# Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) Wallets

## Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) Wallets

Many cryptocurrency wallets (including [MetaMask](/legacy-documentation/foundational-concepts/wallets-and-exchanges.md#metamask) and Trezor) are Hierarchical Deterministic Wallets (HD Wallets). 

Using a protocol called [BIP44](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0044.mediawiki), HD Wallets allow you to derive multiple accounts that support different types of coins from one master private key. For each HD Wallet, there is one 12-24 word mnemonic seed phrase. The algorithm associated with BIP44 forms a tree using the seed phrase. Account information (public addresses and private keys) for different tokens or currencies exist at different branches of the tree. This ensures that you get a different address information for each token. You can recreate this tree in a new wallet by importing your mnemonic seed phrase. 

## Derivation Paths

A path called a 'Derivation Path' provides a logical hierarchy for the wallet to use to search the tree for a user's address information at a specific branch (for a specific coin type). 

### Derivation Path Components

![](/files/-MjZtqRfwRrXbTEDtTN-)

* The path typically starts with "m'" for "master"
* The second figure is the **purpose**. This is a constant, always set to '44' for [BIP-44 derivation paths](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0044.mediawiki). It indicates that this branch of the tree is compliant with BIP-44 specifications. 
* The third figure denotes the **coin type** for a specific blockchain. Ethereum, for example, is always "'60". **Energy Web Chain is "'246"**. (You can see all of the registered coin types for BIP-44 [here](https://github.com/satoshilabs/slips/blob/master/slip-0044.md).) 
* The fourth figure is the **account**. Accounts are numbered from index 0 upward. A user can have many accounts associated with one currency. You can liken this to having multiple accounts at a single bank. 
* The fifth figure is the **change**. It can be a value of 0 or 1. 0 denotes that the address is visible to others outside of the wallet and can receive payments. 1 indicates that the address is not visible to others outside of the wallet and cannot receive payments. 

{% hint style="info" %}
Certain wallets only accept derivation paths for specific tokens or currencies. MetaMask for example, only supports the BIP-44 derivation path with coin type 60, which is Ether - m’/44’/60’/0’/0.
{% endhint %}

You can find documentation for the BIP-44 [here](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0044.mediawiki). 

### Derivation Paths and Energy Web Chain

If you are using a hardware wallet and are *not* using it through a connection with MetaMask, you may need to change the derivation path to Energy Web Chain's derivation path to see your EWT in your account. 

**Energy Web Chain's derivation path is m/44'/246'/0'/0**


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