A derivation path is the specific route a wallet takes to generate individual private keys from your master seed. It follows a standard notation (like m/44'/60'/0'/0/0) that tells the wallet which coin, account, and address index to derive. Different paths produce entirely different addresses from the same seed phrase.
What Is a Wallet Address Derivation Path?
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The short version
Your seed phrase is like a master filing cabinet. The derivation path is the drawer label: "Floor 44, Room 60, Cabinet 0, Folder 0, Page 0." Two wallets using the same seed but different drawer labels will find completely different keys inside, which is why importing a seed sometimes shows different balances depending on which wallet software you use.
How It Works
HD (Hierarchical Deterministic) wallets use BIP-32 to derive a tree of keys from one seed. BIP-44 standardizes the tree structure: m / purpose' / coin_type' / account' / change / address_index. Common paths: Bitcoin legacy (BIP-44): m/44'/0'/0'/0/0. Bitcoin SegWit (BIP-84): m/84'/0'/0'/0/0. Ethereum (BIP-44): m/44'/60'/0'/0/0. The apostrophe indicates "hardened" derivation (the child key cannot be used to derive the parent). Each level produces a new extended key pair. Incrementing the last number (address_index) generates successive addresses within one account. That is why wallets can generate unlimited receive addresses from one seed.
Why MetaMask and Ledger show different Bitcoin addresses from the same seed
You enter the same 24-word seed into MetaMask and into Ledger Live. MetaMask shows your Ethereum addresses at m/44'/60'/0'/0/0, m/44'/60'/0'/0/1, etc. Ledger Live shows Bitcoin at m/84'/0'/0'/0/0 (native SegWit). If you tried importing the seed into an old Bitcoin wallet that uses m/44'/0'/0'/0/0 (legacy), you would see yet different Bitcoin addresses. Same seed, three different sets of addresses, because each uses a different derivation path. Your funds are not lost; you just need to use the matching path.
What People Get Wrong
All wallets derive the same addresses from the same seed
Only if they use the same derivation path. MetaMask uses m/44'/60'/0'/0/n for Ethereum. Phantom uses m/44'/501'/0'/0' for Solana. The same seed in both produces entirely unrelated addresses.
Derivation paths are a security feature
They are an organizational standard, not a security mechanism. Knowing someone's derivation path does not help access their funds, you still need the seed or private key.
You can change the derivation path to move funds
Changing paths does not move funds. It generates different addresses. To "move" funds between paths, you must send a transaction from the old address to the new one.
Keep Reading
Sources & Further Reading
- BIP-32: HD Wallets
The specification for hierarchical deterministic key derivation
- BIP-44: Multi-Account Hierarchy
Standard defining derivation paths for multiple coin types and accounts
Questions People Also Ask
- What does the apostrophe mean in m/44'/60'/0'?
- The apostrophe indicates hardened derivation. It means that level's child keys cannot be used to mathematically derive the parent key, even if a child extended public key is exposed, it cannot reveal the parent or sibling private keys.
- What if I do not know which derivation path my old wallet used?
- Try the standard paths for the coin type: m/44'/0'/0' for legacy Bitcoin, m/84'/0'/0' for SegWit Bitcoin, m/44'/60'/0' for Ethereum. Most wallet recovery tools try multiple paths automatically.
- Can two different seeds produce the same address?
- Theoretically possible (a collision) but the probability is negligible, on the order of 1 in 2^160 for an Ethereum address. In practice, this will never happen.