The twenty-four words
You will understand what the recovery phrase actually is, what a passphrase adds, and how to store it so that a fire or a burglary does not end your wallet.
What they are
Not a password. A number, written so a human can copy it.
The twenty-four words encode 256 bits of randomness plus a checksum, using the BIP-39 wordlist every serious wallet shares. From that number the wallet derives your VigiChain key by SLIP-0010 on the path m/44’/9721’/0’, and the same phrase also derives your Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana accounts. One card, several chains.
Illustration to come
Real photograph of a printed list of words — plain typography, like a dictionary or index page. It should look mundane, because the point is that the words themselves are ordinary.
The checksum
A mistyped word fails instead of opening an empty wallet.
The last word carries a checksum over the rest, so a phrase with one wrong word is rejected rather than silently deriving a different, empty account. This is why the restore screen refuses a phrase that looks almost right, and it is a feature: a wallet that accepted anything would let you spend an evening staring at a balance of zero, wondering.
Illustration to come
Real screen capture of VigiWallet’s restore screen showing the refusal state after a deliberately mistyped word. Use a made-up phrase, never a funded one.
The passphrase
An optional twenty-fifth word, and a serious trade.
BIP-39 allows an extra passphrase that is mixed into the seed. A different passphrase over the same twenty-four words is a completely different wallet — which makes it powerful, and makes forgetting it identical to losing the phrase. Use it only if you have somewhere durable to record it, and never store it beside the words themselves.
Illustration to come
Real photograph suggesting two distinct storage locations — a drawer and a safe, or two rooms — without any text visible. The idea is separation of two secrets.
Storing it
Paper survives what screens do not.
Write the words by hand. Do not photograph them, do not type them into a notes app, do not email them to yourself: a phrase that touches a cloud is a phrase held by a company. Keep the card somewhere fire and water will not reach, and consider a metal backup if the amount ever justifies it. Two copies in two places beats one perfect copy.
Illustration to come
Real photograph of a metal seed-backup plate with letters stamped in, tools beside it. Use invented words. It should look sturdy and unglamorous.
In short
- The phrase encodes 256 bits plus a checksum, in the standard BIP-39 wordlist.
- VigiChain keys come from it by SLIP-0010 on m/44’/9721’/<account>’ — the same phrase covers other chains too.
- A passphrase creates a different wallet; forgetting it is the same as losing everything.
- Handwrite it, keep it off every screen and cloud, and hold two copies in two places.