Can You Memorize Your Recovery Phrase?

[Lida93]

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.

Our seed phrase isn't just any other kind of phrase which is why it shouldn't be written just on any paper and shouldn't be placed in any place not well secured. Think again, you might actually have somewhere really safe to have it kept.

On memorize our seed phrase if it's possible. Yes it is, and  it's has so much to do with the individual's level intelligence and the length of the phrase and other determinant like how busy a person you are, as in how occupied you get with many other things at hand needing your attention. For someone like me with so much to meet up in my head I'll prefer writing it down and have it kept in a safe position as my human faculty can fail me due to stress and other factors.

[Marvell1]

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.

Yes, you could try to memorize the 12 words, but what's the point? You could still forget several words. I wouldn't bother with memorizing my seed phrases.
Why are so many Bitcoiners obsessed with their seed phrases and private keys? Is anyone trying to hack you? Having decent knowledge about how to protect yourself from getting hacked and having a decent anti-virus should be more than enough for protecting your BTC wallet.
What do you mean by "my place isn't secured"? Do you live in a town with high levels of criminal activity? Do you lock your door every day?

As a bitcoin investor, that's all we need to keep our bitcoins safe, everything is very simple, let's not make things complicated. Storing seed phrases is like we trying to keep a secret or protect valuable assets but I don't see anyone asking others how to safely store gold or diamonds. You're right, it's confusing many people are obsessed with the seed phrase, many people even spend all day trying to figure out how to make it absolutely secure but the interesting thing is, their wallets don't have many bitcoins in there.

As a bitcoin investor, we should look to accumulate as many bitcoins as possible instead of just spending too much time thinking about where to store the seed phrase when we don't have too many bitcoins. Agree that safety is also an important task, but don't get too obsessed with it and ignore other factors.

[Rikafip]

Writing your recovery phrase on a piece of paper is not really the best option, and trying to memorize your recovery phrase is even worse. If you are storing your recovery phrase, it’s better if you carve it on a small piece of iron steel, then you can store it in a different location. Iron steel is always difficult to damage, so if there is a fire accident or if water touches it, then it’s not going to get damaged compared to if it’s written on paper.

Good luck trying to find that small iron plate when your house burns to the ground.
Btw, I am not saying that its not a generally good thing to have, but if you only have one you are still vulnerable.

I have 17 recovery phrases in use at the moment. I can't memorize them.

What an actual fuck, you have 17 wallets in use right now?

[RockBell]

If you have a good memory you can memorize it. I think it's stupid to memorize the wallet passphrase just as an alternate backup, because you are fallible and anyone can forget it at any time. If you can use any method to store a seed phrase or private key, you may choose any method to store it, but the biggest responsibility is how secure your seed phrase will be depending on the method you use. But make it a habit to always check if your accesses are secure on a regular basis.

Even if I have a good memory to retain things, I don't see it as a good idea to want to memorize all the seed phrase in my head because no matter how good I am what if I forget one of the combinations of the seed phrase.  Then their is no way i can have access to the assets. So it better not to even think of considering it. And no matter how good anyone is with saving things in their head they won't consider memorizing it. Because their is a lot of challenges that might even make you forget things.

Their other offline alternatives to consider than trying to keep it in your head. And I won't either advise anyone to save their seed phrase online. Anything online is also at risk online and make sure its a save place were no one will have access to it except you.  And when they are properly safe always do to check them time to time to reconfirm the safety of your assets. And some people are so careless that they don't even care they just write and dump some were and the moment they lose money they will know the value of always keeping their assets safe. Sometimes is good they learn the had way.

[Z-tight]

I have 17 recovery phrases in use at the moment. I can't memorize them.

For real? That is quite a lot, why do you have so many wallets, it is problematic to keep too many seed phrases safe, only if you keep all of them in the same location, which isn't recommended in my honest opinion. I don't know the exact reason why you do this, but take note that it does not add to your security if you use too many wallets, it can only give you a false sense of security and more work, because you need safe and offline devices to store some of these wallet files.

[reagansimms]

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.

In the short term, maybe you can memorize it, but it is very impossible to remember it in the long term. One of the human weaknesses is the nature of forgetfulness and it is always a part of every human being, there are unexpected factors that make you forget the seed phrases that you have memorized, such as life burdens that are too heavy, disharmonious family conditions and busy schedules at work. which makes you always have to focus on the tasks that must be completed at work.

