When you create a Bitcoin wallet, you are usually given a set of words that look something like this:
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These words go by various names: seed words, seed phrase, recovery words, recovery phrase, recovery seed, mnemonic words, mnemonic phrase, backup words, backup phrase, secret words, secret phrase… In the end, they all refer to the same thing.
Typically, you will be given 12, 18 or 24 words, though this is not universal. You will be instructed to note them down, in the correct order, and store them somewhere safe where nobody but you can find them. They are of crucial importance: should you be unable to access your wallet (for instance, your hard drive fails or you lose your password), you can always recreate it with these words. Yet, at the same time, they pose a huge security risk: anyone who gets ahold of them can steal your Bitcoins.
How seed words get lost
Many people have come up with various schemes to protect their seed words. Among them:
- They do not note all of their words.
- They note all of their words, but not in the correct order.
- They split their words across different locations.
- They purposely note their words through illegible handwriting.
- They scramble, encode or encrypt their words.
These people often thought that they were protecting their seed words against attackers. Unfortunately, they might not have expected that they would hold onto their seed words for years, if not more than a decade, before they would attempt to read them again; and what made sense back then is now gibberish. In such cases, can anything be done?
Can seed words be recovered?
The short answer is, it depends. If seed words could be recovered under any circumstances, then Bitcoin wouldn’t be very secure. Basically, your chances of success boil down to:
- How many seed words are missing or unclear.
- Whether your seed words are noted in the correct order.
If all of your seed words are legible, but they are in the wrong order, they usually can be recovered.
If your seed words are in the correct order, only 1 to 4 words should be missing or unclear. The fewer, the better. It’s also better for a word to be unclear than outright missing.
If your seed words are in the wrong order and some of them are missing or unclear, then the odds might very well be against you. You should still give it a try, but don’t be surprised if your seed words cannot be recovered with today’s technology.
How you can recover your seed words
Your first goal should be to reduce the uncertainty around your seed words as much as possible. Say you have noted them through some sort of encoding scheme: have you left any clues that would allow you to decode them? Or say that two of your seed words are missing: could you have noted them somewhere else?
If some of your seed words are unclear, you should figure out which wallet software you have used to generate them. This
is because seed words are usually picked from a wordlist, and a quick Google search will let you know which one your
wallet software uses. For instance, Multibit HD relies on the BIP39 wordlist.
So, if you have used Multibit HD to generate your seed words and are unsure whether one of them is bond or pond,
you would know it cannot be the former because bond is not in the wordlist – only pond is.
Once you have collected as much information as you could, you should move to the next step.
When your seed words are in order, but only one or two are missing or unclear
Let’s consider the case where all of your seed words are in order, but only one or two are missing or unclear.
The easiest approach is to try various seed word combinations by hand. You should enter them in the same wallet software you have used to generate them. You could use a different wallet software, but this might lead to compatibility issues and you may never gain access to your Bitcoins, even with the correct seed words. For that reason, you should use the same software. If you enter the correct seed words, your wallet software should give you access to your Bitcoins. Otherwise, it may throw an error or show you an empty wallet.
If you don’t know which wallet software you have used to generate your seed words, you can use Ian Coleman’s BIP39 Tool. It allows you to input your seed words and generate Bitcoin addresses for various wallet software. Then, you can check the addresses generated through a blockchain explorer to see if they contain any Bitcoins. The exact way to use the BIP39 tool is outside the scope of this article and requires some technical knowledge. Many tutorials are available on the Internet.
When your seed words are in the wrong order, or three or four words are missing or unclear
Now, let’s consider the case where your seed words are in the wrong order, or three or four words are missing or unclear.
You should not try various seed word combinations by hand as they are too many possibilities. Instead, you need to use a tool to automate this task. This requires you to know:
- Which wallet software you have used to generate your seed words.
- At least one of the addresses that make up your wallet. Addresses are series of alphanumeric characters that you share
with people so they can send you Bitcoins. They usually start with
1,3,bc1qorbc1p.
While it’s possible to make do without the information above, it’s much harder and it may actually prevent you from recovering your seed words.
To automate the task of trying various seed word combinations, I recommend that you download BTCRecover. This tool does require some technical knowledge which is outside the scope of this article. That being said, BTCRecover’s official website has extensive documentation and you should be able to use it if you are comfortable with computers.
My service: I help you recover your seed words
If the steps described in this tutorial are too complex or you are scared of making a mistake, you’re in luck: I offer a service where I help people recover their seed words. I don’t charge any flat, hourly or upfront fee. I only charge a 15% fee on the recovered Bitcoins, and that’s if I succeed. If you want to get in touch with me to talk about your current situation, click on the button below.