What's a private key/seed phrase?

Lost your seed phrase but still have your private key — are your assets safe?

Private key leaked but seed phrase is intact — are you still secure?

To keep your OKX Wallet safe, there are two essentials you need to understand: seed phrase and private key.

How your seed phrase and private keys are related

When you create a wallet in OKX Wallet, one seed phrase is generated. From it, OKX Wallet derives multiple addresses — one per chain. Each address gets its own private key.

Think of it this way: the seed phrase is the master key that controls the whole wallet, and each private key is a sub-key for one specific address.

You can use a seed phrase to restore all accounts, addresses, and assets at once. A private key only controls the address on its corresponding chain.

A seed phrase can derive all private keys — but no private key can reverse back to the seed phrase.

Seed phrase vs private key

In short: use your seed phrase to restore the whole wallet; use a private key to restore a single address on a specific chain.

Private key

A seed phrase consists of 12, 18, or 24 English words arranged in a specific order. It's the complete backup of your entire wallet — know these words and their order, and you can restore all addresses and assets across all chains on any device.Keep your seed phrase safe:

• Back up your seed phrase immediately after creating a wallet. Write it down on paper — don't screenshot it.

• After writing it down, verify it by re-importing it once to confirm it's correct.

• Don't save it anywhere connected to the internet (chats, cloud storage, notes apps).

• If someone asks for your seed phrase, it's a scam — no exceptions.

• If your seed phrase is lost and the wallet is deleted, your assets can't be recovered.

What's a private key?

A private key is a 64-character hexadecimal string (made up of digits 0–9 and letters a–f). Each address on each chain has its own private key. For example, an EVM private key controls assets on ETH, BSC, Polygon, and all other EVM-compatible chains — but it doesn't cover BTC or Solana, which have their own private keys.

A private key typically looks like this:

afdfd9c3d2095ef696594f6cedcae59e72dcd697e2a7521b1578140422a4f890

Keep your private key safe:

• Your private key carries the same weight as your seed phrase. Exposing it means losing all assets at that address.

• Don't manually copy your private key — 64 characters is easy to get wrong. Use the wallet's backup feature instead.

• If you only need to back up the whole wallet, your seed phrase is enough — you don't need to export each private key individually.

• If your private key is lost and the wallet is deleted, the assets on that address can't be recovered.

Where do I find seed phrases and private keys in my OKX wallet?

Private key:

1. Open the OKX app and load the Web3 mode, before selecting Menu

2. On the Web3 wallet homepage, select Menu

   

   Select the Menu

3. Select Backups option under the Wallet security section on the Settings page

   

   Select Backups in the Wallet security section

4. Select the wallet-address and the account on the wallet page you wish to back up

   

   Select the account

5. Once the account page is open, select Private key then follow the steps to check your private key

   

   Select private key as your backup option in the wallet

Seed phrase:

1. Open the OKX app and load the Web3 mode, before selecting Menu

2. Select Backups option under the Wallet security section on the Settings page

3. Choose the wallet you wish to backup

4. Select seed phrase then follow the steps to check your seed phrase

5. 

   Select seed phrase as your backup option in the wallet

Why is my wallet address different when I recover it on another device?

This can happen for a few reasons:

• Input errors: Make sure the seed phrase is entered exactly as saved, including the correct spelling and word order.

• Different derivation paths: Some wallets use different derivation paths to generate addresses from the same seed phrase. When recovering your wallet, check that the derivation path settings match those used when the wallet was first created.

• Incomplete or incorrect backup: Ensure your original backup is complete and accurate. Missing or incorrect backup information may result in a different wallet address being generated.

If the issue persists, double-check your recovery settings or contact customer support for further assistance.

How do I use a private key and seed phrase in OKX wallet?

Create a new OKX wallet

Refer to How do I create/import an OKX wallet?

You'll need to note down your seed phrase and keep it safe without telling anyone.

On the web: back up your seed phrase when creating a new OKX wallet

On the app: note down your seed phrase when creating a new OKX wallet

Note: make sure to keep your seed phrase, private key, and password safe and never share with others to avoid any losses.

Export an existing wallet

1. Head to Wallet management and choose Back up wallet

2. From there, you’ll have the option to either write down your seed phrase or view your private keys for each cryptocurrency, as shown below:

   

   Select Wallet management to view the option of Back up wallet

Import an existing wallet

You can enter your seed phrase or private key to import an existing wallet.

Example on the web: import via seed phrase

Example on the app: import via private key

If you'd would like to know more about how to manage your OKX wallet, you're welcome to visit here.

Visit OKX wallet FAQ or contact our customer support for further assistance.

Security reminder: your seed phrase and private key are the keys to your assets — exposing them puts your assets at risk. OKX will never ask for your seed phrase. Save them offline and never screenshot or share them with anyone.

What's the difference between importing via seed phrase vs importing via private key?

Importing via seed phrase restores your entire wallet — all accounts, all addresses, all assets across all chains.Importing via private key only restores the one address that private key belongs to, on its corresponding chain. If you want to fully restore your wallet, use your seed phrase.

Where do I create a private key wallet in OKX Wallet?

You don't need to create one separately. When you create a new account, every address under that account on each chain already has its own private key. You can export any individual chain's private key via the Backups feature.

Can I import private keys for multiple chains into a private key wallet at once?

No. A private key wallet can only import one chain's private key at a time. If you want to restore all addresses across all chains, use your seed phrase to import instead.