The 24 Word Secret Phrase (also known as Mnemonic Phrase or Seed Phrase) is a group of randomly selected 24 words in a special order that can be transformed into your addresses and private keys in the various blockchains Emerald supports. It is the source of information to create your accounts and wallets, so it is of critical importance that you keep them safe.
The way it works is that when you create a wallet inside Emerald using a secret phrase, Emerald will give you 24 words in a specific order that are unique to you and you must write them down on paper and put them in a safe place.
Then, Emerald creates all your addresses and private keys in all the blockchains that you wish to use based on those 24 words and stores them inside the app in an encrypted vault, which is extremely secure.
Once you have written down your secret phrase, nobody else in the world knows about it, not even Emerald because it is encrypted inside the app.
The secret phrase is unique and must be kept secret and in a safe place because, through those words, whoever has them may re-generate all your addresses and private keys and steal your crypto assets.
If you need to restore your wallets because you lost your machine or phone, they broke, or you lost access, then you can use your secret phrase again to create them on Emerald and gain access.
The way it works is that you go to Emerald to restore your wallets and the app will go through this process:
- Ask you to enter the 24 word of the secret phrase into a form in the same order as they were originally provided.
- Then, you press "GENERATE" and Emerald will create a root private key.
- From the root private key, Emerald will use various HD Paths to create you private keys and addresses on the various blockchains you selected.
The method of the 24 word secret phrase (some wallets use 12 words) is an industry standard and you may use the same words to restore your wallets in other wallets and apps as well.