Wallet passwords and passphrases

A wallet can be protected by several separate secrets. After a death, each one matters differently, and the differences are easy to underestimate. This page explains what each component protects and what it means when one is missing.

The access components

• PIN or device password: unlocks the device. It is not the backup. Without the device, a PIN is meaningless; without the PIN, the device is usually unusable.
• Wallet file password: encrypts a software wallet file (e.g. wallet.dat or a keystore). Without it, the file alone is not usable.
• The passphrase (optional “25th word”): a BIP-39 passphrase added on top of the seed phrase. If one was set, the seed phrase alone opens only the default wallet, passphrase wallets need the phrase and the passphrase.

The passphrase, carefully

A correct seed phrase with a missing passphrase can open an empty-looking wallet. This is one of the most common estate dead-ends: heirs enter a perfect seed phrase, see a wallet with no balance, and conclude “there is nothing”, while the real wallet can be reached only with the passphrase. The reverse can also happen: a wallet with a balance that does not belong to the person who passed away. Either way, the visible outcome says nothing about ownership.

The passphrase is often stored separately from the phrase, by design: look for it where other secrets are kept, but never assume it exists. Without any indication of it, recovery is practically impossible; with a partial indication, it becomes a question of feasibility; assessed per case, never guaranteed.

Passwords are not backups

A password or PIN protects access; it does not recover anything. Losing the seed phrase is not fixed by knowing the password, and losing the password is not fixed by having the file. Each component is a separate requirement, and each one has its own failure mode in an estate.

Planning ahead

If you are an owner preparing your own estate: record in the secret-free inventory only that a passphrase may be in use and where an authorised person can find information about it, never the passphrase itself. Make agreements about who may use it and when, and involve your legal adviser in those agreements.

What to do with it

• Access is built from separate components: the device password or PIN, the wallet file’s password, and the optional passphrase on top of the seed phrase.
• When the estate is ready: each component is needed in its place, the passphrase is added to the seed phrase, the file password opens the file. None of them is a backup for another.
• The classic mistake: assuming the password is a backup (it is not), or entering a perfect seed phrase without the passphrase and seeing an empty wallet.
• If a component is missing: read what is realistically possible in wallet recovery.
• Until authority is confirmed, preserve every component in place and do not try combinations.

After a death

• Preserve every component in place, do not try combinations.
• Document what exists without writing the secrets themselves.
• If the access material is incomplete, recovery is realistically limited: some gaps are mathematically closed, some are not. Specialist assessment may be relevant only for defined problem types, never as a first step.

For the authenticator side of the same problem (codes, backup codes and security keys) see 2FA and wallet access after a death.