Sign in Subscribe
Emerging Threats

Study Finds AI Can Guess Crypto Seed Phrases in 0.02 Seconds

Study Finds AI Can Guess Crypto Seed Phrases in 0.02 Seconds

Latest News on AI Cryptocurrency Seed Phrase Recovery and LSTM Network Security

AI's Capabilities in Seed Phrase Recovery:
A recent study by NFTEvening and Storible found that Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, a type of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), can predict and recover missing cryptocurrency seed phrases with remarkable speed. The study analyzed 85.7 million seed phrase combinations using the BIP39 word list and achieved a prediction rate of 994,051 guesses per second2.

Recovery Times:

  • One missing word: 0.02 seconds
  • Two missing words: 29 seconds
  • Three missing words: 2.28 hours
  • Four missing words: 178 hours
  • Twelve missing words: 8 minutes

Despite these impressive recovery times, the study concluded that the sheer number of possible seed phrase combinations makes successful recovery highly improbable. For example, recovering eight missing words would take 174 times the universe’s age2.

Security of Crypto Seed Phrases:
The study emphasizes that current AI capabilities, even with powerful LSTM networks, do not pose a significant threat to cryptocurrency seed phrase security if the phrase remains secret. The complexity and vast number of possible combinations make it impractical for AI to recover enough words to breach cryptocurrency wallets2.

Key Highlights:

  1. Study Overview:

    • NFTEvening and Storible collaborated on a study to test the feasibility of LSTM networks in recovering missing cryptocurrency seed phrases.
    • The study analyzed 85.7 million combinations using the BIP39 word list.

  2. LSTM Functionality:

    • LSTMs excel in sequential data processing, using memory cells and gates to predict and complete patterns in text-like data.
    • They can predict the next likely word in a sequence or complete missing words by observing patterns in known seed phrases2.

  3. Security Implications:

    • Despite AI’s advancements, the massive number of possible seed phrase combinations makes successful recovery highly improbable.
    • The study indicates that AI is not a current threat to cryptocurrency seed phrase security if the phrase remains secret2.

Conclusion:

While AI can recover missing words in seed phrases at impressive speeds, the security of cryptocurrency seed phrases remains robust due to the vast number of possible combinations. Therefore, keeping your seed phrase secret remains a highly effective method to protect your cryptocurrency assets.

Read next