When it comes to securing your cryptocurrency wallet, you might have questions about the security provided by a 12-word recovery seed and whether a 24-word seed would offer better protection.
In this article, we will address these concerns and help you understand the security of a 12-word recovery seed, the practical implications of using a 24-word seed on the Trezor Model T or Trezor Safe 3, and the benefits of using Shamir Backup for users seeking advanced security measures.
Security of 12-Word Recovery Seeds
A 12-word recovery seed provides 128 bits of entropy, which is more than sufficient for the security of your private keys. Bitcoin uses elliptic curve cryptography and 256-bit private keys, but the security of the elliptic curve is around half of the used bits, resulting in 128 bits for the secp256k1 curve used.
In practice, it is highly unlikely that an attacker could guess or brute-force a 12-word recovery seed with 128 bits of entropy in a feasible amount of time. Thus, a 12-word seed offers a high level of security that is sufficient for most users, striking a balance between security and ease of use.
Trezor Model One and the 24-Word Seed
The Trezor Model One uses a 24-word seed to enhance security during the basic recovery process on the host computer. When you enter 12 words on your computer in random order, the entropy in random order may not be sufficient to ensure a high level of security. In this case, using a 24-word seed is essential.
However, if you choose not to recover your wallet on the host computer and instead enter all the words directly on the device, a 12-word seed is sufficient for securing your wallet. As both Trezor Model T and Trezor Safe 3 offer this functionality, they are both protected by a 12-word recovery seed as standard.
No Real Use Case for 24-Word Seed on Trezor Model T and Trezor Safe 3
While a 24-word recovery seed does provide more entropy (256 bits), the practical increase in security is not as significant as it may appear. As mentioned earlier, the security of your wallet is primarily determined by the cryptography used, and you can never increase the number of steps it takes an attacker to calculate the private key from your public key.
Users should not feel the need to create a 24-word seed on the Trezor Model T or Trezor Safe 3, as a 12-word seed is more than secure enough.
Shamir Backup: A Secure Alternative for Seed Splitting
If users require more than 12 words for a custom seed splitting scheme, they should consider Shamir Backup instead. Shamir's Secret Sharing is an algorithm that divides a secret (your recovery seed) into multiple parts and reconstructs the original secret by combining a certain number of those parts.
Both the Trezor Model T and Trezor Safe 3 support Shamir Backup, allowing users to create and store separate shares of their seed. This increases the security of the seed and allows for wallet recovery even if one part is lost or compromised. Users seeking additional security or seed splitting should explore Shamir Backup as a more effective solution than custom seed splitting schemes or using a 24-word seed.
We also recommend watching the following video, where we explain Shamir Backup and how to use it:
FAQs
The Trezor Model One uses a 24-word seed to enhance security during the basic recovery process on the host computer. When you enter 12 words on your computer in random order, the entropy in random order may not be sufficient to ensure a high level of security. In this case, using a 24-word seed is essential.
Is 12-word seed safe enough? ›
Adequate Protection: With 2^128 possible combinations, the 12-word seed is a fortress against brute-force attacks. For most users, this level of security is more than sufficient to safeguard their digital assets.
How many words is the Trezor seed phrase? ›
By default, the Trezor Model One creates a wallet with a 24-word seed phrase, whereas the Trezor Model T generates a wallet using a 12-word seed. This is referred to as your 'Standard wallet' in Trezor Suite.
How safe is 24-word seed? ›
24 words provide 256 bits of entropy. It means 24 words are safer in security than 12 words, 256 bits of entropy compares to 128 bits of entropy. 24 words are more secure than 12 words. Because Bitcoin private key provides 128 bits of entropy, 12 words for your seed phrase is enough.
How hard is it to crack a 24 word seed phrase? ›
A 24-word seed, however, has roughly 6.24^24 possible combinations — and that's a lot of zeros. Even the probability of an attacker cracking a 12-word seed phrase is borderline absurd.
What are the odds of guessing a 12-word seed phrase? ›
Take the example of a crypto seed phrase, consisting of only 12 words. People tend to think that it is easy to guess a seed phrase. However, remember that the possible word list contains 2,048 distinct words. Guessing a 12-word seed phrase in the proper sequence has a probability of 2048 to the power of 12.
Can a 12-word seed phrase be hacked? ›
However, seed phrases are considered very secure by modern standards. With a 12- or 24-word seed phrase out of 2048 possible words, determining the right words in the right sequence is almost impossible.
Which wallet uses 24 word seed? ›
Read more about seed phrases and private keys. Wallets use from 12 to 24 word long recovery phrases. It depends on the wallet manufacturer. For example Trezor T uses 12 words seed phrase while Ledger Nano S uses 24 words seed.
How do you recover a 12-word seed phrase? ›
A seed phrase, also known as a Secret Recovery Phrase (SRP) or mnemonic, is simply a collection of words that allows you to restore your entire crypto wallet. It's those 12-24 English words that your wallet presented you with while setting it up.
What if I forgot my Trezor seed? ›
If you lost your recovery seed, but still have access to your wallet, you should move your funds elsewhere immediately. You can then wipe the Trezor device and create a new wallet with a new recovery seed.
Your Trezor derives your private key from your recovery seed, which can then be used to spend your Bitcoin. We will never ask for your recovery seed!
How long is the Trezor recovery seed? ›
Your recovery seed will be 12 to 24 words long, and unique to you. Your Trezor device will generate these English words for you.
Can I change my 24 word seed phrase? ›
There is no way to modify or change these words. These words are effectively the master key to your crypto, and must be written down in the order they were generated.
How does 24 word seed phrase work? ›
The 24-, 18-, or 12-word seed phrase that makes up a sequence is created every time a user opens a new wallet. Seed phrases are connected to a user's entire crypto wallet, which contains all their private keys. Each private key, however, is linked to a single address.
How many 24 word seed phrases are there? ›
There are 2256 different possible 24-word mnemonic seed phrases. For comparison, the number of atoms on Earth is estimated to be around 2166. The chance of someone else being able to guess your seed is astronomically small, to say the least.
Is Ledger Seed phrase 12 or 24? ›
Ledger Secret Recovery Phrases (Seed Phrases) Explained
Plus, all ledger devices use a 24 word recovery phrase, which translates into 256 bits of entropy—sufficiently long that guessing the combination is impossible.
What is a 24 word seed phrase? ›
Your 24-word recovery phrase (sometimes also called a mnemonic phrase, Secret Recover Phrase or seed phrase) is the master key to all your crypto accounts. Anyone gaining access to your recovery phrase can very easily clone your accounts on their own device (or software wallet) and spend your funds.
What is the most common seed phrase? ›
BIP39 and its flaws
BIP39 is the most common standard used for seed phrases.