Ideally, you can write the seed phrase on a piece of paper that is not easily damaged or worn out or engrave it on a steel plate and then store it in a safe place. Memorizing the seed phrase is not recommended, there are many reasons why you could lose the seed phrase and you will be threatened with not being able to retrieve the assets you saved if suddenly you cannot remember the seed phrase. Never take any risks with your asset ownership, always prioritize asset safety by storing the seed phrase in a safe place, then write it in a place that is not flammable and does not easily get wet if it comes into contact with water.

[Issa56]

Trying to memorize your seed phrases is a good one but the truth is that it could make you keep careless with the one written down which can be lost and exposed to public seights. That's due to over confidence that you have it off hand and once you've missed a word of it, then you're gone with it. So even if you can memorize it, do well take it stored somewhere either online or offline on a safe place.

If you memorize your seed phrase, it’s not a bad idea, but never even try to rely on the seed phrase that you stored in your brain alone. Make sure you properly backup your seed phrase in other places and protect it. Seriously, I can’t really trust my brain like that, so my seed phrase is stored in so many places, which I will recommend others do as well.
 
I will never recommend anyone store their seed phrase online, if you don’t, it’s just like your seed phrase is already in public because anywhere you store it can easily be compromised and people will be able to see it. The best place to store seed phrase is offline, and it should be written on material that can’t be easily damaged.

[mirakal]

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.

You can do it if you can but what I see is that you only add a burden into your life and memory as it was not the only thing you are thinking with. Why make yourself too easy like putting it in a safe place, somewhere where you believe nothing could see it aside from you? I could not dare to do that nor imagine that for the sake of giving safety to my wallet, I need to memorize them. Let us assume that you have made it now but are not sure after a few days if it is still in your mind or have forgotten some of it unless that is the only thing you do all day and every day.

I never see any benefits of doing it really as that even makes things worse and possible that you will never access your wallet anymore.

[Gladitorcomeback]

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.

The benefit is that you won't need to look for your seed phrase when you want to add your wallet in a wallet software when you know your seed phrase isn't easily accessible, and I don't see any possible setbacks for this as long as you are also saving the seed phrase somewhere safe because as said by other members, you can't trust your mind all the time. After all, humans tend to forget stuff at times.

So if my seed phrase is easy and I know I can memorize it somehow, I wouldn't mind doing that if it isn't going to take a lot of my time unnecessarily because it's not something essential since you are usually supposed to keep your seed phrase written and keep it somewhere very safe but it's just an additional thing that you can do.

[big kid]

I definitely wouldn't do that. I don't have issues with my memory, but still, you may get 1 word wrong and lose everything.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Any reasonably intelligent person should be able to memorize 12 words in order, even if it takes a lot of repetition.  Even 24-word seed phrases can be memorized, especially if you use some kind of artificial memory technique.

The problem is, you never know what factors are going to affect your memory as time goes on, and personally I think it's a very bad idea to keep a seed phrase (or even worse, multiple ones) in your head and not written down anywhere.  Yeah, you might be a brainiac and have total confidence in your cognitive skills....but you just never know what could happen to your funds if, say, you should suffer a traumatic brain injury or the like.  If you want to test it with a small amount of funds, I think that's a neat idea but in general there's way too much risk involved.

[GxSTxV]

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.

Honestly, I have been thinking about this since a long time and we already had a long discussion about this on our local board. Memorizing your recovery phrase of 12 words, that looks very easy to me in the beginning, we could memorize some music lyrics of 3 minutes and hundreds of words, why can’t we memorize just 12 words? Right, I mean it will look easy for us all, however, the truth is different when you learn about it.
First of all, the thing that will make forget the order or a word from that list is lack of repetition, since accessing to your wallet is with a password only after the first time importing or creating that wallet. Second, the words are in a random order and doesn’t have any patterns to remember neither have a meaning.

Conclusion, it is better to avoid that, risking to lose your funds forever knowing that it is easier to lose your wallet in the way of memorizing it than any other method.

[Saint-loup]

I definitely wouldn't do that. I don't have issues with my memory, but still, you may get 1 word wrong and lose everything.

No you won't lose everything if you only forget one single word actually because BIP39 wordlist "only" contains 2048 different words. So if only one word is missing it's not very difficult to try 2048 combinations. It's harder when at least 2 words are missing. Because it already represents 2048x2048 = 4 194 304 differents combinations, that's already beyond average human capacities. And you will need a script or a software to crack it.

[Raflesia]

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.

Trying to memorize your seed phrases is a good one but the truth is that it could make you keep careless with the one written down which can be lost and exposed to public seights. That's due to over confidence that you have it off hand and once you've missed a word of it, then you're gone with it. So even if you can memorize it, do well take it stored somewhere either online or offline on a safe place.

