Derivation Paths: The Complete Wallet Reference

A derivation path is the address inside a hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallet where a key lives. The same seed can derive keys under thousands of paths; if the wallet looks in the wrong place, it finds a different — usually empty — set of addresses. This is the single most common reason a correctly restored seed shows a zero balance, and it is almost always fixable.

How a path is written

An HD path reads from left to right, each step descending one level in the tree. An apostrophe marks a hardened step (m/44'/0'/0' means hardened 44, hardened 0, hardened 0).

• m: the master key, derived from the seed
• purpose: the BIP that defines the address scheme (44', 49', 84', 86')
• coin type: which blockchain (0' Bitcoin, 60' Ethereum, 2' Litecoin, 3' Dogecoin, 145' Bitcoin Cash)
• account: the first account is usually 0'
• change: 0 for receiving addresses, 1 for change addresses
• index: the individual address within that account

The standard schemes

• BIP44: m/44'/coin'/account'/change/index, legacy P2PKH addresses (start with 1)
• BIP49: m/49'/coin'/account'/change/index, SegWit nested in P2SH (start with 3)
• BIP84: m/84'/coin'/account'/change/index, native SegWit / bech32 (start with bc1q)
• BIP86: m/86'/coin'/account'/change/index, Taproot / bech32m (start with bc1p)

A modern Bitcoin wallet can hold funds on several of these at once: same seed, different paths, different address styles.

Common wallet defaults

• Bitcoin Core: newer descriptor wallets use BIP84 for native SegWit. Legacy HD wallets use Core’s own paths, such as m/0'/0'/k' for receiving keys; older pre-HD wallets contain independently generated keys.
• Electrum: modern native seeds encode the wallet type in their version identifier. This differs from importing a BIP-39 phrase, where the address type and derivation path must match the original wallet.
• MultiBit Classic: no derivation path (pre-HD: independent keys stored in the .wallet file)
• MetaMask: m/44'/60'/0'/0/0 (Ethereum)
• Ledger Live: BIP44/49/84/86 for Bitcoin, m/44'/60'/0'/0 for Ethereum
• Trezor Suite: same BIP scheme family, selectable per account
• Jaxx Liberty, Coinomi, Mycelium: BIP44 per coin
• Wasabi: m/84'/0'/0' (native SegWit) in current versions
• Samourai: m/84'/0'/0' native SegWit in current versions

These are the widely used defaults, not guarantees: always confirm against the wallet's own documentation. If the software is old, the defaults may be older too.

Address types and prefixes

• P2PKH (legacy): addresses start with 1
• P2SH: addresses start with 3
• Native SegWit (bech32): addresses start with bc1q
• Taproot (bech32m): addresses start with bc1p

Seeing the address style of your original wallet tells you which scheme the coins are probably on.

Fixing a zero balance after restore

1. Let the wallet finish syncing or rescanning.
2. In Electrum, first distinguish a native Electrum seed from an imported BIP-39 phrase. Native seed versions determine the derivation; with a BIP-39 import, match the original address type and path. Account for the older seed system when restoring a pre-2.0 wallet.
3. Add accounts and increase the gap limit: wallets stop scanning after a few unused addresses.
4. Check receiving vs change addresses.
5. If the seed was used with a BIP39 passphrase (25th word), the passphrase must be supplied too — without it, the same seed derives a different, empty wallet.

A systematic search over common paths, account indices and gap limits is bounded and often successful. What no path can do is create keys that were never derived: a completely different derivation scheme (for example Electrum's seed system) will not appear under BIP44 paths.

Standards-based starting points

These values come from published standards and are starting points, not product-version guarantees. Account, change and address indices still need to match the original wallet.

• Bitcoin legacy (BIP-44): m/44'/0'/account'/change/index.
• Bitcoin nested SegWit (BIP-49): m/49'/0'/account'/change/index.
• Bitcoin native SegWit (BIP-84): m/84'/0'/account'/change/index.
• Bitcoin Taproot (BIP-86): m/86'/0'/account'/change/index.
• Ethereum under BIP-44: coin type 60'.
• Litecoin under BIP-44: coin type 2'.
• Dogecoin under BIP-44: coin type 3'.
• Bitcoin Cash under BIP-44: coin type 145'.
• Cardano Shelley (CIP-1852): m/1852'/1815'/account'/role/index.

Wallet software can add its own account strategy or use another seed system entirely. Confirm the original product and version, then compare derived candidates with a known public receiving address without exposing the recovery phrase.