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Keys, addresses & seed phrases: the magic words
From your seed phrase (12–24 words, defined by BIP39) your wallet deterministically derives all your private keys, public keys, and addresses. Back up the seed phrase once and you can restore everything on any compatible wallet.
Standard Explanation
- Seed phrase → entropy → derives everything.
- Private key → per-address secret; signs spends.
- Public key → derived from private; verifies signatures.
- Address → derived from public key; share freely.
- Derivation path → the route from seed to a specific key (e.g.
m/44'/0'/0'/0/0).
For privacy, wallets generate a new address per transaction, all derived from the same seed via a path like m/44'/0'/0'/0/{n} . The seed lets you recover every address and its balance — which is why the seed, not any single address, is what you must back up.
One seed, every address