Memorizing is still possible but after all it is only as an enhancement option so that we strengthen our ownership because at least by memorizing we can realize the importance of security and even if the writing we have fades or experiences some problems, we still remember the seeds we memorized to open in the end but on the other hand once again we also cannot rule out the fact that writing is a conventional but very important situation that cannot be completely forgotten.

Because in the end with us writing and keeping it in an ama place it indirectly makes us feel more comfortable with the assets we have in our wallet and indeed memorization can be used as our back up to be even more confident because as I said above that when there are some incidents that occur that are not expected that make us lose the seeds that we write down then we still have a backup in memory because we have memorized it well which of course this becomes an even more advantage only that memorization is flexible because it can be done and it can also not.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Of course, you can remember a phrase of twelve or twenty-four words. But how many times has our memory played cruel tricks on us? Everyone has had cases when, in a conversation, you forget a word, even the simplest word, and suddenly you can’t remember it. I think everyone has experienced this. And this is just a case of failure that is not dangerous either to health or to anything important. But what if you get injured or strange things gradually happen to your health? (There is a user on the forum who described his condition very well.) And precisely at the moment when the phrase is necessary, our brain fails. Memory training will not help here; just accept that this can happen, so you should always have a written copy, which will be a good insurance policy for you.

[examplens]

Of course, you can remember a phrase of twelve or twenty-four words. But how many times has our memory played cruel tricks on us? Everyone has had cases when, in a conversation, you forget a word, even the simplest word, and suddenly you can’t remember it.

In order not to forget, you should regularly check the accuracy of the seed you have memorized. So the question is, what is the point of saving such a seed if you use it often just to make sure that it is remembered?
What if after some time you want to change your wallet and address for any reason? All the effort of memorizing the previous seed is no longer important and it is necessary to do everything from the beginning. Probably one of the best solutions when it comes to storing backup seed.

[worldofcoins]

Of course, you can remember a phrase of twelve or twenty-four words. But how many times has our memory played cruel tricks on us? Everyone has had cases when, in a conversation, you forget a word, even the simplest word, and suddenly you can’t remember it.

In order not to forget, you should regularly check the accuracy of the seed you have memorized. So the question is, what is the point of saving such a seed if you use it often just to make sure that it is remembered?
What if after some time you want to change your wallet and address for any reason? All the effort of memorizing the previous seed is no longer important and it is necessary to do everything from the beginning. Probably one of the best solutions when it comes to storing backup seed.

Yeah, I agree with you!
Memorizing 12 words and not forgetting them later is a difficult task, but it is even more tricky if you no longer need that wallet, creating more wallet and not mixing both of the those 24 phrases.
It's worth noting those words on some paper and storing them somewhere safely. If you don't need that wallet anymore, for whatever reason, you can burn that paper.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Of course, you can remember a phrase of twelve or twenty-four words. But how many times has our memory played cruel tricks on us? Everyone has had cases when, in a conversation, you forget a word, even the simplest word, and suddenly you can’t remember it.

In order not to forget, you should regularly check the accuracy of the seed you have memorized. So the question is, what is the point of saving such a seed if you use it often just to make sure that it is remembered?
What if after some time you want to change your wallet and address for any reason? All the effort of memorizing the previous seed is no longer important and it is necessary to do everything from the beginning. Probably one of the best solutions when it comes to storing backup seed.

Absolutely right, and I only answered the question of the possibility of memorization. But if you ask me personally, I won’t even try, since there are better saving options and you don’t need to reinvent the wheel when you’ve been working well for a long time. "Best is the enemy of good."

[examplens]

Absolutely right, and I only answered the question of the possibility of memorization. But if you ask me personally, I won’t even try, since there are better saving options and you don’t need to reinvent the wheel when you’ve been working well for a long time. "Best is the enemy of good."

For several years, among other things, I did the activation of some software, it was easier for me to remember the product key, but after some time of "not using" I forgot it. Maybe only my brain didn't stay at the highest level 
Certainly thinking about this way is quite ambitious, many unforeseen circumstances can happen. Except in Hollywood production of course 

[Don Pedro Dinero]

For me this would only make sense for a specific case of danger and for a specific period of time. Like you have to flee your country and maybe cross borders where you don't want them to find anything that could smell like bitcoin, like a HW or a paper with the seeds written on it. As a method of 'storing' the seeds for an indefinite period of time instead of having them hidden somewhere, there is too much danger of forgetting them, no matter how much memory you have.