diff --git a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/SecureString.java b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/SecureString.java
index 80d8edd..ca2b396 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/SecureString.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/SecureString.java
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 package com.sparrowwallet.drongo;
 
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.CharBuffer;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.security.SecureRandom;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 
@@ -97,4 +100,40 @@ public class SecureString implements CharSequence {
             chars[i] = pad[i] ^ charAt;
         }
     }
+
+    public static byte[] toBytesUTF8(CharSequence charSequence) {
+        CharBuffer charBuffer = CharBuffer.wrap(charSequence);
+        ByteBuffer byteBuffer = StandardCharsets.UTF_8.encode(charBuffer);
+        byte[] bytes = Arrays.copyOfRange(byteBuffer.array(), byteBuffer.position(), byteBuffer.limit());
+        Arrays.fill(byteBuffer.array(), (byte)0); // clear sensitive data
+        return bytes;
+    }
+
+    public static SecureString fromBytesUTF8(byte[] bytes) {
+        ByteBuffer byteBuffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(bytes);
+        CharBuffer charBuffer = StandardCharsets.UTF_8.decode(byteBuffer);
+        SecureString secureString = new SecureString(charBuffer);
+        Arrays.fill(charBuffer.array(), (char)0);
+        return secureString;
+    }
+
+    public static byte[] toBytesUTF16(CharSequence charSequence) {
+        byte[] byteArray = new byte[charSequence.length() << 1];
+        for(int i = 0; i < charSequence.length(); i++) {
+            int bytePosition = i << 1;
+            byteArray[bytePosition] = (byte) ((charSequence.charAt(i)&0xFF00)>>8);
+            byteArray[bytePosition + 1] = (byte) (charSequence.charAt(i)&0x00FF);
+        }
+        return byteArray;
+    }
+
+    public static boolean isValidUTF16(CharSequence charSequence) {
+        for (int i = 0; i < charSequence.length(); i++) {
+            if (Character.isLowSurrogate(charSequence.charAt(i)) && (i == 0 || !Character.isHighSurrogate(charSequence.charAt(i - 1)))
+                    || Character.isHighSurrogate(charSequence.charAt(i)) && (i == charSequence.length() -1 || !Character.isLowSurrogate(charSequence.charAt(i + 1)))) {
+                return false;
+            }
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/Utils.java b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/Utils.java
index 72db457..b7666f3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/Utils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/Utils.java
@@ -283,40 +283,4 @@ public class Utils {
         hmacSha512.doFinal(out, 0);
         return out;
     }
-
-    public static byte[] toBytesUTF8(CharSequence charSequence) {
-        CharBuffer charBuffer = CharBuffer.wrap(charSequence);
-        ByteBuffer byteBuffer = StandardCharsets.UTF_8.encode(charBuffer);
-        byte[] bytes = Arrays.copyOfRange(byteBuffer.array(), byteBuffer.position(), byteBuffer.limit());
-        Arrays.fill(byteBuffer.array(), (byte)0); // clear sensitive data
-        return bytes;
-    }
-
-    public static SecureString fromBytesUTF8(byte[] bytes) {
-        ByteBuffer byteBuffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(bytes);
-        CharBuffer charBuffer = StandardCharsets.UTF_8.decode(byteBuffer);
-        SecureString secureString = new SecureString(charBuffer);
-        Arrays.fill(charBuffer.array(), (char)0);
-        return secureString;
-    }
-
-    public static byte[] toBytesUTF16(CharSequence charSequence) {
-        byte[] byteArray = new byte[charSequence.length() << 1];
-        for(int i = 0; i < charSequence.length(); i++) {
-            int bytePosition = i << 1;
-            byteArray[bytePosition] = (byte) ((charSequence.charAt(i)&0xFF00)>>8);
-            byteArray[bytePosition + 1] = (byte) (charSequence.charAt(i)&0x00FF);
-        }
-        return byteArray;
-    }
-
-    public static boolean isValidUTF16(CharSequence charSequence) {
-        for (int i = 0; i < charSequence.length(); i++) {
-            if (Character.isLowSurrogate(charSequence.charAt(i)) && (i == 0 || !Character.isHighSurrogate(charSequence.charAt(i - 1)))
-                    || Character.isHighSurrogate(charSequence.charAt(i)) && (i == charSequence.length() -1 || !Character.isLowSurrogate(charSequence.charAt(i + 1)))) {
-                return false;
-            }
-        }
-        return true;
-    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/AESKeyCrypter.java b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/AESKeyCrypter.java
index 3020dbe..48d2a5a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/AESKeyCrypter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/AESKeyCrypter.java
@@ -49,7 +49,9 @@ public class AESKeyCrypter implements KeyCrypter {
             final int length1 = cipher.processBytes(cipherBytes, 0, cipherBytes.length, decryptedBytes, 0);
             final int length2 = cipher.doFinal(decryptedBytes, length1);
 
