Your recovery phrase (also known as a private key or seed phrase) exists so that you can activate your wallet on multiple browsers and devices along with being able to recover access to your wallet.
What is your 12-word recovery (seed) phrase?
Your Kinesis 12-word seed phrase, also known as a "private keys", "recovery phrase", or "mnemonic phrase", are a string of numbers and letters that are unique for each account. They are used to generate the public keys and these public keys are used to generate the public addresses you use to receive cryptocurrencies.
When you activate a wallet on your laptop using chrome, for example, this is the only place you can access it. If you want to access it on a different browser, or on another device, you will need to use that recovery phrase again.
If you send your private key to someone, they now have full control of your account.
For example:
Mary wants to transfer Tom some Digital Gold.
Tom sends Mary his private key. Mary now has the seed phrase which would allow her to access ALL of Tom's funds in his wallet.
How does Kinesis generate these phrases?
Imagine you held a dictionary in your hand and numbered all the words. This is similar to what the wallet does. It then through random number generation picks 12 words that will become your seed phrase. There's more to it than just that, however, for the sake of explanation, this is a nice way of understanding the basics. If you would like to learn more, this helpful article should explain further.
Storage of your 12-word recovery (seed) phrase
We recommend not storing your 12-word recovery phrase on the same device that you access your wallet with, and ideally that you record it physically and store it in an accessible, yet secure location. We recommend storing multiple copies in various locations to avoid loss through accidents. We can't stress enough, that through storing funds in your wallet, you are taking full responsibility for them.
Remember: You and only you are responsible for your security.
- Ensure that you have more than one copy of your seed phrase
- Be diligent to keep your private key and password safe.
- If you lose your private key or password, no one can recover it.
- Consider creating a durable copy of your seed phrase (eg. paper can be damaged by fire or water).
Kinesis cannot:
- Access your account or send your funds for you.
- Recover or change your private key.
- Recover or reset your password.
- Reverse, cancel or refund transactions.
- Kinesis will NEVER ask you for your seed phrase.
How do I change my 12-word recovery (seed) phrase?
Your 12-word recovery phrase can not be reset. Once it’s set, it is set for life. If you lose this phrase, you have lost control of your wallet.
If you lose your seed phrase, you will still be able to access your account (accounts, exchange, debit card, profile) via your email and password. You will be able to access your wallet via any device and browser which you have activated it on previously. If you lose the device you activated it on, or clear the device/browser cache, you will lose access too.
You need the recovery phrase to activate/reactivate your wallet on any device and browser you want to access it with. If your wallet is attached to your Kinesis Money account (not a stand-alone wallet), you will be able to see a “read-only” view of your wallet (you can see your balances but will be unable to transfer them). The recovery phrase will be required to make transferring possible on other devices/browsers.
I received an email from Kinesis, asking me to provide my 12-word recovery phrase.
Kinesis will never ask you for your 12-word seed phrase. Please contact support@kinesis.money if you have received any messages or emails asking you for your seed phrase.