Seed phrase — How it is generated?
Remembering private key entirely can be a really challenging task. To make it easier and simultaneously keep the security level, there was…
Remembering private key entirely can be a really challenging task. To make it easier and simultaneously keep the security level, there was created a seed phrase.
How looks the process of creating it behind the scenes?
Agenda:
- intro,
- basic theory,
- how is generated,
- what is bip39?
- conclusion.
Basic theory
Going through details of a seed phrase generation requires the minimal understanding what it is.
Below you can find my previous material about easy definition of talked topic:
How it is generated?
„The process of generating a seed phrase starts with generating random data, called entropy.”
Then entropy is run as passes to hashing function. Mainly, the sha256 algorithm so that the checksum can be generated.
Checksum:
“A checksum is a small-sized block of data derived from another block of digital data for the purpose of detecting errors that may have been introduced during its transmission or storage.”
Part of checksum is passed to random data data, so the result is split into chunks of 11 bits, where each 11-but chunk is a single word in bip39 list.
The list is presented below:
What is bip 39?
It is a design implementation of how crypto wallets create the memorizable seed phrase for accessing the wallet, instead of using private key.
As a developer you do not have to understand entire algorithm, but there is a resource which can be helpful:
Conclusion
Seed phrase is an extremely helpful solution to make maintaining crypto wallets more secure. Memorizing entire private key could be impossible for most of the people. Thanks to this solution, it is easier.
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