What is the best way to store your seed phrase?

[oktana]

What if the bank catches fire or your document gets missing? Maybe you can sue them but to store your phrase, you should try avoiding it relying on other people. You can turn it into a cypher and save it offline but not in a complex place so even if someone found it, they wouldn’t be able to make sense out of it. It could even be an article and you used the words in there but only you know how to decipher the words.

[barto123]

Firstly, I wouldn't over complicate your setup. For e.g mix your words, split the seed etc - you'll only confuse yourself later.

Second. There's lots of people talking about multi-sig - I'm not a fan of this. I'd prefer to add a 25th word, so if your seed is ever stolen/compromised, they still need one more piece of the puzzle to spend your coins. I think most of the hardware wallets support this feature.

As for storage, I'd engrave a copy of it on a metal backup (one that has been properly tested to withstand a house fire). I'd hide in plain sight or somewhere totally random, not in a safe.

Lastly the way the world is headed, you need to be resilient and ready for anything. I'd remember your words as a story. 12 words is going to be easier for this. 24 is not hard though. No matter what happens you have your coins stored in your brain.

Storing your seed online anywhere is just plain retarted.

[bobbybkk]

The idea you Ave mentioned is great as it will keep the seed phrase safe and I would probably think of t if I am hodling a huge amount of crypto in a particular wallet. But at the moment it's too much of an hassle for me and as a person who had already lost seed phrase of blockchain wallet in the past by writing and keeping it somewhere I have started a simple strategy of sharing the seed phrase from my personal email to alternative email so it's there in two separate places and also uploads the same in cloud.

A stupid idea like this coming from a hero member on this forum is a big shame, how did you become a hero member without knowing that it's wrong to keep or store your recovery seed online? Even if you are using a hardware wallet, if you keep it's seed in any form of online storage, either email or cloud then you are not safe.

This is crazy and stupid, newbies are looking up to high ranking members on this forum, believing that they have passed through a lot and always know better, it's disappointing that this nonsense is coming from a hero member, wtf?
Any recovery seed or private key must stay offline, there is no better way to keep your keys safe than using offline mode, this is why airgapped wallet are the most secured, they lack the need for internet, they are always offline, may God have mercy on your soul.

In my view it depends on your requirements. Lets say I have 100 000 USD in Bitcoin. There are different considerations:

1)Safety:   Keep the seed phrase save. If you save the seed phrase in a physical space, like on paper, metal or whatever, everybody needs to be physically present to steal this information.

If you store the info online it can be hacked via the internet, I agree here. So online is less save.......

2) Access: But what happens if you travel to a foreighn country and get arrested and need access to your Bitcoin funds to pay for a good lawyer?  How does it help that you have the seed phrase hidden at home???

Maybe worth to have set up an online option to access your seed phrase, at least then you have a chance to use your Bitcoins .....

For me money is a tool, and if I cannot use it it is useless for me......

But if other prefer to rot in jail and it makes them happy that their Bitcoins are save :

 Up to you

[Bloodseekers]

What if the bank catches fire or your document gets missing? Maybe you can sue them but to store your phrase, you should try avoiding it relying on other people. You can turn it into a cypher and save it offline but not in a complex place so even if someone found it, they wouldn’t be able to make sense out of it. It could even be an article and you used the words in there but only you know how to decipher the words.

Of course we can't expect this from other people and it would be better for us to save our own seed phrase where we store a number of Bitcoins and don't forget where we put it, we will lose access to the Bitcoins we store, if you can make an article and save Of course, no one will be able to understand this seed phrase in the article and it will also be very difficult to find the seed phrase in an article that you write.

[kro55]

I personally wrote mine in a piece of paper and then keep it in a safe place. I also mixed those 24 words that only me knows the exact combination. I am actually planning to acquire a gun safe and I'll put it there though not right now but maybe soon when I have extra money.

wow that is even best way to keep them safe mixing your 24 words phrase , but my question now mate is what if one day you have come to sickness in which you cannot remember anything , who will inherit your funds knowing that you are the only one that knows the right combinations?
sorry for asking this mate because I'm just concern bout your hard earned crypto that might be gone in the air if that happens.

