Brain Wallet refers to the act of memorizing all of the relevant private information about your crypto wallet. Thus removing the need for keeping your password or private keys physically copied down somewhere.

Why use a Brain Wallet?

Some people choose to use a “brain wallet” because, as some people believe, you cannot hack, steal, or lose your brain.

A huge amount of crypto is indeed lost, probably forever, due to people having their physical crypto keys lost or destroyed. Often, people will keep their private keys on pieces of paper or in lock boxes, only for the ink to degrade or the lock box to be damaged.

Therefore, brain wallet fans claim that the safest method is to keep one’s keys or seed phrases memorized.

Risks of Using a Brain Wallet

Brain wallets may not be advisable for the vast majority of people.

When people choose to use the brain wallet style for a seed phrase, the tendency is to pick related words or coherent sentences. This is a very bad idea, as there are all kinds of ways to predict what kind of sentence a person might choose if you have enough information about them.

According to studies, people frequently overestimate how difficult their passwords are to guess while underestimating how simple it is for friends or coworkers to do so.

In addition, studies have also shown that the human mind is actually extremely fallible when it comes to information retention, and sadly, over time, it becomes worse at it. So while you may have something memorized now, that may not last forever.

People can have injuries, illnesses, or tragically die without sharing their keys with their spouse or children.