Recovery phrase and backups

The recovery phrase is the root secret for the wallet. Anyone who obtains it can derive the supported identities.

What the phrase protects

• Ed25519 identities.
• Secp256k1 identities.
• Falcon seeds.
• Winternitz root material.
• Future identities derived from the same root.

What separate branches mean

Quorum derives each scheme through separated branches. If a future quantum attacker recovers an Ed25519 private key from an exposed Ed25519 public key, that does not automatically reveal the mnemonic or the Falcon branch.

That does not make the mnemonic safe to expose. The mnemonic remains the highest-value wallet secret.

Backup guidance

• Store test phrases separately from production phrases.
• Record which wallet and account index was used for each multisig member.
• Keep recovery material offline where possible.
• Document whether a Winternitz signer has active state that must be tracked.