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Topic: why create new seed once imported into another wallet software (Read 116 times)

legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 6660
bitcoincleanup.com / bitmixlist.org
Generally speaking, you do not want to import seed phrases that have been used in old wallets into the newer wallet, since as others stated, now there are two programs which hackers can attack, and only one is needed in order to steal your crypto.

For starters, wiping, as in securely deleting the file followed by overwriting the free space of the hard disk over and over again with random data, will solve this issue if you know that nobody has tried to breach your wallet. But that's only feasible for desktops.

For other setups you should definitely create a new seed phrase and sweep your funds.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 10611
Creating a new wallet is recommended as you don't have to spend extra cost to create a new wallet,
If you already have funds in another wallet, then there is a small "cost" in creating a new wallet compared to importing the same seed phrase. The cost is the on-chain fee you'll have to pay to transfer your funds to the newly created wallet.
hero member
Activity: 1722
Merit: 801
why once a seed(created originally in BRD) is imported into a new Electrum wallet, a new seed should be generated ?
You are confusing by yourself.

Importing a wallet seed or a wallet private key into Electrum or any wallet software, means you are using a same wallet by importing it to a new wallet software or a same wallet software on a new device.

Importing never means you will create a new wallet, this is what you are confusing.

Creating a new wallet is recommended as you don't have to spend extra cost to create a new wallet, so why do you not do this if it can give you safer and better practice to store your bitcoin.
hero member
Activity: 1120
Merit: 540
Duelbits - Play for Free | Win for Real
Other than the additional vector mentioned, the additional benefits also lies with your seed format.

Electrum has a different seed format as compared to the rest of the wallets. Mixing seeds around would likely make handling them more difficult and its probably better to sweep them all into an Electrum seed that is natively supported.
Complementing: Electrum has an exclusive seed version that is compatible only with Electrum (and bluewallet), it's not BIP39 which is the standard for most wallets. If you want to know the technical details, here is the documentation.

OP, if you are going to generate a new seed in Electrum, you can only use it in Electrum or Bluewallet. But that doesn't mean it is less secure and interesting and if you want to migrate your funds to another wallet, you can export the private keys from the Electrum wallet and import it elsewhere, but this is only if something catastrophic happens, you will never need to do this since Electrum is one of the most used bitcoin wallets in the world, with a lot of community support and widespread.

If you have any questions about seed variations like the Electrum seed version or BIP39, read this thread and my post where i compare the two:

The choice between the two seed formats will depend on your needs, all 2 options are safe and great, but I will mention some points from each mnemonic to help you with your choice:

1 - Electrum seeds don't have checksum as BIP39, instead, it's carrying a version number, this version number will determine whether the wallet is old (legacy) or segwit.

2 - Electrum seeds don't support nested-segwit addresses (p2sh-segwit starting with 3), however this type of address is falling into disuse, due to the bech32 standard already being well matured in terms of adoption. So this won't be a problem for you (I believe).

3 - Electrum seeds only have 12 words, while in BIP39 you can choose between 12, 15, 18, 21, 24 words (I think even more).

4 - Both electrum and BIP39 seeds provide support for passphrase, a function that derives hidden wallets based on your passphrase, this additional password becomes an extension of your seed. It's therefore crucial not to lose both items, otherwise you will lose access to your funds.

5 - Electrum seeds don't support BIP-85.

6 - Electrum seeds are recreated and recognized only on Electrum and Bluewallet, I won't go into depth because others have already answered this.

My opinion: I use both standards, the electrum standard is criticized because it has not been adopted by the industry like BIP39, so people can't import an electrum wallet into other apps, but this exposes your seed to risk, electrum is a wallet for desktop, this is the company's proposal (although it has a mobile app, but I haven't used it in years).

BIP39 mnemonic is accepted by all HW and wallets in general, so if you want to use your seed in other wallets (remembering that the more you restore in other wallets, the more your seed will be exposed), I like BIP-39 more because you can create accounts, this way you can use a wallet for each occasion, all protected by the same seed, whereas if it were on Electrum, you must create another wallet (seed) for each occasion.
legendary
Activity: 3038
Merit: 4418
Crypto Swap Exchange
Other than the additional vector mentioned, the additional benefits also lies with your seed format.

Electrum has a different seed format as compared to the rest of the wallets. Mixing seeds around would likely make handling them more difficult and its probably better to sweep them all into an Electrum seed that is natively supported.
legendary
Activity: 2534
Merit: 6080
Self-proclaimed Genius
Yes, as a new separate Electrum wallet.

It's not mandatory but extremely recommended for security reasons since it's made by BRD and its security still relies on it.
You'll double the attack vector by using the same seed on two different clients.
member
Activity: 82
Merit: 33
Hello,

why once a seed(created originally in BRD) is imported into a new Electrum wallet, a new seed should be generated ?

Thank you!
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