Derivation Paths

From a single seed, an HD wallet can generate billions of keys. Without a standard way to organize them, wallets from different vendors would produce different addresses from the same seed — making recovery impossible.

Derivation paths solve this by defining which branch of the key tree a wallet should use for which blockchain.

The Path Format

A derivation path looks like a filesystem path with apostrophes:

m / 44' / 60' / 0' / 0 / 0

The apostrophe (') marks a hardened derivation step, which uses the private key for derivation rather than the public key. This creates a security boundary.

BIP44: The Multi-Account Standard

BIP44 defines the most widely used path structure:

m / purpose' / coin_type' / account' / change / address_index

Common Coin Types

Each blockchain has a registered coin type number:

These numbers are registered in the SLIP44 standard.

Why Different BIP Numbers?

You'll see paths starting with 44', 49', 84', and 86'. These aren't different wallets — they're different address formats for Bitcoin:

For blockchains like Ethereum and Solana that only have one address format, the purpose is always 44'.

Change: External vs Internal

The change level distinguishes between addresses you give out (external) and change addresses (internal):

• 0 — External chain: addresses you share with others to receive funds
• 1 — Internal chain: change addresses where leftover funds go after a transaction

For Ethereum and Solana (which use accounts rather than UTXOs), this distinction doesn't apply, but the path structure still includes it for compatibility.

Account Discovery

When you restore a wallet from a seed phrase, how does it know which addresses you've used? It can't scan billions. Instead, wallets use a technique called gap limit:

1. Start at index = 0
2. Derive the address and check the blockchain for transactions
3. If you find a transaction, move to index + 1 and repeat
4. If you find 20 consecutive unused addresses (the gap limit), stop

This typically finds all used addresses within the first few indexes. Iron Vault pre-derives the first account for each supported chain without requiring blockchain scanning.

Iron Vault Default Paths

Iron Vault uses these default derivation paths:

You can add additional paths and custom derivations using the BIP39 Tool.

Path Compatibility

The same seed phrase used in different wallets should produce the same addresses — but only if all wallets use the same derivation path. In practice:

• MetaMask uses m/44'/60'/0'/0/0 for Ethereum
• Ledger Live uses the same path but discovers multiple accounts
• OKX Wallet and Phantom follow the same BIP44 paths for their respective chains

This is why Iron Vault is compatible with existing wallets: it derives keys following the exact same standards. The seed phrase you use in Iron Vault will produce the same Ethereum addresses in MetaMask.

Next Steps

• Experiment with different paths and see addresses change in real time → BIP39 Tool
• Start from the beginning → HD Wallets