All terms
Twelve or twenty four words that regenerate every key in your wallet.
A seed phrase, also called a recovery phrase or mnemonic, is a human readable encoding of the master secret your wallet derives all its keys from. Type those words into any compatible wallet and every account comes back exactly as it was.
This is the single most important thing to protect in all of crypto. Write it on paper or steel. Never photograph it, never type it into a website, never store it in a notes app or cloud drive, and never give it to anyone for any reason at all.
No legitimate support agent, airdrop, wallet or exchange will ever ask for your seed phrase. Every single request is a theft attempt.
That the phrase backs up a wallet app. It backs up the master secret every key in that wallet is derived from, so it restores the same accounts in any compatible wallet on any device. That is why anyone who reads it owns everything, and why it never goes into a screen.
Common questions
Can I store my seed phrase in a password manager?
What if I lose one word?
Where this comes up on the site
The guides that actually use this word, rather than a list of everything we have written.
Where to go next
More foundations terms
Want this explained out loud?
Some of these land faster in conversation than in writing. Sessions are one to one and you can ask anything, including the things that feel too obvious to ask.