SeedPhrase more important than private key?

[rby]

Don't really mind my title. I want some confirmation.

Say I create a wallet and I'm given a seedphrase
With that I can access wallet addresses connected to the wallet (electrum).

All individual private keys are gotten from the seedphrase right?

Just some confirmation so it won't seem my knowledge is flawed. Thank you.

Both are same to my knowledge.  One is the derivative of the other, so they are of the same importance.  The seedphrase is a user friendly format of the private keys. It will be difficult to write down and save long format of strings, numbers and alphabets, but with seedphrase everything is cool to handle.  The important of private keys come in during signatories.

[Forsyth Jones]

Both are same to my knowledge.  One is the derivative of the other, so they are of the same importance.
...

Just a small correction: the seed phrase is not derived from the private key (it isn't a reversible process). Instead, the seed phrase (in mnemonic format) goes through a conversion process from mnemonic to seed in hex format using PBKDF2 (with checksum).

The result is a hash sequence (mnemonic + passphrase (empty or not)) with 64 bytes, which is used to generate the master xpriv and, in turn, the child private keys.

Here is the LearnMeABitcoin site, which contains all the details on how an HD wallet works: https://learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/keys/hd-wallets/mnemonic-seed/

[rby]

Both are same to my knowledge.  One is the derivative of the other, so they are of the same importance.
...

Just a small correction: the seed phrase is not derived from the private key (it isn't a reversible process). Instead, the seed phrase (in mnemonic format) goes through a conversion process from mnemonic to seed in hex format using PBKDF2 (with checksum).

+1, was using more of layman terms...

[bitmover]

Both are same to my knowledge.  One is the derivative of the other, so they are of the same importance.
...

Just a small correction: the seed phrase is not derived from the private key (it isn't a reversible process). Instead, the seed phrase (in mnemonic format) goes through a conversion process from mnemonic to seed in hex format using PBKDF2 (with checksum).

I will add that the seed phrase derives all private keys from it. Just like the image below, from the amazing book Mastering Bitcoin, by Andreas Antonopoulos.

You can see that there are many possible childs and grand childs keys, you may derive basically forever from a single seed generation basically infinite addresses



You can read it for free in github
https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook

[JollyGood]

It seems the OP received many answers that cleared the situation. His question was answered in great detail therefore this thread no longer serves a purpose therefore should be locked.

[Zaguru12]

Both are same to my knowledge.  One is the derivative of the other, so they are of the same importance.  The seedphrase is a user friendly format of the private keys. It will be difficult to write down and save long format of strings, numbers and alphabets, but with seedphrase everything is cool to handle.  The important of private keys come in during signatories.

In terms of difference yes both are the same and exactly as you have actually explained, but one key distinction that OP didn’t mention is; is the question about private key or master private key (Xpriv). The seed phrase in more important in terms of back than a private key be the seed phrase actually recovers all addresses and keys on that wallet while the private key which isn’t even user friendly recovers its one address on it. Only the master private key which encompasses every child key on that wallet can recover the entire address derived on the wallet.

The only place while a private key edges a seed phrase during recovery is when the wallet doesn’t supports such seed phrase as such it can be recovered by the private key

[Forsyth Jones]

In terms of difference yes both are the same and exactly as you have actually explained, but one key distinction that OP didn’t mention is; is the question about private key or master private key (Xpriv). The seed phrase in more important in terms of back than a private key be the seed phrase actually recovers all addresses and keys on that wallet while the private key which isn’t even user friendly recovers its one address on it. Only the master private key which encompasses every child key on that wallet can recover the entire address derived on the wallet.

The only place while a private key edges a seed phrase during recovery is when the wallet doesn’t supports such seed phrase as such it can be recovered by the private key

With the private key, I can import funds from a wallet, for example, Electrum to Bitcoin Core without the need for a prior transfer, just to concentrate UTXOs in Bitcoin Core and send the funds there.

HD wallets that support seed phrases don't allow key import, and if they do, they do so in a crappy way.

[JISAN]

Don't really mind my title. I want some confirmation.

Say I create a wallet and I'm given a seedphrase
With that I can access wallet addresses connected to the wallet (electrum).

All individual private keys are gotten from the seedphrase right?

Just some confirmation so it won't seem my knowledge is flawed. Thank you.

Both the security phase and the private key of a wallet are very important. You can choose any one for your wallet. Because none of them can be hacked by a hacker. However, since there are 12 or 24 words in the security phase, you can memorize the phase of your important or main wallet, but in the case of the private key, it is never possible to memorize it. And even if someone sees it, no matter how talented he is, he will never be able to memorize it if he cannot copy it. That is why I give more priority to the private key. And I think the private key is more powerful security than the security phase.

[Forsyth Jones]

Both the security phase and the private key of a wallet are very important. You can choose any one for your wallet. Because none of them can be hacked by a hacker. However, since there are 12 or 24 words in the security phase, you can memorize the phase of your important or main wallet, but in the case of the private key, it is never possible to memorize it. And even if someone sees it, no matter how talented he is, he will never be able to memorize it if he cannot copy it. That is why I give more priority to the private key. And I think the private key is more powerful security than the security phase.

But also one that is easier to forget or lose, private keys (WIF) are more useful for importing to another wallet or for sweeping, however some wallets provide the option to export WIF private keys, but be aware that you are dealing with something extremely sensitive and you shouldn't be encouraged to handle these private keys in an online environment that may contain malware.

When doing this, always make sure to handle private keys on an air-gapped, offline-only computer.

In your place, I'd invest in a hardware wallet (like trezor, bitbox02, coldcard, passport) so that you don't have to do any of this, you (like any wallet) should make backup wallet (writing down the mnemonic phrase) in a safe, offline place and you can optionally extend the mnemonic phrase to a custom phrase (BIP39 - passphrase).