-            return Arrays.copyOf(decryptedBytes, length1 + length2);
+            byte[] decrypted = Arrays.copyOf(decryptedBytes, length1 + length2);
+            Arrays.fill(decryptedBytes, (byte)0);
+            return decrypted;
         } catch (InvalidCipherTextException e) {
             throw new KeyCrypterException.InvalidCipherText("Could not decrypt bytes", e);
         } catch (RuntimeException e) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Argon2KeyDeriver.java b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Argon2KeyDeriver.java
index 7e4c46c..9f9e3fe 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Argon2KeyDeriver.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Argon2KeyDeriver.java
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package com.sparrowwallet.drongo.crypto;
 
-import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.Utils;
+import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.SecureString;
 import de.mkammerer.argon2.Argon2Advanced;
 import de.mkammerer.argon2.Argon2Factory;
 
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ public class Argon2KeyDeriver implements KeyDeriver, AsymmetricKeyDeriver {
     @Override
     public Key deriveKey(CharSequence password) throws KeyCrypterException {
         Argon2Advanced argon2 = Argon2Factory.createAdvanced(Argon2Factory.Argon2Types.ARGON2id, argon2Parameters.saltLength, argon2Parameters.hashLength);
-        byte[] hash = argon2.rawHash(argon2Parameters.iterations, argon2Parameters.memory, argon2Parameters.parallelism, Utils.toBytesUTF8(password), salt);
+        byte[] hash = argon2.rawHash(argon2Parameters.iterations, argon2Parameters.memory, argon2Parameters.parallelism, SecureString.toBytesUTF8(password), salt);
         return new Key(hash, salt, getDeriverType());
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/DoubleSha256KeyDeriver.java b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/DoubleSha256KeyDeriver.java
index abda797..9d446a2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/DoubleSha256KeyDeriver.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/DoubleSha256KeyDeriver.java
@@ -1,15 +1,13 @@
 package com.sparrowwallet.drongo.crypto;
 
-import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.Utils;
+import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.SecureString;
 import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.protocol.Sha256Hash;
 
-import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
-
 public class DoubleSha256KeyDeriver implements KeyDeriver {
 
     @Override
     public Key deriveKey(CharSequence password) throws KeyCrypterException {
-        byte[] passwordBytes = Utils.toBytesUTF8(password);
+        byte[] passwordBytes = SecureString.toBytesUTF8(password);
         byte[] sha256 = Sha256Hash.hash(passwordBytes);
         byte[] doubleSha256 = Sha256Hash.hash(sha256);
         return new Key(doubleSha256, null, getDeriverType());
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/EncryptionType.java b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/EncryptionType.java
index f137623..ffbecd2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/EncryptionType.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/EncryptionType.java
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 package com.sparrowwallet.drongo.crypto;
 
-import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.Utils;
+import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.SecureString;
 
-import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Objects;
 
 public class EncryptionType {
@@ -12,7 +11,7 @@ public class EncryptionType {
                 return new KeyDeriver() {
                     @Override
                     public Key deriveKey(CharSequence password) throws KeyCrypterException {
-                        return new Key(Utils.toBytesUTF8(password), null, NONE);
+                        return new Key(SecureString.toBytesUTF8(password), null, NONE);
                     }
 
                     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Key.java b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Key.java
index a379153..c240c90 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Key.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Key.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package com.sparrowwallet.drongo.crypto;
 
+import java.util.Arrays;
+
 public class Key {
     private final byte[] keyBytes;
     private final byte[] salt;
@@ -22,4 +24,9 @@ public class Key {
     public EncryptionType.Deriver getDeriver() {
         return deriver;
     }
+
+    public void clear() {
+        Arrays.fill(keyBytes, (byte)0);
+        Arrays.fill(salt, (byte)0);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Pbkdf2KeyDeriver.java b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Pbkdf2KeyDeriver.java
index 335584a..578b27b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Pbkdf2KeyDeriver.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/Pbkdf2KeyDeriver.java
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package com.sparrowwallet.drongo.crypto;
 
-import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.Utils;
+import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.SecureString;
 import org.bouncycastle.crypto.digests.SHA512Digest;
 import org.bouncycastle.crypto.generators.PKCS5S2ParametersGenerator;
 import org.bouncycastle.crypto.params.KeyParameter;
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ public class Pbkdf2KeyDeriver implements KeyDeriver, AsymmetricKeyDeriver {
     @Override
     public Key deriveKey(CharSequence password) throws KeyCrypterException {
         PKCS5S2ParametersGenerator gen = new PKCS5S2ParametersGenerator(new SHA512Digest());
-        gen.init(Utils.toBytesUTF8(password), salt, iterationCount);
+        gen.init(SecureString.toBytesUTF8(password), salt, iterationCount);
         byte[] keyBytes = ((KeyParameter)gen.generateDerivedParameters(512)).getKey();
         return new Key(keyBytes, salt, getDeriverType());
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/ScryptKeyDeriver.java b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/ScryptKeyDeriver.java
index c24c4bb..40d70a8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/ScryptKeyDeriver.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/crypto/ScryptKeyDeriver.java
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package com.sparrowwallet.drongo.crypto;
 
-import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.Utils;
+import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.SecureString;
 import org.bouncycastle.crypto.generators.SCrypt;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ public class ScryptKeyDeriver implements KeyDeriver {
     public Key deriveKey(CharSequence password) throws KeyCrypterException {
         byte[] passwordBytes = null;
         try {
-            passwordBytes = Utils.toBytesUTF8(password);
+            passwordBytes = SecureString.toBytesUTF8(password);
             byte[] salt = new byte[0];
             if (scryptParameters.getSalt() != null) {
                 salt = scryptParameters.getSalt();
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/wallet/DeterministicSeed.java b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/wallet/DeterministicSeed.java
index 04db86b..d2c9469 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/wallet/DeterministicSeed.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/wallet/DeterministicSeed.java
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 package com.sparrowwallet.drongo.wallet;
 
+import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.SecureString;
 import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.Utils;
 import com.sparrowwallet.drongo.crypto.*;
 
-import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.security.SecureRandom;
 import java.util.*;
 
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ public class DeterministicSeed implements EncryptableItem {
     //Session only storage
     private transient String passphrase;
 
-    public DeterministicSeed(String mnemonicString, String passphrase, long creationTimeSeconds, Type type) {
+    public DeterministicSeed(CharSequence mnemonicString, String passphrase, long creationTimeSeconds, Type type) {
         this(decodeMnemonicCode(mnemonicString), passphrase, creationTimeSeconds, type);
     }
 
@@ -123,15 +123,6 @@ public class DeterministicSeed implements EncryptableItem {
         return encryptedMnemonicCode != null;
     }
 
-    @Override
-    public String toString() {
-        if(isEncrypted()) {
-            return encryptedMnemonicCode.toString();
-        }
-
-        return getMnemonicString();
-    }
-
     /** Returns the seed as hex or null if encrypted. */
     public String toHexString() throws MnemonicException {
         byte[] seed = getSeedBytes();
@@ -183,7 +174,10 @@ public class DeterministicSeed implements EncryptableItem {
         }
 
         KeyCrypter keyCrypter = getEncryptionType().getCrypter().getKeyCrypter();
-        EncryptedData encryptedMnemonic = keyCrypter.encrypt(getMnemonicAsBytes(), null, key);
+        byte[] mnemonicBytes = getMnemonicAsBytes();
+        EncryptedData encryptedMnemonic = keyCrypter.encrypt(mnemonicBytes, null, key);
+        Arrays.fill(mnemonicBytes != null ? mnemonicBytes : new byte[0], (byte)0);
+        
         DeterministicSeed seed = new DeterministicSeed(encryptedMnemonic, needsPassphrase, creationTimeSeconds, type);
         seed.setPassphrase(passphrase);
 
@@ -191,12 +185,15 @@ public class DeterministicSeed implements EncryptableItem {
     }
 
     private byte[] getMnemonicAsBytes() {
-        String mnemonicString = getMnemonicString();
+        SecureString mnemonicString = getMnemonicString();
         if(mnemonicString == null) {
             return null;
         }
 
-        return mnemonicString.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        byte[] mnemonicBytes = SecureString.toBytesUTF8(mnemonicString);
+        mnemonicString.clear();
+
+        return mnemonicBytes;
     }
 
     public DeterministicSeed decrypt(CharSequence password) {
@@ -206,8 +203,10 @@ public class DeterministicSeed implements EncryptableItem {
 
         KeyDeriver keyDeriver = getEncryptionType().getDeriver().getKeyDeriver(encryptedMnemonicCode.getKeySalt());
         Key key = keyDeriver.deriveKey(password);
+        DeterministicSeed seed = decrypt(key);
+        key.clear();
 
-        return decrypt(key);
+        return seed;
     }
 
     public DeterministicSeed decrypt(Key key) {
@@ -216,13 +215,25 @@ public class DeterministicSeed implements EncryptableItem {
         }
 
         KeyCrypter keyCrypter = getEncryptionType().getCrypter().getKeyCrypter();
-        List<String> mnemonic = decodeMnemonicCode(keyCrypter.decrypt(encryptedMnemonicCode, key));
+        byte[] decrypted = keyCrypter.decrypt(encryptedMnemonicCode, key);
+        List<String> mnemonic = decodeMnemonicCode(decrypted);
+        Arrays.fill(decrypted, (byte)0);
+
         DeterministicSeed seed = new DeterministicSeed(mnemonic, needsPassphrase, creationTimeSeconds, type);
         seed.setPassphrase(passphrase);
 
         return seed;
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return "DeterministicSeed{" +
+                "type=" + type +
+                ", encryptedMnemonicCode=" + encryptedMnemonicCode +
+                ", needsPassphrase=" + needsPassphrase +
+                '}';
+    }
+
     @Override
     public boolean equals(Object o) {
         if (this == o) return true;
@@ -250,6 +261,15 @@ public class DeterministicSeed implements EncryptableItem {
         }
     }
 
+    public void clear() {
+        if(mnemonicCode != null) {
+            mnemonicCode.clear();
+        }
+        if(passphrase != null) {
+            passphrase = "";
+        }
+    }
+
     byte[] getEntropyBytes() throws MnemonicException {
         return type.getEntropyBytes(mnemonicCode);
     }
@@ -260,25 +280,51 @@ public class DeterministicSeed implements EncryptableItem {
     }
 
     /** Get the mnemonic code as string, or null if unknown. */
-    public String getMnemonicString() {
-        StringJoiner joiner = new StringJoiner(" ");
+    public SecureString getMnemonicString() {
+        StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
         if(mnemonicCode != null) {
             for(String word : mnemonicCode) {
-                joiner.add(word);
+                builder.append(word);
+                builder.append(' ');
             }
 
-            return joiner.toString();
+            if(builder.length() > 0) {
+                builder.setLength(builder.length() - 1);
+            }
+
+            return new SecureString(builder);
         }
 
         return null;
     }
 
     private static List<String> decodeMnemonicCode(byte[] mnemonicCode) {
-        return decodeMnemonicCode(new String(mnemonicCode, StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+        SecureString secureString = SecureString.fromBytesUTF8(mnemonicCode);
+        List<String> words = decodeMnemonicCode(secureString);
+        secureString.clear();
+
+        return words;
     }
 
-    private static List<String> decodeMnemonicCode(String mnemonicCode) {
-        return Arrays.asList(mnemonicCode.split(" "));
+    private static List<String> decodeMnemonicCode(CharSequence mnemonicCode) {
+        List<String> words = new ArrayList<>();
+        StringBuilder word = new StringBuilder();
+        for(int i = 0; i < mnemonicCode.length(); i++) {
+            char c = mnemonicCode.charAt(i);
+            if(c != ' ') {
+                word.append(mnemonicCode.charAt(i));
+            }
+            if(c == ' ' || i == mnemonicCode.length() - 1) {
+                words.add(word.toString());
+
+                for(int j = 0; j < word.length(); j++) {
+                    word.setCharAt(j, ' ');
+                }
+                word = new StringBuilder();
+            }
+        }
+
+        return words;
     }
 
     public DeterministicSeed copy() {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/wallet/DeterministicSeedTest.java b/src/test/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/wallet/DeterministicSeedTest.java
index 3c3f0bf..1fa04d0 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/wallet/DeterministicSeedTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/sparrowwallet/drongo/wallet/DeterministicSeedTest.java
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ public class DeterministicSeedTest {
         DeterministicSeed encryptedSeed = seed.encrypt(keyDeriver.deriveKey("pass"));
 
         DeterministicSeed decryptedSeed = encryptedSeed.decrypt("pass");
-        Assert.assertEquals(words, decryptedSeed.getMnemonicString());
+        Assert.assertEquals(words, decryptedSeed.getMnemonicString().asString());
     }
 
     @Test