Bitcoin Forum

Hello bitcoin talkers
We are all aware that we shouldn't share our seed phrase...but there is a trap that beginners may still fall for... Which is digitalizing their seed phrase
  Digitalizing your seedphrase pose a very great threat to your assets.... In case yo7 dint know what it's all about, it involves

* Taking a screenshot and saving it in your phone Gallery
• Saving it as a text file or on a notepad inside your phone or laptop
• Even uploading it to a cloud service like iCloud, Google drive or Dropbox is not safe.

It may seem secure to do all these because they may be password protected, but they can serve as a point of failure

The moment you digitalize your seedphrase and store it in an internet connected platform or device, you are exposing it to cyber attacks and vulnerabilities and a single malware can prove to be detrimental.

Your device amcan be stolen, a malware can infect your device,  and a cyber criminal can even remotely gain access to your devices.

The most effective way I know is to store your seedphrase offline in a journal stored safe or engraved in a metal plate kept in a safe place wher only you can have access to it .

But as a veteran,  if you have ever stored your seedphrase digitally, what are the minimum security layers you enforced to keep it safe..

Let me explain further on these few points you have highlighted here and give my own view to how they were being affected.

1. Some will be making video call and yet go through their wallet forgetting them at they are seen live, the third party may have a screen record and uses that to know their wallet details.

2. Saving on the phone in form of text is a poor way of storing our private keys or seeds, we might have forgotten and give someone our device to use and through that they come in contact with that, so don't store keys on your phone and don't give someone to handle your phone as well.

3. Don't take any advice to use the cloud services for Keeping your keys, not even keep my password or password manager are good for your safety.

In addition to what you said OP, it's good to add passphrase to your seed phrase for an extra layer of security, and store your seed phrase in a separate place from your passphrase so that whoever sees your seed phrase and want to steal your funds will have access to a different wallet and not yours. I wrote mine on a piece of paper and made three duplicates. It's good that you keep your duplicates in various place far away from each other.

Taking screenshot and leaving it in your phone memory isn't the problem, same as saving as text file, the loophole starts when your smartphone is infected by malicious malware or apps.

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It doesn't ends there, you as the smartphone user can download apps and give access to your very own phone memory, and the malicious app will automatically have access to your data.

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The third one is been discussed so many times on this forum before, using a third party keyboard is one of the fastest ways to lose that data, many people till this day wonders how their saved se* clips got leaked to the internet, I have come across few keyboard apps like that.

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Behind your back they slowly upload your data through the cloud and you won't even know, it is better to avoid keeping sensitive data or information on your smartphone.

Warnings about these dangerous methods and also what to do for wallet backups.
How to backup a seed phrase. (https://blog.lopp.net/how-to-back-up-a-seed-phrase/)
I quote warnings on most terrible backup schemes written in that article.

It seems to be unsafe if you have basic knowledge about security as when you store your sensitive data on third party platforms, it's no longer safe.

There is another resource on security which is helpful for Bitcoiners' practice.
The cryptocurrency security checklist. (https://chainsec.io/checklist/)

People still do this and it's a bad practice which is not ideal. It makes no sense because your mobile device somehow is not private. We access different websites daily due to work or just for entertainment but a lot of data are being downloaded to our devices without our consent. Most of these data are as a result of permissions we've granted some apps but must have forgotten. Now it's becomes a risk to have your keys stored on a device connected online because we have no idea if it has already been affected.

People don't learn though, with many cases online of how most wallets are being hacked, even to know that exchange ls which some are too lazy to get their money off thinking it's safe can still be hacked, what more about leaving your keys on your devices? that's like granting them a direct access to your funds.

Anyone who’s been in the crypto space long enough knows that if your seed phrase are stored online you have been compromised. At least most “veterans” know this but some think differently.

I had done that, saved seeds using notepad on my PC and I might still have that file, which I needed for some altcoins and I just traded it instantly so even if someone got access to that they will simply find the empty wallet. Now comes to the Bitcoin part, seed phrases stored in any device where you will connect internet can be potentially compromised. You can prefer any offline methods that works for you and also the encryption level may suit depending on your portfolio value.

It's not worth saving a wallet that has 0.00001BTC in an airgapped wallet.

There are too many risks online and that is why storing your seed phrases digitally is a no no . So long it's ona device that can browse the internet then there is a chance it can be compromised or hacked. Depending on how much you Hodl, it's very ok to store it on a personal cold storage or a hard ware wallet.

Since security of your coins can't really be over emphasized, it's best to also have an emergency backup which is a paper wallet. Take note paper wallet doesn't necessarily mean it must be on paper though.

I've done that when I was still new, I think that there's no risk at all when doing that. But I was wrong and it's very risky if someone keeps on doing all of those that you've said.

