Can You Memorize Your Recovery Phrase?

[Article4tip]

Just remembered that I have written the recovery seed phrase of my Electrum on a piece of paper somewhere in my place. I'm wondering what could go wrong since my place isn't too secured.  How about trying to memorize it? Is it possible?

Would you try?
What are the benefits? ... and the setbacks.

[Bitcoin Smith]

Definitely it's possible to memorize it which can be easier if it's 12 words and the difficulty increases according to the length of your seed, but how long you can remember it varies and if I were you I won't put my money on my memory over simply writing it on a paper.

Benefits : No one can access it

Negative: Even you can forget it and if you don't have backup then you lost your wallet forever.

[Hatchy]

Its very risky and not advisible to memorize your seed as the human memory might fail and you may end up losing your access to your fund. It's better to write it down and store in a safe places then if you so wish to use a brain wallet, then you just do it for the fun of it.

[Pandorak]

[...] How about trying to memorize it? Is it possible?

Would you try?
What are the benefits? ... and the setbacks.

This is known as Brain Wallet [1], which uses the method of memorizing phrases and it is possible to do it as long as your memory is strong. For me, i would never use it because i realize that i have a lot more to remember than just phrases.

The benefits? of course only you know this phrase, better than any wallet.

[1] https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Brainwallet

[Abbatty]

How about trying to memorize it? Is it possible?

It’s possible to memorize it but it’s definitely not the best thing to do. If it was safe to memorize recovery phrases then the wallet developers should have suggested it among the safest ways to store your phrases. I would suggest you not to try it because missing a word will put your entire assets at risk.

Would you try?

Of course not, i am not so good at memorizing things because i don’t have a retentive memory.

[Amphenomenon]

Would you try?
What are the benefits? ... and the setbacks.

Our Memory on thus can't be trusted, us either we forget some part or the arrangements in the long run.

I don't see anything benefit of it, writing offline private key/seed phrase is much better, if you think it's not safe in your place, you can add a passphrase which will make it possible that even if someone get your recovery phrase, they still can't access your coins except they also get your passphrase.
Though you can also try wallet encryption.

[Stalker22]

Would you try?
What are the benefits? ... and the setbacks.

No, I wouldnt try it, and I don't see any benefits.  Memorizing your seed is risky because people forget stuff all the time.  Like sure, some folks have great memories, but most of us will probably mess it up eventually.  Instead, I would suggest writing it down and keeping it locked away somewhere secure.  That way its there if you need it.  But hey if you wanna try using a brain wallet for fun, go for it! Just maybe dont put all your life savings in there if you know your memory isnt perfect.  I mean, losing access to your funds would be a major bummer, dont you think?

[Odohu]

Just remembered that I have written the recovery seed phrase of my Electrum on a piece of paper somewhere in my place. I'm wondering what could go wrong since my place isn't too secured.  How about trying to memorize it? Is it possible?

Would you try?
What are the benefits? ... and the setbacks.

What is the essence of trying to memorise the recovery phrase? Even if your brain is computer, of all the things in this world it is the recovery phrase you want to memorise? Have you thought about the risk when your brain begins to play tricks on you? Even if I can memorise my recovery phrase, I will not be tempted to try it because I'm not ready to male silly mistake that will cost me my sweat. A lot of posts have already been made on how to back them up, so that should be our focus.

[darkangel11]

It depends. If it was a 12 word seed, no problem. 24 word? That could pose a challenge.
The problem is I would find it to be risky for large amounts of money. I'd be gambling, betting on my ability to remember everything right after some time. That's where the weakness lies. I tend to forget unused things, so every day I'd have to say it in my mind before going to bed to remember it, so it's fresh in the memory. Feels like some unnecessary burden.

[Z-tight]

Just remembered that I have written the recovery seed phrase of my Electrum on a piece of paper somewhere in my place. I'm wondering what could go wrong since my place isn't too secured.  How about trying to memorize it? Is it possible?

I would never try it, i see some members saying it's possible with a 12 word seed phrase, that is a very bad advise. It may seem possible in the first few weeks and months, but with time you are going to forget it, and if you don't completely forget, you'll mess up the correct arrangement. Do not ever memorize your seed phrase, or else you'll lock yourself out of your funds.

If you are worried about the safety of your seed phrase, you can extend it with a passphrase and keep the backup in a different location from your seed phrase, or you simply set up a multisig wallet, which gives you extra security.

[stompix]

How about trying to memorize it? Is it possible?

You're talking about memorizing 12 words, not that hard!

What are the benefits? ... and the setbacks.

The benefits are that you will not have to access your secret stash where you keep your private key every time you need to restore your wallet nor that you would need to carry that thing with you when you travel or you move temporarily!
Setbacks there are none unless you talk in your sleep and you sleep among strangers maybe?

So as long as you have that sed also on a physical back-up stored safely there is nothing wrong with trying to memorize it.

