How possible is this on mobile too? Please just for courtesy sake can we normalise chipping in mobile Electrum when we generally discuss hacks and tricks on the software generally. It doesn't really matter if the mobile version can do it or not you could just leave a little clue on if it's possible it helpful trust me.
QML Electrum doesn't have a console but if you know how to compile an APK file;
Just edit this 1 line in mnemonic.py from
num_bits = 132 to
num_bits = 264This one:
/electrum/mnemonic.py#L206Then build your Electrum android APK (
guide), that'll generate 24 words by default.
Alright back to topic, is there really much of a difference if you're using 12 words or 24 words? Both seem near equally safe to me so long the entropy is good enough.
In face value, yes that's
2048^12 vs
20248^24 or the entropy used in Electrum
2^132 vs
2^264But 128 or 132 bits are not unsafe to use in today's standard.
Also the derived extended private key's security is basically 128-bit if the extended public key is already in the hands of the attacker.
And since it's meant to be used "
publicly", a hacker can easily get their hands to it. (
e.g. from your watch-only wallet)
There's also your address, most address are encoded 160-bit hash, so if an attacker wants to brute force its private key, he'll need 160-bit operations to do so.
That's still lower than a 24-word mnemonic's security.
So having a 256-bit strong mnemonic will only reduce your attack vector in case something that can break 128-bit surfaced, specifically from entropy to mnemonic.
But like I've said, 128 or 132 or 160 bits are not by any means unsafe.
