❤ BIP39 – Seed, seed phrase, recovery phrase, backup seed…
BIP39 (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 0039) The standard for generating a so-called “Mnemonic seed” is based on the idea that you should be able to memorize your seed. Research into our ability to remember has led to the creation of these words. The seed consists of 12 or 24 words selected from a list of 2048 words. However, it is not the words themselves that are crucial, but their order in the list. Ett klicka här och du kan du se alla ord på olika språk.
Before the idea of seed words was conceived, keys were generated manually, which often meant managing numerous private keys, especially cumbersome when working with multiple applications requiring their own key pairs.
With the creation of a seed, new possibilities emerged, allowing the same seed to be used across many applications. We are only at the threshold of understanding what this will mean for us.
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❤ BIP32 – Hierarchical Deterministic Wallets
When I mention “applications” above, I mean that your seed doesn’t have to be related to Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. There are many other use cases that require a seed to start from. BIP32 is a standard for so-called HD (Hierarchical Deterministic) wallets, which can handle not only cryptocurrencies but also identities, ownership, vaccination records, and more. This approach is light-years ahead in terms of privacy and security compared to how things work today.
Distributed Identities
To provide an example, I want to discuss Distributed Identities, which will soon become standard in much of what we do. Imagine that your seed is the foundation of your distributed identity, but every time you present your identity, you show a unique version. An identity that you control and that cannot reveal anything about you that you haven’t approved. You can create as many unique identities as you want, discard them whenever you like, and all of this can be done without anyone being able to trace it back to you—unless you choose otherwise. The era of traceability in everything you do is over. You own your data, and companies that use it will pay you for it.
I hope you understand that your seed, your mnemonic seed, is the most important thing you own.