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Everything yous need to know almost your 12-discussion undercover recovery phrase

You oftentimes hear people in the cryptocurrency ecosystem apply terms like "seed phrase", "12-give-and-take seed", "12 word phrase", "12 words fill-in", "24 words backup", "mnemonic phrase", "recovery seed" etc. If you have ever wanted to learn more about these magical words, Exodus has you covered!

This article covers the near bones aspects of these magical words which ultimately control the keys of your crypto kingdom.

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In this article:

• What is a secret recovery phrase?
• How to store your Exodus 12-word cloak-and-dagger recovery phrase
• How is a cloak-and-dagger recovery phrase generated?
• What is an 18- or 24-word recovery phrase?
• Where does Exodus store the 12-word secret recovery phrase?
• Using the 12-word hole-and-corner recovery phrase
• Security of your wallet
• How exercise I view my Hole-and-corner Recovery phrase
  • Desktop
  • Mobile

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What is a hole-and-corner recovery phrase?

The 12-word hole-and-corner recovery phrase is the chief key generated by your wallet. If you accept already read our article about individual keys, you lot've learned that each wallet'south receive accost has its own private key which is used to make transactions and prove buying of the funds in the accost. All your private keys in Exodus are generated from and tied to the 12-word phrase.

These words assistance you recover your funds in case your calculator crashes or anything else happens which prevents you from accessing your wallet on the computer it is installed on.

Anybody else who discovers your secret phrase tin steal the funds, so it must exist kept safe similar your other valuables. Information technology must non be stored in any electronic or digital course - more on this below.

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How to store your Exodus 12-word hush-hush recovery phrase

You might take heard this already - annihilation that is online is hackable! The aforementioned holds truthful for your 12-word underground recovery phrase if you determine to store it on a computer or any device that is connected to the internet.

Write downwardly the secret phrase on a slice of paper or print them out using a secure network printer. It is e'er advised to have multiple copies of your secret phrase and store information technology in multiple locations to prevent loss from calamities like floods, earthquakes, fires, etc. For more than tips on your 12-word clandestine recovery phrase safety, cheque out our article The Practice'south and Don'ts of 12 Discussion Phrases and Individual Keys.

Ensure that y'all write down the clandestine phrase in the correct order without any spelling mistakes! Exodus tags each discussion of your cloak-and-dagger phrase with the order in which it needs to be written down, and so brand certain you follow the order. Entering the secret phrase incorrectly (wrong order or spelling) will result in you lot not being able to access your wallet.

Following are some of the well-nigh common places where your secret phrase must notbe stored: the notepad of your computer, as images on your laptop/mobile/tablet etc., file-sharing services like Dropbox, MegaBox, OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud etc., east-mail drafts, word/excel/ppt files, countersign-protected files, USB drives, etc.

The threats are digital and online, so the best way to protect them is by keeping them in analog and offline storage: good, erstwhile-fashioned paper.

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How is a cloak-and-dagger recovery phrase generated?

A uncomplicated explanation of how secret phrases piece of work is that the wallet has a listing of words taken from a dictionary, with each discussion assigned to a number. The secret phrase can be converted to a number which is used as the seed integer to a deterministic wallet that generates all the key pairs used in the wallet.

Exodus uses the English language-linguistic communication wordlist of the BIP39 standard which has 2048 words. If the phrase independent only 12 random words, the number of possible combinations would be 2048^12 = 2^132, meaning ii to the power of 132, and the phrase would have 132 bits of security.

However, some of the information in a BIP39 phrase is not random, so the actual security of a 12-word BIP39 seed phrase is only 128 bits. This is approximately the same forcefulness every bit all Bitcoin private keys, and so most experts consider it to be sufficiently secure. If you want to know how many, you tin can have a expect here: http://bugcharmer.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-big-is-2128.html

When your 12-discussion phrase is converted into a seed integer, or number, for your wallet, the seed integer is used with a standard derivation algorithm, or formula, to derive, or generate, your principal private key.

From this master private fundamental, a very big number (almost infinite for all practical purposes) of individual and public keys tin can be derived with the standard derivation formula. Given that the same master private key is used with the derivation formula, the aforementioned private and public keys will always be generated.

As well, different blockchain assets have different starting points in the derivation formula, which prevents differing avails from generating overlapping keys.

It is important to empathize that the seed doesn't represent the private key, just it is used to derive your private and public keys to a serial of processes described in the following Bitcoin Comeback Proposals (BIPs):

• BIP32
• BIP39
• BIP44

This is a rather lengthy and technical flake of reading, but below is a basic summary.

BIP32 describes how to use a master private fundamental to generate (derive) a agglomeration of child private keys. These kid keys are guaranteed to be 256 bit because of the process that is used to derive them.

BIP39 describes how a seed is generated. Although the 12-discussion seed is 128 bit, the derivation process described in BIP32 will ensure that the child keys are 256 chip, but the randomness (entropy) of those keys will exist equal to 128 bit.