Now, I don't do it anymore and if I am going to store my seeds, I take time in writing it down and even it will take me a couple of minutes doing it. I don't mind it.

Because that's more assured and safe than writing it on a text file and saving it on a personal computer. So doing this with the wallet that you've your holdings, you need to be cautious.

These are just convenient ways of securing your seed phrase that ends up exposing your seed phrase and unfortunately, it is mostly newbies that falls victim to this easily because they feel that by either storing their phrase on their digital device that they have lucked with their passwords that it is completely safe from harm or hack.

As uncomfortable and outdated as it might look like, saving your seed phrase offline and in a secured place is far safer than doing same through whatever software or digital security means you might find online because at the end of the day, anything you store online is exposed to a third party that might become a threat to you in the long run.

The trap and dangers that concerns seed phrase digitalization is like  an epidemic of unawareness/ignorance that is still affecting millions of people over the globe today. It's not just about seed phrase owners, but it also concerns those who store sensitive data on their devices. You know, there's this confidence that a lot of people in our today's world have, that whatever has been stored on our devices is 100% secured.

The truth is, most people are not digital literates, so they don't have an idea of these flaws and how crazy things can be as far as digital security is concerned. The sad truth is, digital traps will continue to be a big problem, but people will eventually learn about it with time, probably after falling victim, or before.

There also people who keep them carelessly on a piece of paper some where in their houses where anyone can easily stumble on them. How about those who write theirs on a random exercise book that isn't private. Outside cybercriminal and malware attacks one can even lose them to close relatives too due to carelessness.

You are right OP decentralising our seed phrase is a very wrong way of storing our seed phrase, so people should be guided especially newbies so that they won't make themselves vulnerable to scam, because if you store your seed phrase in your mobile phone or your PC and any of those device got stolen the person who stole it can easily get access to your funds since your seed phrase is stored on your device, so for that reason I will suggest we store our seed phrase on metal plates, or store it in some where else, but not on our devices, because it's very wrong to store your seed phrase on your mobile phone or PC.

It is risky to save seed phrase online. Let's not make it a bit friendly or sound good in any way. This is most common among those creating wallets on desktop, when asked to write down seed phrases, it blocks screenshots on the device, a mobile device is then used to take screenshot the easy way instead of writing down.

Furthermore, are those who save screenshots of seed phrase in emails or by drafting them in emails, while it is online saved/drafted in email, emails can be hacked, device stolen or forceful entry, like Mia Chloe said, it is a no no and shouldn't be done, why not spare 2-3 minutes of writing down 12-24 words and be one step ahead in privacy/security.

Yes storing your seed phrase digitally either by screenshotting, using text file, or uploading to cloud, is worst mistake as it will leave your money open to hackers, malware, or theft, despite use of passwords. Safest way is offline approach, meaning writing phrase down or engraving it on metal and keeping it somewhere safe, which will take away cyber risk. Even though there are more complex, multi step approaches, such as splitting and hiding phrase to briefly store it digitally, which are too risky to use with beginners. Still, your most effective, simple, and so far best security measure is to make sure that your seed phrase is not used at all.

Asides from the fact that family members can pick it up due to their carelessness, what about a situation where someone who may not know the importance of what's written in that paper and might dispose of it thinking that it's thrash lying around?
I wanted to say it's not everyone that might know what seed phrases are so one can keep it Ina place that can be seen especially if you come from a family who knows little to nothing about Bitcoin, but still, it's not safe to keep important things lying around to avoid stories that touch the heart.

Not only a newbie can fall on this kind of trap, an experience member may carelessly fall a victim as well if care is not taken, we must not relent in crypto, because lots are changing fast and things are not expected to be taken in levity hands, if we don't want others to take advantage of us, we had better be more careful and professional in all we do, anyone can fall a victim of scam.

All these methods seems safe since they looks like it is not been save online, boy knowing that these methods can get compromised which means it is not safe to do.

And taking screenshots and saving seed phrases in notepads is one of the easiest ways most people use to save their seed phrases and private keys and it is not safe that’s why a lot of news of wallet hacks is everywhere.

Written them down in a paper looks stressful and it is a safe method especially if it is been duplicated and saved in a safe places where no one can have access to. Let’s try and be out self security first by keeping our seed phrases and private keys safe offline .Always remember that Nit your keys, Not your coin.

Keeping your seed phrase on any device that is connected to the Internet is risky. Keeping your passwords or seed phrase in an online setup is wrong. The seed phase should be written in a waterproof and fireproof material and kept in different locations. 

This is the reason why we should not believe everything we see on any platform. Doing your own research is essential because there is a lot of misinformation even on reputable platforms. But there is no need to keep reposting this error because you are spreading it.

