Seed Phrase
Derived from randomness, seed phrases are lists of words representing numbers used to create cryptoasset wallets.
Seed phrases have two important purposes:
- Serving as a master key for a wallet when it is created
- Recovering funds if something happens to the device used to create a wallet
Seed phrases are typically made up of of 12 to 24 words. Why so many?
Longer is better for security. As the number of word combinations grows it becomes exponentially harder to hack a wallet using brute force tactics.
For example even a 12 word seed phrase cannot be hacked using brute force with all of the computing power available in the world today. Making 24 word seed phrases seem like overkill.
They’re used by some based on the premise computing power is expanding exponentially. So at some point in the future 12 word phrases will be made obsolete.