Difference between a Secret Recovery Phrase and a private key
When using Phantom, you'll come across two types of credentials: a Secret Recovery Phrase and a private key. Both give access to your holdings, but they work at different levels.
Secret Recovery Phrase #
A Secret Recovery Phrase is a series of words generated when you create a wallet. It acts as the master key, from which all of your accounts and addresses are derived. As long as you have your recovery phrase, you can restore your entire wallet on any device, even if you delete the app or lose your original device.
Phantom uses a 12-word phrase based on the BIP-39 standard, which is widely supported across crypto wallets.
Wallets created with a Google or Apple account also have a Secret Recovery Phrase, even if you didn't write one down during setup.
Private key #
A private key is a unique string of letters and numbers that controls a single crypto address on a specific blockchain. It lets you sign transactions and manage funds for that address only.
Private keys are derived from your recovery phrase, but they are not interchangeable: the recovery phrase can regenerate every account and address in your wallet, while a private key is limited to one address.
You can also import a private key from elsewhere into Phantom. Imported accounts are not connected to your main wallet's recovery phrase, so the recovery phrase does not cover them. The private key is the only credential for an imported account.
How private keys work across networks #
- Solana and Bitcoin use a unique private key for each account.
- EVM and EVM-compatible networks (Ethereum, Robinhood Chain, Arc, HyperEVM, Base, Polygon) share the same private key.
When to export a private key #
For accounts created in Phantom, you usually don't need to export individual private keys. Your Secret Recovery Phrase covers all accounts derived from it. Export a private key only if you need to access a specific account on another wallet, or to recover assets on a network such as Ethereum independently.