Can I just delete my wallet and use my 12-word recovery key as my “storage”? Is this safe?

[Bryansta]

Obviously if you’re making transactions you need a wallet, but if you’re just hodling, do people just write it down on a piece of paper and put that somewhere safe and call it a day? Would a bitcoin millionaire trust his funds to a scrap of paper and put it in a safety deposit box? I’m just trying to understand options safe storage. Thanks!

[nandibear]

Obviously if you’re making transactions you need a wallet, but if you’re just hodling, do people just write it down on a piece of paper and put that somewhere safe and call it a day? Would a bitcoin millionaire trust his funds to a scrap of paper and put it in a safety deposit box? I’m just trying to understand options safe storage. Thanks!

Hey Bryansta,

Your mnemonic seed (12 words in the Bitcoin.com wallet) is used to create an "Extended Private Key" (xpriv). That key is then used to generate all of the private keys (as many as you want) in your wallet.

When you import your mnemonic back into the app (or other apps or even a mnemonic converter) it will generate the exact same Extended Private Key and that key will then generate the exact same private keys and in the very same order as generated previously (and so on if you generate more). It's called "hierarchical deterministic."

If you do use a different app later on (e.g., Electron Cash) , or a mnemonic converter (e.g., download at iancoleman.io and run offline) you will need to make sure to use the same "derivation path" (there are some other apps which don't allow users to edit the path which means that if the app uses a different path your 12 words will create a different Extended Private Key which will then create different private keys).

I think the Bitcoin.com wallet this path: m/44'/0'/0'/0