A seed phrase (recovery phrase) is a list of 12 or 24 words that can restore a crypto wallet on any device. Whoever has the phrase has the money. There is no bank, no support team and no "reset password".
Where never to store a seed phrase
- A photo on your phone. Photos sync to the cloud, and clouds get hacked.
- Notes, documents, email, messengers. Anything connected to the internet is a risk.
- A password manager with no backup. If access to it is lost along with you, the phrase is gone.
- A single paper copy. Paper burns, gets wet and ends up in the bin by accident.
How to store it safely
- A metal plate. The words are stamped or set in steel, which survives fire and water.
- Two copies in different places. For example, at home and in a bank deposit box or with someone you trust.
- Don't photograph or print it — printers and scanners keep copies too.
- Test the recovery. Restore the wallet once from the written phrase on another device to make sure the words are correct.
Extra protection: passphrase and splitting
Many wallets let you add a password to the phrase (the so-called "25th word"). Then the phrase alone opens nothing. But remember: if your family knows the phrase but not the password, the money is lost.
For large amounts there are splitting schemes: multisig (several keys, of which, say, 2 of 3 are required) or split backups where the phrase can only be restored from several parts. This is more robust, but harder for someone without experience.
How to pass it on to your family
Crypto is most often lost not to hackers, but because the family didn't know it existed, where the phrase was, or what to do with it.
- You don't have to pass on the phrase itself. Instructions are enough: where the plate is, which exchanges and wallets hold the assets.
- Write for someone who knows nothing about crypto. Which wallet to install, where to enter the words, how to convert to money and whom not to trust.
- Warn about scammers. No "support agent" ever has the right to ask for the phrase.
- Plan the moment of handover. The instructions should reach your loved ones when you are gone — not before.
How mementomori.digital helps
We handle the fourth point. You write the instructions in our service, they are encrypted in your browser, and nobody — not even us — can read them. We deliver them to the person you choose only after a long loss of contact and a manual check.
Our advice: store in the service not the seed phrase itself, but instructions on where it is. That way even a theoretical breach gives no access to your funds.