Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
Seed phrase unavailable
Cases in this category involve wallets for which the seed phrase could not be located. Without the seed phrase, access to the wallet was not possible.
Seed phrase unavailability is the single most structurally decisive failure mode in this archive. Unlike device loss, seed unavailability typically cannot be mitigated after the fact — once the seed phrase is gone, no recovery path exists regardless of other factors. Cases arise from failure to record the seed at setup, subsequent loss of the written record, and storage in locations that became inaccessible.
146 observed cases
Blocked
89 (61%)
Constrained
6 (4%)
Survives
43 (29%)
Indeterminate
8 (5%)
They moved offices and the filing cabinet was sent to a storage facility.
Hardware wallet (single key)
A Trezor user who set up their device in 2014 stored the recovery seed in a filing cabinet. In January 2016 they moved offices and the filing cabinet was sent t
They retrieved the book and found it was a different edition from the one used during
Mobile or software wallet
A user stored a BIP39 seed encoded as a sequence of page and line numbers in a specific book edition. In February 2016 they retrieved the book and found it was
In 2016 the email provider terminated inactive accounts.
Mobile or software wallet
A forum case from March 2016 describes a user who had stored their seed phrase in a personal email draft folder as an obfuscated message. In 2016 the email prov
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin user who had entrusted their printed seed to a professional document storage company found in March 2016 that the company had gone into administration
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
A forum case from April 2016 describes a user who photographed their Ledger seed card on a digital camera. The camera's SD card was formatted as part of a camer
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had taken a photograph of their seed phrase on a dedicated phone found in May 2016 that the phone had been remotely wiped after it was reported stole
The bank closed that branch and moved all safe deposit box contents to a central
Hardware wallet (single key)
A hardware wallet user had stored their seed in a sealed envelope in a bank safe deposit box. In July 2016 the bank closed that branch and moved all safe deposi
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had divided their 24-word BIP39 seed into three 8-word groups and stored each separately found in August 2016 that two of the three locations were ac
Seed unavailable — software wallet (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
A September 2016 forum post describes a user who had memorised their 12-word seed phrase but suffered a concussion in a sports accident. The concussion caused a
They suffered a hand injury that temporarily prevented biometric authentication
Hardware wallet (single key)
A hardware wallet user had stored their seed in a digital safe that required a biometric fingerprint to open. In May 2016 they suffered a hand injury that tempo
Their travel document had been confiscated at a border crossing.
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had stored their seed phrase in a safety deposit box in a country they subsequently left found in June 2016 that they could not re-enter the country
A Trezor user's house was burgled in January 2015.
Hardware wallet (single key)
A Trezor user's house was burgled in January 2015. The Trezor device was taken along with a fireproof document pouch that contained the recovery seed. Neither i
They retrieved the paper and found the printed QR code had faded to the point where it
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had set up a deterministic wallet in 2013 stored the seed as a QR code printed on paper. In February 2015 they retrieved the paper and found the prin
Their house was flooded in March 2015 and the seed was destroyed.
Mobile or software wallet
A user who set up a hardware wallet in early 2015 stored the recovery seed in a sealed envelope in a desk drawer. Their house was flooded in March 2015 and the
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2015
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had backed up their Mycelium wallet seed as a photo on their phone lost all photos when their cloud backup was inadvertently deleted during an OS mig
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2015
Mobile or software wallet
A 2015 forum post describes a user who had photographed their seed phrase card and stored it in an encrypted folder on their phone. The phone encryption passphr
They could identify partial characters but could not reconstruct the exact BIP39 words
Mobile or software wallet
A user had split their 24-word BIP39 seed across two sheets of paper stored in different locations. When retrieving them in 2015, they discovered one sheet was
Seed unavailable — software wallet (2015)
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had distributed their seed across three trusted family members for redundancy found in September 2015 that one family member had moved and the sealed
The family member moved homes and lost the sealed envelope containing the seed during
Mobile or software wallet
A 2015 forum case describes a user who had entrusted their hardware wallet seed to a trusted family member for safekeeping. The family member moved homes and lo
Estate access failure — Electrum (2015)
Mobile or software wallet
A 2015 probate case involved a user who had created an Electrum wallet in 2013 and stored the 12-word seed in a safety deposit box at a bank. When the user died
The two corrupted words had multiple plausible BIP39 substitutions requiring
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had engraved their 24-word seed onto a stainless-steel plate hired a welder to do the engraving. The welder made a transcription error on two words,
When they attempted recovery in 2015 the seed failed.
Mobile or software wallet
A forum case documents a user who stored their seed phrase in a metal plate they had engraved themselves. The engraving was done in a hurry and two words were m
When the company went through a redundancy process in June 2015, the user cleared their
Hardware wallet (single key)
A Trezor user who had purchased their device in early 2014 stored the seed phrase in their work notebook. When the company went through a redundancy process in
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2014
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had set up a paper wallet in 2013 stored the seed words in a safe deposit box. When the bank branch housing the safe deposit box was closed and conso
The car was stolen in January 2014.
Mobile or software wallet
An early Electrum user who had backed up their seed on a printed piece of paper kept it in their car's glove compartment. The car was stolen in January 2014. Th
Translate