1

Let us say I have a HD wallet. Can I get it’s seed phrase from the private key of one of its wallets?

Also are seed phrases just easy to remember private keys? If so does that mean that from the seed phrase private key you can get a public key? And if this is true if I send cryptos to this public key in which HD wallet is it going to appear in? The first one?

Improve this question
1
  • You might find this site bip32.net interesting and useful.
    – Zephyrus
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 16:48

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

A seed phrase is used to generate a master key and chain code for an HD wallet. These values can be used to generate many keys and addresses depending on how you want to set up your HD wallet.

There is no way to use any of the private keys to generate the master key or mnemonic. But the mnemonic can be used to regenerate the master key, chain code and any of the private or public keys.

You would never want to send crypto to a public key. You would send it to the address generated by the public key and it would appear in whichever wallet uses that key. An HD wallet can manage a very large number of addresses, and each one would have its own private and public key.

For more information, you could read about BIP 32, BIP 39 and BIP 44.

Improve this answer
3
  • Can you receive funds on the master public address? Can an outsider tell if the public addresses come from the same seed phrase?
    – YulePale
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 18:23
  • 2
    @YulePale You can receive funds on any of the public addresses generated by an HD wallet. There is no way anyone would ever be able to tell if two addresses were generated by the same mnemonic.
    – Zephyrus
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 19:07
  • The private key can be used to import individual wallet address into MetaMask, but what purpose does the public key serve then, given that the public key is never the same as the wallet address?
    – user610620
    Commented Jan 27, 2023 at 12:46

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.