diff --git a/internal/cli/mfer.go b/internal/cli/mfer.go
index 9bf9524..2277e8c 100644
--- a/internal/cli/mfer.go
+++ b/internal/cli/mfer.go
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ func (mfa *CLIApp) run(args []string) {
 					},
 					&cli.StringFlag{
 						Name:    "seed",
-						Usage:   "Seed value for deterministic manifest UUID (hashed 1B times with SHA-256)",
+						Usage:   "Seed value for deterministic manifest UUID (hashed 150M times with SHA-256, ~5-10s)",
 						EnvVars: []string{"MFER_SEED"},
 					},
 				),
diff --git a/mfer/builder.go b/mfer/builder.go
index fd7d4aa..2696744 100644
--- a/mfer/builder.go
+++ b/mfer/builder.go
@@ -93,11 +93,12 @@ type Builder struct {
 }
 
 // seedIterations is the number of SHA-256 rounds used to derive a UUID from a seed.
-const seedIterations = 1_000_000_000
+// Tuned to take approximately 5-10 seconds on modern hardware.
+const seedIterations = 150_000_000
 
 // SetSeed derives a deterministic UUID from the given seed string.
-// The seed is hashed 1,000,000,000 times with SHA-256 to produce
-// 16 bytes used as a fixed UUID for the manifest.
+// The seed is hashed 150,000,000 times with SHA-256 to produce
+// 16 bytes used as a fixed UUID for the manifest (~5-10s on modern hardware).
 func (b *Builder) SetSeed(seed string) {
 	b.fixedUUID = deriveSeedUUID(seed, seedIterations)
 }