Meet Vault12 at the Mansion House Summit in London, September 13, 2024.

Crypto Security How-to's

Be careful what you back up to your "brain wallet."

You probably wouldn't want to rely on your memory to back up your life savings, but this article offers tips for how you can remember things like seed phrases more effectively.


Backing up to your "brain wallet" is just a fun way to say you are memorizing your seed phrase and storing it in your mind. An obvious advantage to storing your seed phrase in your brain is immunity from both online and offline attacks. And it's free. But if you have trouble remembering passwords, people's names, or grocery lists, this method is probably not for you.

Human memory can only retain a limited number of unique pieces of information - the average is generally agreed to be about seven things. Since seed phrases have a minimum of 12 words, is storing them in your memory a good idea? Probably not, unless you find yourself in a situation like fleeing across a border to escape war, oppression, or wealth confiscation.

Whether you're in dire straits or you just want the "cool factor" of storing your bags of Bitcoin between your ears, here are some tips to help you do that.


TL;DR (concentrated takeaways)

Our human brains are limited, and we naturally forget things.

Because seed phrases must be random to be secure, do not try to choose a "rememberable" seed phrase!

If you really must remember your seed phrase rather than backing it up, determined practice using memory-training discipline tricks can improve your memory skills. You will need to refer to some form of your seed phrase while you are going through the memorization process (which could take days or weeks).

Some of the tricks (beyond repetition) include physical "anchors," story-creation, and adding mental layers of sense and emotion.

At some point, when you feel you have remembered it as well as you are comfortable with, you would have to securely dispose of the written copy of the seed phrase. Then practice regularly to retain it!

Create a secure Seed Phrase.

Before you choose a seed phrase, check out our article on generating truly random seed phrases here. The human mind is not equipped to create true randomness. Don't use song lyrics or poetry - bots and hackers are constantly trolling the blockchain looking for those, and stealing all the Bitcoin when they find them. Once you have a strong, random seed phrase, temporarily write it down. If you must rely on a brain wallet, you can use one (or all) of the following techniques to commit it to memory.

Memory tricks.

The power of association strengthens memory, and there are clever mental devices that use it effectively. The most popular ones convert words into pictures. Since seed phrase words need to be in the correct order, you can add the dimension of space.

Imagine a room that you know well. Imagine walking into the room and looking left. Notice the first object you see. If it's a framed picture on the wall, associate your first seed phrase word with that framed picture. Let's say your first word is "accident"- you can imagine the glass broken and the picture crooked. Then, scan the room in a clockwise direction. For each new object that you see, attach the next word to it until you have completed the 12 word associations. Now, go back and scan the room, left to right, and see the images of known items combined with the images of your seed phrase attached.

Since it's easier to remember smaller chunks of information, you can use several rooms in a house, with three or six items in each room. Just make sure the rooms flow in order. You can also use the route that you drive to work or school. Attach each successive word in your seed phrase to the next landmark along your well-known route.

Add layers of sense and emotion.

Try to use all of your senses in your imaginary pictures. Adding smells, textures, and sounds to your mental images will increase your memory retention. If you can, add emotions. If you ask a random person on the street where they were on May 24, 2006, they probably have no idea. But if you ask anyone where they were on September 11, 2001, they will usually be able to tell you instantly exactly where they were. The only difference between the two dates is strong emotion. Choose items in your imaginary room that have emotions attached, and link those emotions to your seed phrase word pictures.

Create a story.

While spatial location helps you remember the order of things, you can also increase your memory retention by creating a story that links each word to the next. If your seed phrase starts with "accident, giraffe, dance, list…" Walk into your room in your mind, look left, and see the broken framed picture. You know there's been an accident in this room. Next, you see the chair and a giraffe is sitting in it. The giraffe immediately gets up and starts to dance. Then the giraffe shows you a list of… you get the idea. Your story crates a chain of images that triggers the memory of your phrase.

Repetition.

Remember those human memory experiments I mentioned earlier? Well, they also proved that many spaced, short repetitions are far better for memorization than one long session of trying to commit something to memory. So, practice your room pictures or story with images and emotion several times a day for 2-5 minutes each time. Run the images in order when you first wake up, before eating, and before bed every day. You could also set reminders on your phone to stop and remember your seed phrase several times a day. Just don't let anyone know what you're doing.

Physical anchors.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and other memory-training disciplines use the concept of a physical "anchor." You can do something physically unique and specific while you are studying (or replaying the memory of) your seed phrase; like holding your thumb and first two fingers together. Release your fingers when you finish practicing. Then, when you want to recreate the memory, simply put your three fingers together in the same way and it will trigger your memory. It's best to use some inconspicuous action that won't get noticed. If you lean your head back and put your thumb on your nose, people are going to think you're pretty weird. And, you don't want people to even know you have a seed phrase, let alone that you're trying to remember it.

