A Guide to Safeguarding Your Crypto

A seed phrase, also known as a recovery phrase, is a combination of 12 or 24 words that is instrumental in keeping your cryptocurrency assets safe and sound. It is essentially a password that gives you access to your stashed crypto. However, unlike with a conventional password, which you can simply reset, losing your seed phrase means you also lose access to your assets. As such, keeping your seed phrase safe and backed up in case it gets stolen or forgotten is instrumental if you’re serious about keeping your crypto safe in the long term.

But how you choose to store and protect your seed phrase can make all the difference. Some methods offer concrete security with physical durability or offline redundancy, while others — though convenient — can expose your assets to theft or irreversible loss. This article walks through the best practices for safeguarding your seed phrase, explores the most effective backup options available today, and flags the methods you should avoid at all costs. Whether you’re new to crypto or simply revisiting your security setup, protecting your seed phrase is a non-negotiable step.

Why storing and backing up your seed phrase matters

Unlike traditional login credentials, seed phrases don’t come with recovery options. They are generated once, and if lost, forgotten, or stolen, there’s no way to reset or retrieve them. That makes storing and backing up your seed phrase one of the most important steps in managing your cryptocurrency securely.

Keeping your seed phrase safe is crucial for securing your crypto. It means anticipating threats, from natural disasters to theft to digital breaches, and choosing storage methods that minimize exposure and maximize recoverability.

Reliable methods for storing your seed phrase

Now that we’ve briefly explored why backing up your seed phrase is important, let’s go over the best methods to do so.

1. Store it offline

Keeping your seed phrase off any internet-connected device is one of the most effective ways to prevent unauthorized access. The moment your phrase touches an online platform, whether through cloud storage, screenshots, or notes apps, it becomes vulnerable to malware, phishing, or remote hacking attempts.

The safest approach is to write your phrase down by hand and store it in a secure physical location, such as a fireproof safe or a bank safety deposit box. For added resilience, you can create multiple physical copies and distribute them across different locations. This geographical redundancy protects against unforeseen events like floods, fires, or theft in one area, ensuring that at least one copy remains intact and accessible.

However, the most commonly used storage method for seed phrases is hardware wallets. They are especially handy as they can be used to sign your crypto transactions without leaking the private keys themselves to your phone or computer. Preferably, you should store your seed phrase on an air-gapped wallet to ensure your device has no internet connectivity whatsoever

2. Splitting your seed phrase

Dividing your seed phrase into multiple parts and storing them separately is a common technique used to reduce the risk of a single point of failure. For example, a 24-word phrase can be split into three segments of eight words each, with each segment placed in a different secure location.

This approach ensures that even if one part is compromised or stolen, it remains useless without the others. It’s worth noting, however, that the split should be carefully documented and logically arranged so that you or your trusted beneficiaries can reassemble the full phrase when needed. While digital splitting tools exist, physical separation, such as handwritten portions placed in safes or envelopes, reduces exposure to online threats.

3. Using a hard drive or USB stick

Storing your recovery phrase on a USB flash drive or external hard drive can offer convenience and portability, especially if you’re dealing with multiple wallets or need access across devices. However, these storage devices come with inherent vulnerabilities. They should never be connected to the internet or used for other purposes, as that increases the risk of malware infections or data leaks.

To improve safety, encrypt the stored file and keep the device in a highly secure location, preferably one that is resistant to tampering or environmental damage. Ideally, you should use a dedicated drive solely for your seed phrase and label it discreetly to avoid drawing attention. Remember, anyone who gains access to the unencrypted file can take full control of your crypto assets within seconds.

4. Metal wallets

For long-term durability, metal wallets are a popular choice. They’re resistant to fire, water, corrosion, and wear – threats that paper can’t withstand.

Popular solid steel options include:

• Billfodl – Made of marine-grade stainless steel, it stores your phrase with sliding character tiles, making it portable and extremely resilient.
• Cryptosteel Capsule – Durable and compatible with major key generation algorithms. It offers modular, secure seed phrase storage.
• Cryptotag Zeus – Crafted from bulletproof titanium, it uses a stamping method to engrave seed phrases, offering extreme resistance to fire and physical damage.

5. Using password managers

Putting your seed phrase online is generally not recommended, as it exposes you to risks from hacking, phishing, and data breaches. However, password managers like Bitwarden, 1Password, or LastPass are a notable exception when used properly. These tools encrypt your data locally and are designed to protect sensitive information behind strong master passwords and multi-factor authentication.

If you choose this route, it’s essential to enable 2FA (using apps like Authy or Google Authenticator) and avoid storing your seed phrase in plaintext. While not as secure as fully offline methods, password managers can be a viable option for users who prioritize convenience and are diligent about account security.

Practices to avoid

We’ve gone over the top practices for safeguarding your seed phrase, but it is also important to avoid the bad ones. Let’s go over what not to do:

Taking screenshots of your recovery phrase

Storing a screenshot of your seed phrase on a phone is risky. Phones can be hacked, lost, or automatically upload images to the cloud, where breaches are common. Anyone who sees the image gets full access to your wallet.

Using online seed recovery sites

Unless you’re absolutely sure of a site’s credibility (which is rare), uploading or typing your seed phrase into a website is a major red flag. Scammers often disguise malicious platforms as helpful recovery tools. Even legitimate-looking services might store data in insecure ways or fall victim to cyberattacks.

The bottom line

In the world of crypto, there’s no customer support to help you recover your assets if you lose access to your wallet. That makes your seed phrase the most important thing you own. Take the time to back it up properly, ideally using multiple offline, secure, and durable methods, and avoid shortcuts that put your funds at risk.

When it comes to protecting your digital assets, caution is more than just smart – it’s an essential part of investing in crypto.