What is a Seed (Recovery) Phrase?

What is a Seed Phrase?

By Lyle Daly – Updated Jun 10, 2025 at 12:53 PM

Key Points

A seed phrase is 12-24 words used to recover funds in a lost crypto wallet.
Store your seed phrase securely to prevent unauthorized access to your cryptocurrency.
If you lose your seed phrase and wallet, transferring funds immediately is critical.

Storing cryptocurrency can be a little complicated at first because the blockchain wallets used to store it work much differently than traditional financial accounts. When you set up a blockchain wallet, it will provide you with a string of words called a seed phrase. These randomly generated words are extremely important, and everyone who owns cryptocurrency should understand how seed phrases work.

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Block chain crypto technology, web3, metaverse, nft, non fungible token — Source: Getty Images

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Private Key

A cryptographic code known only to the owner, granting access and control over their cryptocurrency holdings in a secure manner.

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Blockchain Wallet

A blockchain wallet allows you to manage, secure, and use cryptocurrencies and other blockchain-based digital assets.

What you want to avoid is storing your seed phrase either on your computer or online. The risk of a hardware failure or a hack makes these risky places for a seed phrase.

If you invest in cryptocurrency, storing it in your own blockchain wallet is a good idea for added security. An essential part of using a wallet is recording the seed phrase and storing it in a location where only you can get to it. That seed phrase provides access to all your crypto, so it's a helpful recovery tool, but you don't want it to fall into the wrong hands.

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About the Author

Lyle Daly is a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst covering information technology and cryptocurrency. Lyle has been a contributor at the financial services company since 2018. His work has been featured on USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, Fox Business, and Nasdaq. Before joining The Motley Fool, he wrote for financial brands including Intuit.

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