BIP44 describes a derivation path. In basic terms, it sets the properties that are used to derive private keys as described in BIP32. These properties, for example, can indicate what type of coin this is (BTC, BCH etc.).

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What is an 18- or 24-word hugger-mugger recovery phrase?

Exodus will only generate a 12-word secret recovery phrase to back upward your wallet. However, other wallets might generate 18-give-and-take or 24-word clandestine recovery phrases. For example, the Trezor Model T automatically generates a 12-word phrase, while the Trezor I creates a 24-word phrase.

Although 12-, xviii-, or 24-discussion hush-hush recovery phrases all provide first-class security, some platforms cull a 24-give-and-take phrase because information technology provides 256-scrap security rather than the 128-bit offered by the 12-discussion phrase. If you desire to dive into the math, you could start with this video about 256-fleck security or this article about cryptographic algorithms.

Too, go on in mind that different wallets use different derivation paths. Exodus and Trezor both use the BIP39 standard. However, other wallets like Electrum use an older incompatible standard. This means that a 12-word phrase from an Electrum wallet can't be used with Exodus or Trezor.

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Where does Exodus store the 12-word secret recovery phrase?

Your 12-discussion phrase is stored in an encrypted style on the computer you install Exodus on. We practise non shop your secret phrase on our servers, nor do nosotros have whatever admission to it. This is done in the true spirit of cryptocurrency that gives full command of the funds to the owner of the Individual Keys. As Andreas Antonopoulos' famous quote goes: "Your keys, your bitcoin. Not your keys, non your bitcoin".

Also, by doing this, we protect you lot in the effect of a hack on our servers. The hacker wouldn't notice whatsoever information that gives admission to your wallet and funds.

All the same, this means that y'all are solely responsible to ensure the safety and security of these words; if y'all ever forget your password and lose the hugger-mugger phrase, your funds are irretrievable! We cannot help you past recreating your recovery phrase or resetting your password every bit we do non store anything on our end.

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Using the 12-discussion secret recovery phrase

The boilerplate user would never need to use their 12-word phrase, unless their computer gives upwardly and hence the wallet requires restoration on another estimator. These days, however, there are hundreds forks/airdrops of every token out there—more often than not these forked/airdropped tokens are worthless simply do crave the user to enter their secret phrase or individual keys on some other wallet to merits them. Doing this is a security chance equally your 12-word phrase may exist compromised every bit soon as y'all expose them anywhere online—you never know who is lurking around, even an insecure internet router/WiFi password tin cause loss of all your digital funds stored inside Exodus.

If y'all have to absolutely access the forked/airdropped tokens it is recommended to create an additional wallet where your funds tin exist stored until the fork/airdrop date. This style you lot can motion your funds back to the original wallet while being able to use the new (temporary) wallet'south 12-discussion cloak-and-dagger recovery phrase or private keys to admission the airdropped/forked tokens.

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Security of your wallet

The online world can be a dangerous place and only keeping your secret phrase condom is not e'er enough. Malware-infected computers can render your wallet vulnerable and susceptible to theft! Our article How do I go on my money rubber? dives deep into keeping your computer safe and offers tips for prophylactic online browsing.

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How do I view my secret recovery phrase?

On Desktop:

i

Open Exodus and enter your password.

2

Click the Settings icon in the top right-mitt corner of your Exodus wallet.

three

Click on the Fill-in tab at the top of your wallet then click on View Secret Phrase .

iv

A alarm volition brandish and you will demand to ostend you want to run across your 12-word Secret Phrase . Confirm that you understand the risks and have checked your surround so when you are fix, click the checkbox and the Show Secret Phrase button.

Do not reveal the 12 words if yous are in a public location, on public WiFi, or if there is a chance anyone can see your screen.

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On Mobile:

1

Open your Exodus wallet on your mobile device, so tap the dashboard icon in the bottom right, then tap Security .

two

Tap Fill-in.

3

Make sure nothing and no one is around to see your underground phrase. Tap View Hugger-mugger Phrase if y'all are ready and able to write your undercover 12-words down on a piece of newspaper and store them in a secure and individual location.

Please note: Nosotros recommend writing downward your secret phrase on more 1 piece of newspaper and go along the copies in separate secure locations to prevent a single bespeak loss from events like fires, loss, etc.

• These 12 words are your secret master seed that generates all your wallet'southward addresses and private keys. It is incredibly important for you lot to go along your underground phrase rubber. If you would like to know more about your secret phrase click here.
• Do not store your 12-discussion hugger-mugger phrase in whatsoever digital format, hackers can access digital files and information, but they can't access an old-fashioned piece of paper. If you would similar to know more nearly how to proceed your crypto safety click here.

iv

Leave your finger on the Press and Concord to Reveal button to see your 12-discussion phrase.

Practice not store your 12-word secret phrase in any digital format, Do not take a screenshot of your 12-word phrase. Hackers can access digital files and information, simply they tin't admission an old-fashioned piece of newspaper. If y'all would like to know more nigh how to keep your crypto safe click here.

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Source: https://support.exodus.com/article/925-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-secret-recovery-phrase

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