I think we're just talking about how and where to safely store seed phrases. Whether we share the seed phrase or seek to pass it on to family members is another story.

Yes, but I think he correctly points out that any storage method that relies solely on your own memory is not good. Mixing up the seed phrase words is definitely bad practice and a common reason people lose their crypto.

Seed phrases already have an additional layer of security – a passphrase you can store separately. I don't understand why people wouldn't use it!

Every method has advantages and disadvantages, no method is 100% perfect and depending on each person, there will be a method that suits them. We cannot impose our thoughts on others or think others are stupid when they do not think the same as us. I've seen some people mixing up phrases to increase security. For me it was quite risky and not suitable for me but so far they have been safe with that method, how can they say they were wrong? On the contrary, when I told them my method, they said it was not safe for them. So what is right and what is wrong?

[Marvelman]

Next time I will store my phrase in a white house or in uranus 

Hahaha!  Have you watched the movie "White House Down"? That thing can happen for real, and your coins are gone!

As for "uranus", you might get a surprise visit from an unwanted visitor there too! 

[boyptc]

What if the bank catches fire or your document gets missing? Maybe you can sue them but to store your phrase, you should try avoiding it relying on other people. You can turn it into a cypher and save it offline but not in a complex place so even if someone found it, they wouldn’t be able to make sense out of it. It could even be an article and you used the words in there but only you know how to decipher the words.

I'd never trust them my seed phrase. It's a crazy idea that you'd allow them to keep your seed phrase which you should be the one responsible for keeping it.

There are a lot of complex ideas that are in here suggested by many members. Might just try them than relying on the bank or any third party service for keeping important documents such as your seed phrase which is your life saving.

[oktana]

Firstly, I wouldn't over complicate your setup. For e.g mix your words, split the seed etc - you'll only confuse yourself later.

