As more new people adopt cryptocurrencies, lots of newbies are creating mnemonic recovery phrases in order to make sure their digital assets are kept secure. It is very important to understand how your private keys are stored just in case there is an issue with your wallet client or device that holds your funds. Not all mnemonic phrases are the same, and restoration can be difficult for certain types of derivation paths. Today we are going to discuss what a mnemonic seed is and how they work.
Also read: Bitcoin Ownership: Your Private Keys to Financial Sovereignty
Understanding the Cryptocurrency Seed Phrase and the Use of Memoria Technica
A mnemonic seed is used for a lot of wallets, and users traditionally write down either a 12, 18 or 24-word phrase that is tied to their private keys. The use of mnemonics, or ‘memoria technica,’ is derived from the era of the ancient Greeks when Aristotle and Plato philosophized about certain types of logic.
This is a depiction of the Knuckle mnemonic which represents the number of days in each month of the Gregorian Calendar.
Basically, a mnemonic is a way to reproduce something hard to remember, like a series of data, and by associating the data with things like random words, so humans can remember the original data by using the mnemonic as a deciphering tool. With private keys tied to cryptocurrencies, the list of words you write down as a backup is basically enough information to recover your funds to another wallet if something unfortunate were to happen. A trustworthy wallet’s software will tie the private key to a mnemonic recovery phrase in a secure and randomized fashion.
Example twelve word seed phrase.