[SatoPrincess]

Zero benefits. You cannot rely solely on your memory for something as sensitive as your seed phrase. There are many threads on the topic and it’s a general consensus among the bitcoin community that relying solely on one’s memory is a terrible way of storing your seed phrase.

If you are worried about the lifespan of paper storage, you can always opt for other methods like engraving your seeds in steel, and having multiple backups in different locations. I recommend you to visit the topic below and try this method:
Securing Your Seed Phrase with Washers.

[Davidvictorson]

Just remembered that I have written the recovery seed phrase of my Electrum on a piece of paper somewhere in my place. I'm wondering what could go wrong since my place isn't too secured.  How about trying to memorize it? Is it possible?

Would you try?
What are the benefits? ... and the setbacks.

I would not try to memorize my recovery phrase. Certainly it is possible to do that. And I want to believe that there are lot of geniuses who do it.

A lot of things can go wrong. - Head trauma, Dementia, and others

I see no benefits in it what so ever. I consider it the worse way to store your recovery phrase.

Setbacks - I forget it. I fall asleep in a bitcoin hangout party and I say it without knowing while I am asleep or passed out. Humans are frail, I wouldn't trust it with my recovery phrase.

[Ruttoshi]

It is not advisable to memorize your seed phrase because there is a high probability that you will forget it. This is because seed phrase is not what you use often but only to recovery a wallet whose password has been forget or don't have the wallet app on their device or computer anymore.

People easily forget their password that they use to login to their accounts every day, talk more of memorizing your seed phrase. It is not good, human thinks a lot and will be faced with stress that might make the brain not remember much.

This is why when you are creating a new wallet you will be advised to write down your seed phrase on a piece of paper and put the words accurately before your wallet will be created. Paper or steel back up is safer.

[BitMaxz]

It depends. If it was a 12 word seed, no problem. 24 word? That could pose a challenge.
The problem is I would find it to be risky for large amounts of money. I'd be gambling, betting on my ability to remember everything right after some time. That's where the weakness lies. I tend to forget unused things, so every day I'd have to say it in my mind before going to bed to remember it, so it's fresh in my memory. Feels like some unnecessary burden.

That's not easy even if it's just 12 words I'm sure we can memorize those 12 words but not good for the long term I've been tested it to memorize my backup but after a week I can only remember 5 or 7 words maybe if the backup seed is just around 5 words we can memorize it.

However, since we are getting older I'm sure our memory become less effective when it comes to remembering something plus why need to memorize if you can just save your seed backup into an offline device and never connect it online or use a CD/DVD to backup your wallet that is way safer than memorizing 12 words.

[dkbit98]

Just remembered that I have written the recovery seed phrase of my Electrum on a piece of paper somewhere in my place. I'm wondering what could go wrong since my place isn't too secured.  How about trying to memorize it? Is it possible?

I would never do this.
Even if you could memorize it, you should never do it for long term storage.
You can easily forget one password let alone 12 or 24 words, and you can have some health problems that affects your brain and memory resulting in lost coins.

[Rikafip]

Setbacks there are none unless you talk in your sleep and you sleep among strangers maybe?

What about brain injury or illness? I know that chances of that happening are not very high, but they still exist and shit happens so no way I would trust my memory when it comes to my life savings.

[peter0425]

Just remembered that I have written the recovery seed phrase of my Electrum on a piece of paper somewhere in my place. I'm wondering what could go wrong since my place isn't too secured.  How about trying to memorize it? Is it possible?

You can try, it’s definitely possible but I wouldn’t rely too much on it. Unless you have a photographic memory, you are bound to do a mistake and forget something.

Sometimes those who are really good with memorization also forget a few details here and there we are all humans after all.

Would you try?

No. I wouldn’t even.

What are the benefits? ... and the setbacks.

Well no one can access your recovery phrase because there is no physical copy for one. The setback is if you forget it, you’re going to lose everything and no way to get it back.

[_BlackStar]

Just remembered that I have written the recovery seed phrase of my Electrum on a piece of paper somewhere in my place. I'm wondering what could go wrong since my place isn't too secured.  How about trying to memorize it? Is it possible?

Of course - it's possible especially if you do some techniques. One of the techniques I remember most in memorizing is - write as many of those 12 words as possible and read as many as possible. You have to repeat the same thing until you can remember it even if you are drunk. But are you also willing to bear the risk?

Another easy solution to be safe is - take security measures like most of the bitcoin whales do. If you know how they do it - then your bitcoins will probably be safe before you pass them on to your children, wife or family.

Would you try?
What are the benefits? ... and the setbacks.

No - I'm a forgetful person. LOL

[DeathAngel]

I probably could do but I don’t trust myself enough to destroy all copies that I have incase I forget one or two words. I have enough copies of my seed hidden in multiple locations not to worry about losing it. I don’t think it’s a good idea to only have your seed in your memory, it’s too risky.