Second. There's lots of people talking about multi-sig - I'm not a fan of this. I'd prefer to add a 25th word, so if your seed is ever stolen/compromised, they still need one more piece of the puzzle to spend your coins. I think most of the hardware wallets support this feature.

~~~

The adding of the 25th word makes a lot of sense. I am not completely sure how it works yet but I looked it up and from what I learnt, you will be able to add a passphrase and it could be anything. It could consist of numbers, uppercase, etc. with this you really don’t have to over complicate the storing of your phrases. I once encountered an issue where I was locked out of my own device just because I used a lock that I can’t remember with as much as 70 tries. You make a point indeed.

[tyz]

Every method has advantages and disadvantages, no method is 100% perfect and depending on each person, there will be a method that suits them.

Absolutely agree. Everyone needs to find his own way to store the seed phrase. There are many ways. I recommend the following (must not mean I do it):
- If you are good in memorizing things, then learn your 12 or 24 words. This is easier then you thing. Repeat this over days and weeks until you can get the seed in your sleep. Similar to a poem or prayer that you have learned once and can do for your whole life.
- For extra security (in case a rock hits your head), engrave the seed into a metal plate and hide, bury or store it in a safe place. The metal plate should be safe against water, fire and other influences.

[dunfida]

Every method has advantages and disadvantages, no method is 100% perfect and depending on each person, there will be a method that suits them.

Absolutely agree. Everyone needs to find his own way to store the seed phrase. There are many ways. I recommend the following (must not mean I do it):
- If you are good in memorizing things, then learn your 12 or 24 words. This is easier then you thing. Repeat this over days and weeks until you can get the seed in your sleep. Similar to a poem or prayer that you have learned once and can do for your whole life.
- For extra security (in case a rock hits your head), engrave the seed into a metal plate and hide, bury or store it in a safe place. The metal plate should be safe against water, fire and other influences.

I do find on memorizing those seed phrases is something that i wont really be doing or considering on such option. Well, there are people who are really that good in memorizing but this is something that im not really that confident on doing so because several factors could really affect it out and one missing word would really be meaning to say goodbye into your coins. I would rather consider that metal plate on which this is something
that i have done on 5 years 8 years already and i dont have any problems which it is unlike when you do store up those phrases on a blank paper or putting it on a flash drive.

The main points that you should really be in concern is that you shouldnt really be storing it on cloud on where those places could be potentially be hacked or exploit.
Even myself cant be able to trust those hardware wallets too.

[Forsyth Jones]

Do not divide your seed into 2 or 3 parts, this can complicate the recovery process, in addition to losing one of the parts, depending on the length of the seed, for example, 12 words, dividing it into 2 parts containing 6 words each is at risk of brute force. If you're going to do this, if you're going to do this, better use shamir backup.

The best way to store your backups is on paper, writing down several copies and keeping them at your mother's house, at your workplace, at a relative's house, etc. And also add passphrase so that no one who has access to your seed can access the funds.

The passphrase must be written away/separate from the seed (no one should know that the passphrase is obvious), in addition, you must ensure that you will never lose your seed + passphrase, so don't be careless.

[kro55]

Every method has advantages and disadvantages, no method is 100% perfect and depending on each person, there will be a method that suits them.

Absolutely agree. Everyone needs to find his own way to store the seed phrase. There are many ways. I recommend the following (must not mean I do it):
- If you are good in memorizing things, then learn your 12 or 24 words. This is easier then you thing. Repeat this over days and weeks until you can get the seed in your sleep. Similar to a poem or prayer that you have learned once and can do for your whole life.
- For extra security (in case a rock hits your head), engrave the seed into a metal plate and hide, bury or store it in a safe place. The metal plate should be safe against water, fire and other influences.

I do find on memorizing those seed phrases is something that i wont really be doing or considering on such option. Well, there are people who are really that good in memorizing but this is something that im not really that confident on doing so because several factors could really affect it out and one missing word would really be meaning to say goodbye into your coins. I would rather consider that metal plate on which this is something
that i have done on 5 years 8 years already and i dont have any problems which it is unlike when you do store up those phrases on a blank paper or putting it on a flash drive.

The main points that you should really be in concern is that you shouldnt really be storing it on cloud on where those places could be potentially be hacked or exploit.
Even myself cant be able to trust those hardware wallets too.

We should use and combine 1 to 2 methods together. I also don't think memorizing seed phrases works for me, but people with good memories can try this. It wasn't too bad and he also mentioned the backup solution of using metal plates for storage, so in case our memory fails, we obviously still have a backup plan.

And I agree with you, we can use any method but we should also stay away from the idea of storing seed phrases using online storage services or saving them in emails. Online storage has much greater risks than offline storage.

[blckhawk]

You can probably use dog tags or any metal where you can do an inscriptions, that way you can store it safely and you don't really have to spend a lot of money just to store your seed phrase, you would probably still have that even when you're old since, maybe putting some form of cover like a rubber to conceal the contents of that dog tag. Plus you can wear it on your person so you know that you won't lose it or just store it somewhere easily accessible to you. Also, don't divide your seed phrase into two parts, that's got to be some spy stuff that you're doing because it's only recommended if you've got like a huge amount of bitcoin in there like numbering in thousands or hundreds of thousands or maybe when that wallet stores the bitcoin of multiple family members but otherwise, don't do this because you're going to complicate things for yourself.

[headingnorth]

