Owing to the increasing security concerns pertaining to the use of Bitcoin, people are now running after the hardware wallets. Hardware Wallets provide secure means to store your Bitcoins in a physical medium. A hardware wallet is a miniature device which may or may not have a USB plug and it stores the user’s private keys in cold storage. The private keys are stored in a small microcontroller embedded inside the device in such a way that the keys can’t be accessed by any other device, neither can they be transferred or stolen. In this way, a hardware wallet adds an extra layer of protection to the private keys and helps keep your Bitcoins safe and secure. In addition to that, it also prevents your bitcoins against all kinds of malware threats looming around the internet.

However, the problem arises when your hardware wallet is lost, damaged or stolen. Does that mean you lose your Private Keys forever? Probably not. Just so you know, all these hardware wallets give you the facility to recover your private keys in case you happen to lose it or it gets stolen from your possession. You can do so by means of the seed phrase which is generated when the wallet is initialized. So let’s know how to do just that.

Also read How Safe Are Bitcoin Wireless Payments.



What Is A Seed Phrase?

Whenever you set up a hardware wallet for the first time, a seed phrase is generated. This is primarily meant to restore your wallet and recover the private keys in case you lose them or in case you just want to switch to some other wallet. A seed phrase may be 12 to 24 words long containing English alphabets. As soon as a seed is generated, you must write it down on a paper and keep it somewhere safe to retrieve it later when you need it.



How To Restore A Hardware Wallet?

In case you’ve lost your hardware wallet or you want to switch to a new wallet, you can use the seed phrase at the time of setting up your wallet. For instance, let’s assume that you are using a Ledger wallet. When you plug it into the USB port of your laptop or computer, first of all a 4 digit PIN is generated. It is crucial to memorize this PIN as you will be required to enter this PIN each time you connect the wallet to your computer. When you proceed further, a 24-word seed phrase will be generated. You are required to write it down for future reference.

Now let’s assume that you’ve lost that wallet or you want to switch to a new hardware wallet. That’s when the seed phrase that you’ve backed up helps you restore and recover the private keys. So when you’re setting up the new hardware wallet for the first time, entering the seed phrase will give you back access to your lost wallet private keys and your wallet will be restored.