Skip to content
Last updated 2026-11-05

What Is the Private Key, Mnemonic and Wallet Password?

A wallet involves three secrets that look interchangeable and are not. This page separates them, so you know what each one unlocks and what changes when one is lost or leaked.

Who this is for

Anyone who has written down a recovery phrase, set a wallet password, or been asked for either. That is most people who hold BTG.

What it is

The private key is the value that signs. Whoever holds it can move funds from the address without asking anyone. You are not meant to read or type it; the wallet uses it in the background.

The mnemonic, or recovery phrase, is a readable encoding from which the private key is derived: twelve or twenty-four words, in order. It rebuilds the wallet and every address derived from it on any compatible app.

The wallet password encrypts the local wallet file on your device. It unlocks that file, and the network never sees it. Two unrelated wallets can share a password and have nothing else in common. Some wallets save the encrypted key as a JSON file, described in What Is Keystore?.

A Bitgold example: you install a wallet, restore it from a phrase, and set a password. The phrase produced the address that holds your BTG. The password protects the copy of the key on this one device. The key is what the network checks when you send.

Why it matters

Each leak has its own outcome. A leaked private key or mnemonic means the funds are spendable by someone else at once, with no reset and no one to appeal to. A leaked wallet password is narrower: it opens one local file, and only if the attacker also copies that file.

Loss is asymmetric too. Forget the password while the app is installed and you may still restore elsewhere with the phrase. Lose the phrase and a broken device takes the wallet with it, because no company holds a spare. What Is a Decentralized Wallet? explains why that cannot be reversed.

So the rule is short. Keep the phrase on paper or metal, offline, and never in a photo, a note, a cloud drive, or a chat message. A password is worth memorizing because it protects a file, not because it protects the funds.

Common misunderstandings

  • "The wallet password is a backup." It encrypts a local file. The file usually needs the password to open, but the password alone restores nothing.
  • "The mnemonic and the private key are the same." They carry the same authority, yet they are not interchangeable: the phrase rebuilds a whole wallet, one key controls one address.
  • "A password manager is a fine place for the phrase." That puts the backup on an internet-connected device. Treat any digital copy as already exposed.
  • "If the app still opens, I have my key." You have a cached, encrypted copy. Without the phrase, a new device cannot rebuild the wallet.

Key takeaways

  • The private key signs, the mnemonic regenerates the wallet, the password unlocks a local file.
  • A leaked key or phrase is an immediate loss; a leaked password is a file-level problem.
  • Losing the phrase is usually permanent, losing a password often is not.
  • Store none of the three digitally, and send none of them to anyone.

Next steps