Your seed phrase is the wallet, a short guide to keeping it safe
Twelve or twenty four words decide who owns your coins. How to store them, and the requests you should always refuse.
When you create a self custody wallet, it shows you a list of words. That list is not a password for the wallet. It is the wallet. Anyone who has those words can restore it on any device and move everything in it.
Storing it well
- Write it on paper, by hand, in order. For larger amounts, consider a metal backup that survives fire and water.
- Keep it offline. No photos, no notes app, no cloud document, no password manager you sync everywhere.
- Keep it somewhere you will still find in five years, and think about who should be able to find it if something happens to you.
Requests to always refuse
No real support team needs your seed phrase. Not a wallet maker, not an exchange, not a swap service. Scammers pose as all of them, often in Telegram direct messages right after you post a question in a public group. If anyone asks for your words, the conversation is over.
The same goes for websites that ask you to enter your phrase to validate, sync or claim something. That is always theft.
How this relates to swapping
A non custodial swap never needs your keys. You paste a receiving address, which is public and safe to share, and you send from your wallet yourself. That is the whole point. If anyone claiming to be our Telegram bot or our team asks for your phrase, it is not us. We never ask for it.
Quick answers
Will SwapPrivate ever ask for my seed phrase?
Never. No swap needs it, no support case needs it, and nobody from SwapPrivate will ever ask. Anyone who does is trying to steal your coins.
Is a photo of my seed phrase a good backup?
No. Photos sync to cloud accounts and get leaked. Paper or metal, kept offline, is the standard.
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