Social Media User Guessed 2 Crypto Wallet Seed Phrases Under 5 Minutes, But There’s a Catch

One Reddit user took to the subreddit r/Bitcoin and shocked the members after they revealed that they successfully guessed two Bitcoin seed phrases in under five minutes. This means they had gained access to two wallets that were empty with no transaction history. This post was bound to shock almost every crypto enthusiast as seed phrases are essential for wallet security and are extremely difficult to guess. They consist of 12 to 24 words drawn from drawn from a specific list of 2048 words. The final word in a seed phrase is a checksum which serves as a fail-safe against incorrect entries. 

This means that even if one word is out of place then the sequence is jumbled and the checksum will not match. Therefore, the wallet software will reject the phrase instantly. So, this is exactly why guessing the seed is practically impossible. Then, how did this user guess it? Well, the author of the post likely did not guess a seed that already existed but rather generated new ones as the seeds that he entered were unused. 

As we know, there can be infinite combinations and therefore, there is always a chance that you end up creating a new wallet. This means that the author's claim while not being technically true was misleading in the first place. 

The now-deleted post went viral and many commented on the post. "You created 2 wallets under 5 Minutes - Fixed it for ya," read the top comment, to which another replied, "Technically, every possible wallet already exists. Just not all are used/accessed yet."

One user quipped, "Now repeat it until you get one with some bitcoin in it." Another user joked, "Well, yesterday I took a couple of glasses of water from the ocean and there was no fish either..."

According to Chainalysis, around $3.8 billion were stolen in 2022, making it the biggest year ever for crypto hacking, and therefore, it's important to keep your seed phrase secured. 

The best way to safeguard the seed phrase is to stick to the traditional way of writing it down on paper. It is also wise to always keep duplicates as if you lose the seed phrase there is practically no way to get back access to your wallet. You can also use a Password Manager tool which is encrypted and secure digital vaults that can be used to safeguard sensitive data. 

It's important to note that even if your password and device are intact and safe, your wallet is vulnerable to somebody who has access to your seed phrase. If you ever lose both your password as well as your seed phrase, there is a good chance that you will not be able to recover your wallet. Seed phrases are essentially generated using a mnemonic code and therefore, there is a very sleek chance that anybody can guess it!