replaced. Therefore, it is better to leave some keys for yourself so that you can decipher this trick. Memory is not a permanent thing and can distort data. It's foolish to rely on that only when your savings are at stake.

The choice of paper or metal as a method of storing phrases has already been discussed many times. Anyone can carve a seed phrase even on wood or plastic, this is an individual choice and risks.
hero member
Activity: 2282
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When I usually traveling and gone for at least a few to several days, I had to be sure that my wallets and seed phrases are safe at any cost. Although I can choose to remain them written on a piece of paper or notebook, I would rather engrave it in an aluminum metal later on if I have the time to doing so.

Risks like attempted theft, flood, fire, etc., is something that we cannot avoid these days. It’s way out of our control and may come anytime without warning. Better be sure to think outside of the box to keep these phrases safe from these thieves and future calamities along the way.

Like what Captain America said and I quote “Whatever it takes”.
legendary
Activity: 2184
Merit: 1024
Vave.com - Crypto Casino
If you write the seed phrase in a special book and are afraid other people can access it, you can use tricks like changing 1 or 2 positions of the words. That way, even if someone steals your phrase, they can't access your wallet. (You just need to change the position of the two words, no need to change too much to confuse yourself).
Backup your wallet seed as most simplest as possible but make sure you store your backup safely and avoid eyes of other people.

Don't try to trick others and consequently trap yourself with a risky backup method. Changing positions of 1, 2 or 3 words in your wallet seed is a terrible idea. You will need to remember it, need to have a note for these positions but if you lose those position order by a memory loss, note loss, you will need luckiness to recover your wallet seed.

How to back up a seed phrase
Yeah, you can care about it on the long term and if you are careful about it then you are going to end up with something much better. Simple stuff like writing it down to your notebook would be simple but effective for many cases.

People talk about things like "what if there is a big fire, what if there is an earthquake" and so forth, well if you want it so much then put it on an exchange and as long as you memorize the mail and password you use, you can login from anywhere in the world, of course have access to your mail as well. But if you want more security, then ignore the one in a million chance of fire burning down all of your house, and just go write it down to your notebook and be fine.

You're right, everything has pros and cons, nothing is absolutely safe. If we keep making thousands of hypotheses and thousands of reasons, we will never find the final solution for ourselves. Maybe one person's method is not suitable for another, but as long as it brings them safety, there is no reason for them to change or imitate others. My method may have risks that others consider inappropriate but for me it's been fine so far. And there is no guarantee that if we follow their method, our seed phrase will remain safe.
hero member
Activity: 3052
Merit: 685
I keep my keys in an easy and common way - I just write them down in a notebook and keep them together with the other things just to make sure that nobody will find them special.

Making it more complicated will possibly be the reason why we lose it totally. In fact, whatever we did, still we can't assure 100% safety assurance. Remembering that we are doing this online, we are definitely prone to hacking incidents. In fact, many people have lost their funds not only because someone knows their keys but because they voluntarily give them to scammers.
hero member
Activity: 3164
Merit: 675
www.Crypto.Games: Multiple coins, multiple games
If you write the seed phrase in a special book and are afraid other people can access it, you can use tricks like changing 1 or 2 positions of the words. That way, even if someone steals your phrase, they can't access your wallet. (You just need to change the position of the two words, no need to change too much to confuse yourself).
Backup your wallet seed as most simplest as possible but make sure you store your backup safely and avoid eyes of other people.

Don't try to trick others and consequently trap yourself with a risky backup method. Changing positions of 1, 2 or 3 words in your wallet seed is a terrible idea. You will need to remember it, need to have a note for these positions but if you lose those position order by a memory loss, note loss, you will need luckiness to recover your wallet seed.

How to back up a seed phrase
Yeah, you can care about it on the long term and if you are careful about it then you are going to end up with something much better. Simple stuff like writing it down to your notebook would be simple but effective for many cases.

People talk about things like "what if there is a big fire, what if there is an earthquake" and so forth, well if you want it so much then put it on an exchange and as long as you memorize the mail and password you use, you can login from anywhere in the world, of course have access to your mail as well. But if you want more security, then ignore the one in a million chance of fire burning down all of your house, and just go write it down to your notebook and be fine.
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