Now is it true that keeping an offline copy also presents risks? Yes, but compared to the online threats in which a hacker at the other side of the world could get your coins, obtaining a physical copy of your coins requires access to the place where you store them, something way easier to monitor and control.

Do you use a password manager to store your password information such as your email password, bank account passwords, Paypal account, Amazon account, etc?
If yes then why would you think that storing such sensitive information online is unsafe? Probably 99% of people who use the internet on a regular basis also use a password manager.

If password managers are so unsafe then why do billions of people in the world use them everyday to store their highly sensitive password information online without any issues?
Most password managers allow you to store notes securely, which is how it is possible to store a seedphrase online.
 
I think the fear of storing stuff  online is a bit overexagerated. Of course some methods of online storage are safer than others, and some password managers are better than others
so you have to be careful how you do it. If someone doesn't feel comfortable storing it online then just don't do it. And if you do want to store it online it then do your research so it can be done as safely and securely as possible. It's called freedom of choice.  

Considering the incredibly strong safety record of password managers in general, IMO the average person has a greater chance of losing the physical copy of their seedphrase then having it compromised from an online hacker. So it may be good idea in some cases to have both a physical and online backup of your seedphrase.

 

[justdimin]

Do you know that website can shutdown and it can be hacked by hackers, and one thing about hackers they try to hack everything even if they are not sure about the information you have in your website,  they just want to get in their to see if their is any valuable information that will benefit them. Online is not the best place to store seedphrase because anything can happen and their is no guarantee that is that very safe the way you think. One of the reasons online is not safe to store seedphrase is because you can just control what will happen at anytime. 

But when seed phrase are store offline you can decide to store and secure it in the best way that nobody can have access to except you. We are all visitors in the internet, anything can happen that can make not to have access to the account any more. The offline,  specially written note is the best place to store seed phrase because with this you can give the best security to the seed phrase just to make sure the seed phrase is safe just make your bitcoin safe.

I would say that it would not be ok to store it in your PC neither. This is why I have a notepad with all of my sensitive information. From websites and emails/passwords I use on them, to seedphrases, to basically everything I need to remember. When I change password at any given place, I just scratch over it with pencil, and write in a new place. I do not do too much stuff with it neither, usually it's already connected, but it's good to have it there, just in case.

I don't even do like alphabetically or anything, just write it to the next line and be over with it. This allows me to have a piece of notebook that carries all my information, can't be hacked there. They can I am sure still hack me somehow, like keylogger or something, but also being poor is a great another reason for not getting hacked lol.

[lixer]

I personally wrote mine in a piece of paper and then keep it in a safe place. I also mixed those 24 words that only me knows the exact combination. I am actually planning to acquire a gun safe and I'll put it there though not right now but maybe soon when I have extra money.

I think it was mostly the beginners who does this and you don't look like one of them according to your forum rank. This is because paper can get damaged easily and then even if you keep it on a safe place, its writing can still fade away over time according to what I have observed. A better way to store a seed phrase is when you write them in stain-less steel. It may take time but it's worth it especially if you have lots of Bitcoins. There is also a company who sells those steel letters along with a capsule-like storage for use with our seed phrases. I think that works good too. Lastly, hardware wallets should not be forgotten as a safe location on securing our keys/BTC.

[Benedictare]

    The most common way of storing your Seedphrase; Seedphrase are being documented and kept in several safe places, in other for proper storage for future purposes offline , no matter how you store your Seed phrase,it should be kept away from thieves and others and it should be laminated but there are other ways also such as engraving or stamping on metal, chiselling into a stone tablet or inventing and creating . Also in storing you have to use Keystone Tablet plus, phones Coinplate Alpha, Crypto steel Cassette,USB or hard drive, e.t.c.

   In other for you to protect your seed phrase in crypto ,you have to highly back it up by permanently writing the words to things that cannot be destroyed like stainless steel or metal plate.

[OcTradism]

Do not divide your seed into 2 or 3 parts, this can complicate the recovery process, in addition to losing one of the parts, depending on the length of the seed, for example, 12 words, dividing it into 2 parts containing 6 words each is at risk of brute force. If you're going to do this, if you're going to do this, better use shamir backup.

If you make your back up and recovery process more complicated, you put you in more dangerous risk of failure in your wallet recovery later. The point is to keep your backup safely against physical damage like water, fire, acid, shock and secretly from human attacks offline and online.

Don't complicate the process because if you lose access to one of step for wallet recovery, you lose your bitcoin.

How to back up a seed phrase?
Bitcoin Q&A: Why is Seed Splitting a Bad Idea?

[kotajikikox]

I personally think that splitting your seed phrases in multiple parts would just lead to worse things. What happens if you lose one part?

I still think that having my seed phrase all together in one hidden place is the way to go. Don't overcomplicate things because most likely you are going to forget it at some point. I usually put it somewhere common for me but no one else really checks

[Kristiyana]

I personally think that splitting your seed phrases in multiple parts would just lead to worse things. What happens if you lose one part?

I still think that having my seed phrase all together in one hidden place is the way to go. Don't overcomplicate things because most likely you are going to forget it at some point. I usually put it somewhere common for me but no one else really checks

You're absolutely right splitting of seed phrase in multiple parts sometimes you might lose one part, I think is advisable to have the seed phrase all joined together in a hidden place, so as to avoid losing your seed phrase however,I don't split my seed phrase rather i put it in a very hidden place.