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Blockchain.com Recovery Phrase: Restore Your Wallet
In short
The Blockchain.com recovery phrase restores the self-custodial wallet derived from those words. Recovering a Trading Account or resetting its login password is a separate process and does not, by itself, restore the old wallet.
- Use the original 12 words through the official restoration route and compare a known address afterwards.
- Separately imported private keys are not backed up by that phrase. Older Blockchain.info wallets may also involve a second password or a wallet.aes.json backup.
- If the wallet still opens, secure its recovery information before resetting anything. If the phrase is missing, preserve the original installation and backup files; an email address or public wallet address cannot replace the keys.
Blockchain.com’s 12-word recovery phrase restores the non-custodial wallet derived from it. It is different from the login password. Access to the custodial Trading Account may also require the account checks described by Blockchain.com.
Restore the wallet, not just the account login
Open Blockchain.com’s official website or app independently, not through an email or search advertisement. Then follow the recovery route for the wallet you already have:
- Select recovery using your existing phrase. The current English web instructions call this Login with Recovery Phrase; the app flow begins with Import Wallet.
- Enter the words in their original order, only in that official recovery environment.
- Follow the password-setting steps. Access to custodial features may also require identity verification. Complete any email authorization requested during the process.
- Compare the restored public addresses with a known address before removing any old installation or backup.
An account password reset is a different route. Blockchain.com warns that resetting without the phrase creates a new wallet and does not recover the old non-custodial wallet. Do not choose it merely because it appears easier.
What the phrase does not cover
Imported addresses are not included in the phrase backup. If you imported a private key separately, keep that key’s backup or the original wallet data. A phrase restore can therefore succeed while an imported balance remains absent.
For older wallets using a second password, distinguish keys derived from the phrase from separately imported encrypted keys. Restoring the former from the phrase does not require decrypting the old wallet file; the latter may still need the original file and its passwords.
Older Blockchain.info backups may work differently
Do not shorten or extend an old word sequence simply because it does not have twelve words. Blockchain.com describes a separate route for recovery mnemonics associated with wallets created before 2016. Some recover the password that existed when the mnemonic was made, rather than directly restoring a modern wallet. If the password was later changed, that recovered password may no longer work.
A wallet.aes.json file is another kind of backup: importing it still requires the correct wallet password. Keep the file intact and distinguish it from a written recovery phrase when describing what you have.
If you cannot find the phrase
If you can still open the wallet, use its security settings to display and back up the phrase. Follow Blockchain.com’s confirmation steps to check the word order, then keep the words privately offline, without photographs or shared documents.
Preserve an accessible installation and existing backups, including any wallet.aes.json file. Describe what remains without sending secrets. A wallet file may support password recovery; an email address or public address alone cannot recreate the private keys.
For the separate file-and-password routes, see the Blockchain.com password recovery guide.