20 Words Wallet Backup: Answers to Your Questions | Posted by SatoshiLabs | June 2024

We believe that the 20-word standard is an evolution of the previous standards (12-word and 24-word wallet backups) and makes many important improvements. These include:

• Upgraded word list for easy recall and recovery: All words in the enhanced standard have been carefully selected to be very distinct from each other in terms of spelling and pronunciation, simplifying the backup and recovery process. For example, legacy backup word lists contain similar words such as “all,” “wall,” “fall,” “call,” and “ball,” making it easy to write the wrong word and jeopardize your wallet security.
• Stronger checksum for improved fault tolerance: The improved standard provides better protection against errors by utilizing the last three words as a checksum. This allows users to more easily identify and correct mistakes, ensuring a more robust backup.
• Type faster with optimized word selection: Words in the upgraded word list have been selected to require fewer keystrokes and have simpler patterns, making typing faster on the T9 keyboard. This reduces the time required for data entry and improves user efficiency.

In addition to this, you can seamlessly switch from standard single-share backup to advanced multi-share backup (formerly known as Shamir backup).

Multi-share backups allow you to easily split your wallet backup (also known as recovery seed) into multiple parts. By splitting your backups, you don’t have to worry about losing a single backup and accessing your funds. Or as we say, there is no single point of failure.

Only a set number of these parts (called the threshold) are needed to recover your wallet. All you need is a threshold number of parts to safely recover your wallet.

Here’s an example of how it works: 3/5 Let’s take an example of multi-share backup. This means there are a total of 5 shares. You can distribute these shares to other locations and/or trusted individuals. In this case, all you need to recover your wallet is 3 of your shares (threshold). So even if some shares are lost, your wallet will remain safe as long as the share threshold number remains intact. In this case, even if someone finds 1 share, they will not be able to access your wallet because a minimum of 3 shares is required.

Here are more details about this:

💡Did you know? We have developed 12-word and 24-word wallet backups (also known as recovery seeds), which are widely used as industry standards. yes. That was in 2013/2014.

No, you can keep your existing 12-word or 24-word wallet and continue using your Trezor device as is. However, we recommend that you adopt a 20-word backup so that you can easily upgrade to a multi-share backup if necessary.

As mentioned earlier, 20 Word Wallet Backup consists of carefully selected words that are easily distinguishable from each other, improving the user-friendliness of the backup and recovery process. The words that make up your wallet backup are optimized for typing on the T9 keyboard (same as Trezor and other touchscreen devices). It also comes with a stronger checksum. The last three words of the 20-word wallet backup form a stronger checksum, ensuring its integrity and validity. If you make a mistake, you won’t be able to proceed until you correct it in the checksum. Best of all, 20 Word Wallet Backup can be seamlessly upgraded to Trezor Suite’s Multi-Shared Backup while continuing to use the same accounts and addresses.

20 Word Wallet Backup is the default backup option for newer Trezor models, including Trezor Safe 3 and Trezor Safe 5. Also supported on Trezor Model T.

So if you haven’t set up a wallet yet, a 20-word wallet backup will be the default in the models mentioned above. However, if you already have Trezor installed and running and are interested in upgrading to a multi-share scheme for the long-term security of your funds, an upgrade to multi-share is the way to go. Backup article.

yes you can If you’re already using 12 Word Wallet Backup, there are a few steps you need to take. This is because we will be migrating from one standard to another (from BIP39 or 12 and 24 words to SLIP39 or 20 word wallet backup). This means that you have to carefully move your funds from one seed to another through several steps.

Here’s a step-by-step guide for this:

Here are some resources on this topic:

• Learn more about SLIP39 here.
• Here’s an article on the topic from our knowledge base: