diff --git a/client/cmd/assetseed/main.go b/client/cmd/assetseed/main.go
index dbbc457283..5d366606f3 100644
--- a/client/cmd/assetseed/main.go
+++ b/client/cmd/assetseed/main.go
@@ -5,45 +5,70 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"encoding/hex"
+	"errors"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"time"
 
 	"decred.org/dcrdex/client/asset"
 	"decred.org/dcrdex/client/core"
+	"decred.org/dcrdex/client/mnemonic"
 )
 
 func main() {
-	var appSeed string
-	flag.StringVar(&appSeed, "seed", "", "Bison Wallet application seed (128 hexadecimal characters)")
+	if err := run(); err != nil {
+		flag.Usage()
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+	os.Exit(0)
+}
+
+func run() error {
+	var appSeedHex, appMnemonic string
+	flag.StringVar(&appSeedHex, "seedhex", "", "Bison Wallet application seed (128 hexadecimal characters)")
+	flag.StringVar(&appMnemonic, "mnemonic", "", "Bison Wallet application seed (15 word mnemonic)")
 	var assetID uint
 	flag.UintVar(&assetID, "asset", 0, "Asset ID. BIP-0044 coin type (integer).\n"+
 		"See https://github.com/satoshilabs/slips/blob/master/slip-0044.md")
 	flag.Parse()
 
-	if appSeed == "" {
-		flag.Usage()
-		os.Exit(1)
+	if appSeedHex == "" && appMnemonic == "" {
+		return errors.New("no app seed set")
 	}
 
-	appSeedB, err := hex.DecodeString(appSeed)
-	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "bad app seed: %v\n", err)
-		os.Exit(1)
+	if tkn := asset.TokenInfo(uint32(assetID)); tkn != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("this is a token. did you want asset ID %d for %s?\n", tkn.ParentID, asset.Asset(tkn.ParentID).Info.Name)
 	}
 
-	if len(appSeedB) != 64 {
-		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "app seed is %d bytes, expected 64\n", len(appSeedB))
-		os.Exit(1)
-	}
+	var (
+		appSeedB []byte
+		bday     time.Time
+		err      error
+	)
 
-	if tkn := asset.TokenInfo(uint32(assetID)); tkn != nil {
-		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "this is a token. did you want asset ID %d for %s?\n", tkn.ParentID, asset.Asset(tkn.ParentID).Info.Name)
-		os.Exit(1)
+	if appSeedHex != "" {
+		appSeedB, err = hex.DecodeString(appSeedHex)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("bad app seed: %v\n", err)
+		}
+
+		if len(appSeedB) != 64 {
+			return fmt.Errorf("app seed is %d bytes, expected 64\n", len(appSeedB))
+		}
+	} else {
+		appSeedB, bday, err = mnemonic.DecodeMnemonic(appMnemonic)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("bad mnemonic: %v\n", err)
+		}
 	}
 
 	seed, _ := core.AssetSeedAndPass(uint32(assetID), appSeedB)
 	fmt.Printf("%x\n", seed)
+	if !bday.IsZero() {
+		fmt.Printf("birthday: %v\n", bday)
+	}
 
-	os.Exit(0)
+	return nil
 }