Why Do I Have to Back up Mnemonic phrase?

When choosing the method to backup their wallets, users can choose from the mnemonic phrases, Keystore (only support ETH, ETC wallets), or the plaintext private key.  Huobi Wallet strongly recommends that users backup mnemonic phrases for the following reasons:

1. Although Keystore acts as the private key after encryption, it is not convenient to copy. Generally speaking, it needs to be stored through the network transmission and Keystore often gives users the illusion of security. There have been a lot of asset thefts that happened because users used WeChat to save Keystore or transfered Keystore via email.

2. The security level of the plaintext private key is the same as the mnemonic phrases and they are both unencrypted private keys. However, the plaintext private key is very inconvenient for users to write down and record. If the private key is incorrectly written down, the user will more than likely lose their assets. We do not recommend backing up or transmitting plaintext private keys.

3. Mnemonic phrases are easy to write down and backup. Huobi Wallet recommends the backup by means of physical media, such as using paper to write them down. This is because this way of backup has the maximum amount of security since it is completely isolated from the network and avoids any kind of professional network attacks.