Backing up your wallet seed

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Revision as of 17:06, 2 March 2020 by Bayer (talk | contribs)
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Bisq seed words

Since Bisq is a non-custodial exchange, the user retains control of their funds (private keys) at all times. Therefore, when you start using Bisq the first step should be to encrypt and backup (write down) your Bisq BTC wallet seed and password.

Bisq’s built-in Bitcoin wallet is based on BIP 44. BTC wallets have a m/44'/0'/0' derivation path and BSQ wallets have a m/44'/142'/0' derivation path.

The same seed phrase is used for BTC and BSQ wallets.

Writing down your seed words

After setting a password see Protect your wallet, it’s time to write down your wallet’s seed words. Go to the Wallet seed section of the Account screen and write down the words you see in the Wallet seed words field along with the Wallet date. Wallet date is required by bitcoinj, which is the library Bisq uses to interact with the Bitcoin network.

Important consideration : You should actually write down your seed words and wallet date using pen and paper. Saving them on your computer, even if you do so in a secure password manager, makes it possible for a hacker to obtain them through sneaky schemes like keylogging. Going low-tech with pen and paper eliminates all such digital attack vectors.

Walletseed.png


With just your wallet’s seed words and date, you can restore your Bisq wallet and all its BTC and BSQ into a new Bisq wallet if you ever need to. If you lose your wallet’s seed words and date, you won’t be able to restore your wallet, and all funds in it are lost forever. So make sure you keep that paper safe!