This is a really good point. A lot of beginners really think that they are being careful just because they did not tell anyone their seed phrase. But they don't know that storing it digitally is basically the same thing as exposing it. Phones auto-backup images to cloud storage, laptops get malware and one hacked account or even someone getting access to your device, and your wallet is gone.

Most people also just underestimate how fast these things can happen.You won’t see it coming — one day you’ll check and find your account wiped out.That is the reason why storing it offline remains the safest option. Write it down clearly or use a metal backup and store it somewhere private n safe.

And for people who insist on keeping a digital version, the minimum security layers in my opinion would be:
. A device fully dedicated to crypto only ( no browsing, no apps, no social media)
. At least disable any cloud backup.
. Full disk encryption
Even so, i will still prefer keeping it offline.

Bottom line, your seed phrase is what controls your whole wallet. So losing control of it means losing everything. It’s smarter to secure things early rather than learn the hard way.

There are several funny and also painful stories of millionaires' wallets being emptied. The reason was that their seed phrases were stored on their devices. It's hard to call these people newbies, but the fact is, they found themselves in a rather unpleasant situation due to their carelessness. Some store their seed phrases in hidden folders, others as screenshots, but the virus doesn't really care; it transfers all the files it finds interesting to the hacker, so storing them online is reckless.

In this context nothing is safe if you have the digital print. Well specially those who have enough concerns about their fund , they usually have cold wallet/ hardware wallet. Centralized Exchange is not safe in first position. I think if you have a 5 digit fund you must have secure your crypto by buying a hardware wallet. This ain't much expensive if you consider the security of your funds

Once it comes to leaving your most important information online, no matter the security layers that has been used to protect them, you’ll still be vulnerable to attacks because cyber criminals will always find their way through to access your device when they know you have an important information that’ll benefit them. It’s better you don’t even give them the notion and that can be done by not keeping them online, offline is the best when it comes to sensitive informations like this that needs to be kept.


There is nothing better a veteran can do that they may not still be vulnerable to attacks when they store their seed phrase online by digitalizing it. It may take time for the security they enforce to be tempered with, but there is still a possibility that they can be attached by cyber criminals and lose their seed phrase.

In time of this your topic I was almost got scammed by someone if not I was also quickly enough to share his seed phrase by now I would have been blamed and regretted in big time ,I was on live on tiktok a woman was teaching about Bitcoin so it catch my attention some on the comments section we ask questions and the woman was answering our questions reaching to an extent someone DM me telling m that he want me to work for him ,if I can be honest that he needs to share his seed phrase to me so that I can trade for him as on as the profit is coming out we can share it 50/50 you know am still newbie and he share the seed phrase and I log it in ,in my system thinking I have  catch someone that I will benefit from why I don't know that he actually want to benefit from me the more ,long story short when I have entered the seed phrase he game me I noticed that the man set that as a trap ,when I put more value in he will fast withdrawal the value but the actual amount will still be their ,and I was told by my boss that this is trap ,so newbies need to be very careful about when someone wants such deal with you suspect it immediately and withdraw your attention.

The moment you keep your seed phrase online, security is no longer ensured. Remember that all that has been stored online are prone to hacking, so security should be at its utmost. Even the whole online system itself does not guarantee security, that's why if possible, learn to keep your seed phrase online where you can be comfortable of hiding it. No need to share it, but just keep it all by yourself, even your family members as not all family members can be well trusted.

This is the mistake I made not too long.
I created my first wallet and automatically saved the my phrase using Google drive.
Thank you for the information it was really helpful.

This has been a mistake many people are making including me, but mine is most awards if some of my accounts, but I don’t joke with my seed phrase online, but some of my passwords were saved on iCloud which I just noticed that it is not safe also.

I thought screenshots were safe also since it will remain in your device, but it seems like written in a paper or saving them offline is the safest option to save your seed phrase because your device that is always online can get compromised at anytime.

I think, this is the most risky of them all because there are many instances that will make you lose your phone and even if you didn’t lose your phone, the phone gallery is the most frequent app that people like to make use of when you borrow them your phone or when they have access to it. Meaning with just the slightest mistakes you’ll lose ur seed phrase to someone.


Uploading your seed to a cloud service? Wow that is very unwise because you are entrusting your seed to a third party, and whenever there’s another big password leak like that of last few months, your seed to very vulnerable and some random hackers can easily get away with your money.


In most cases, it isn’t secured and as a beginner you  making the mistake of storing your seed digital means your digital assets are very vulnerable. Not only seed, even password to some of your accounts shouldn’t be store digitally..instead have multiple backups(if possible in different countries) and have it store on a paper and keep it in the most safest spot in your house.


That is the main reason you shouldn’t even try `digitalizing your seed’ because if by any chance, you can fall for a phishing attack and lot more types of attacks in this digital world.