Destroy the paper.

Having your seed phrase on paper where people can find it makes all the hard work of having it in your brain pointless. Be sure to completely destroy that paper back up. For instance, you could take the paper outside and burn it in a metal or ceramic bowl, then flush the ashes down the toilet.

WARNING!!!

Backing up your seed phrase to your brain wallet is dangerous. If you become injured in a way that affects your memory, your cryptocurrency will be gone forever. If you die, your heirs will never be able to access it. If you can't remember just one word, or if you mess up the order of words, your funds will be gone forever.

If you are not in dire circumstances where memory is your only hope, you will be better off getting a proper cold storage wallet, or relying on some other method to back up your seed phrase.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/vault12
https://twitter.com/_vault12_
Crypto Security How-to's

Be careful what you back up to your "brain wallet."

You probably wouldn't want to rely on your memory to back up your life savings, but this article offers tips for how you can remember things like seed phrases more effectively.

Discover More
avatar-icon

Vault12

Vault12 is the pioneer in crypto inheritance and backup. The company was founded in 2015 to provide a way to enable everyday crypto customers to add a legacy contact to their cry[to wallets. The Vault12 Guard solution is blockchain-independent, runs on any mobile device with biometric security, and is available in Apple and Google app stores.

star-background

Backup and Inheritance for Bitcoin

vault12-guard
Get the Vault12 app onto your phone
QR code Vault12 Crypto/NFT InheritanceDownload Vault12 on App StoreDownload Vault12 on Google Play
Vault12 app mockup
Scroll down
Close

Vault12 Product Demo

Get The Vault12 App Onto Your Phone

Download Vault12 on App StoreDownload Vault12 on Google Play
You will lose your Bitcoin and other crypto when you die...

You will lose your Bitcoin and other crypto when you die...

...unless you set up Crypto Inheritance Management today.

It's simple—if you don't worry about it, nobody else will—not your software or hardware wallet vendors, not your exchanges, not your wealth managers. So you have to think about how to protect the generational wealth you have created and reduce the risks around passing that wealth on to your family and heirs. What are the challenges with crypto inheritance?

  • Crypto Wallets are difficult to use and do not offer crypto inheritance management. In fact, most of them tell you to write down your seed phrase on a piece of paper which is practically useless.
  • Some people back up their wallet seed phrases or private keys on paper, local devices like hardware wallets or USBs, or in the cloud - all of these options have severe drawbacks from hacking, to accidental loss, to loss of cloud services. No one wants that to happen to their crypto generational wealth.
  • Software wallets operate on specific blockchains, yet your crypto assets span multiple blockchains, for inheritance to work, you must be able to manage inheritance across every blockchain - now and forever.
Vault12 is the pioneer in crypto inheritance management, watch our explainer video or Inheritance demo today.
Screenshot of Vault12 Guard apps - Add an Asset screen

Crypto Inheritance Management: Get ready today

Vault12 is the pioneer in Crypto Inheritance Management that delivers an easy-to-use and secure method for assigning a legacy contact to your crypto wallets. This enables you to pass on your wallet seed phrases and private keys — including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) — to future generations. Designed for everyday people, and strong enough for Crypto OGs.

This innovative, decentralized system uses a hybrid approach of software fused with the secure element of phone devices (The Secure Enclave for iOS devices, and Strongbox for Google devices). Vault12 Guard enables users to appoint a person or mobile device as a Guardian. The designated Guardian is entrusted to protect the user's comprehensive collection of wallet seed phrases and private keys, safely stored within a decentralized digital Vault. No information is stored on cloud servers, or Vault12 servers and nothing is stored on local devices making it less of a target.

The Decentralized approach reduces points of failure and removes the necessity for regularly revising wallet inventories or modifying instructions for your lawyers, often leading to privacy breaches. It is the best way to preserve crypto generational wealth.

Screenshot of Vault12 Guard app - Adding data into the Vault

Take the first step and back up your crypto wallets.

Designed to be used alongside traditional hardware and software crypto wallets, Vault12 Guard helps cryptocurrency owners back up their wallet seed phrases and private keys (assets) without storing anything in the cloud or any single location. This increases protection and decreases the risks of loss. Making sure you have an up to date back up is the first step in crypto inheritance management.

The Vault12 Guard app enables secure decentralized backups and provides inheritance for all your seed phrases and private keys across any blockchain, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, ERC-20, and other crypto wallets.

Note: For anyone unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies, Vault12 refers to wallet seed phrases and private keys as assets, crypto assets, and digital assets. The Vault12 Guard app includes a software wallet that works alongside your digital Vault. The primary purpose of this is to guard your Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) wallet seed phrases, private keys, and other essential data, now and for future generations.

Add a legacy contact for your crypto.